Spicy pork tacos

Pork tacos are a go-to favourite. You can put it all together easily, throw it on the table, and let everyone dig in – what's not to like about that?

Spicy pork tacos. Credit: Robin Murray

• serves

  4

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  3 hours

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

Pork belly

• 3 onions, halved, skin on
• 5 cloves garlic
• 5 red chillies
• 2 star anise
• 3 tbsp cumin seeds
• 3 tbsp coriander seeds
• 1 kg pork belly
• 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
• 50 ml white wine vinegar

Salsa

• ½ red onion, diced
• ½ green chilli, diced
• Salt
• Juice of 1 lime

Beans

• 2 tins kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 30 ml olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced

Guacamole

• 2 avocados
• Lime juice and zest, to taste
• 1 tbsp Tabasco
• Handful coriander
• 1 large tomato, deseeded and diced

• Corn tortillas, to serve

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Place the onion, garlic, chilli, star anise, cumin and coriander seeds on a tray and cook for 30 minutess until softened and blackened. Remove and place in a blender. Season with grated ginger, salt and vinegar. Blend to a rough paste.
2. Smear this paste over the pork belly and wrap in tinfoil. Cook at 150°C for 2½  hours until the meat is soft. Remove the tinfoil and increase the oven heat to 220°C for a further 10 minutes so the paste gets charred. Finish with grated lime zest and salt, then slice.
3. Meanwhile, to make a quick salsa, dice the onion and chilli, then season with lime juice and salt.
4. To make the guacamole, mash the ripened avocado with a fork, season with lime zest, lime juice, tabasco and salt, mix and season to taste. Dice the tomato and fold this through the mix.
5. For the beans, heat a pan and add the oil. Slowly cook the garlic over a medium heat until golden brown, then add the beans. Fry until the beans begin to break down.
6. Season with salt. Use a masher to create a pulp.
7. Serve pork belly, salsa, guacamole and beans to share, with warmed corn tortillas, and build to eat in your hands.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.