All posts tagged: pork belly

Rainbow Bowl: Sweet soy ginger braised pork belly

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I‘m not a salad kind of girl but I love a good rainbow bowl. Sweet soy ginger braised pork belly on rice with a perfectly gooey free range egg, sauerkraut, cucumber, carrot, capsicum, spring onion and a dollop of my favourite mayo. Garlic furikake and wild Korengo seaweed for texture and flavour. I could eat this breakfast, lunch or dinner. This pork belly braise uses black vinegar. Also known as Chinkiang Vinegar, this can be found at Asian grocers. Delicious for dipping steamed or fried dumplings into. You can use balsamic vinegar as a substitute. Sweet soy ginger braised pork belly Makes 4 portions INGREDIENTS 500 grams ( 1 lb) pork belly, cut into large cubes 2 tablespoons brown sugar 3 slices ginger 3 cloves garlic, smashed 2 star anise 2 bay leaves 1/2 teaspoon five spice powder 1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes 2 tablespoons black vinegar 2 tablespoon soy sauce 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce 2 cups hot water PREPARATION Heat a non-stick frying pan and add pork belly. Fry on medium heat for 5 …

Five spice roast pork belly with peaches

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Summer is in full swing. It’s muggy AF and I am chancing mosquitos to sleep with the window open. So far so good. I haven’t left Auckland this summer, instead, I’m enjoying local day trips. I’ve hit 70k steps every week so far – it’s only been 2 weeks – and regularly include Mt Eden summit in my daily walks. I’m a little obsessed with my FitBit and doing well with my “more steps” resolution. Yesterday, The Koala and I explored Duder Regional Park, enjoyed ice cream truck treats and swum at random beach on our way home. We usually stay central, or head north or west so exploring east is new for us. I hope to discover more of Auckland’s regional parks this year. My first recipe of the year is fiercely seasonal and embodies the kinds of food I love to eat. A shit-ton of vegetables (another resolution) and some beautifully cooked free range meat. Yes please! I usually order pork belly if I see it on the menu so it makes sense …

Pork belly adobo and a Crockpot giveaway

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This post was made possible thanks to Crockpot and I am delighted to give away a Crockpot Sear & Slow CHP700 (RRP $299.99). Just complete the entry form at the bottom of this post to enter. Pork belly adobo is comfort food. Adobo is the (unofficial) national dish of the Philippines. A country of 100 million people, inhabiting 7000 islands, you will find many variations, both regional and personal of this delicious Pinoy stew. Some cooks make it with pork, others with chicken, others still with both chicken and pork. Accepted ingredients are soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, garlic and bay leaf. With default savoury, sour and sweet notes, variations include the addition of ingredients such as pineapple, coconut milk, potatoes or hard boiled eggs. I’ve added potatoes to my slow cooker adaptation which soak up the sauce and takes on a gorgeous hue. What I love about this dish is that aside from the pork belly, if you cook regularly, you may already have these ingredients at home. The ingredients list feels familiar and not too …

Banh mi in winter

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Early 2000’s, The Koala and I arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam at 6am local time during the coldest month of the year. We’d just flown in from balmy Kuala Lumpur and had been awake for at 24 hours. We weren’t prepared for the cold but we dumped our stuff at our hotel and went exploring. The city was wide awake, bright and bustling. Big baskets of bread stacked on the footpath and banh mi sellers bundled up and huddled together like winter birds cozied up on a branch. What is banh mi? For those unfamiliar with banh mi, the word “banh mi” (pronounced BUN-mee) just means “bread” in Vietnamese but has come to mean a single serve baguette sandwich. The French colonials left behind baguettes and pate when they left Vietnam in the 1950s and the locals created this awesome fusion sandwich before fusion was a thing. Stuffed with pork or chicken, pate, mayo, cucumber, coriander (cilantro), pickled vegetables and sometimes chillies, they are made fresh to order so you get to choose (in our case point) the …

Crispy Roast Pork: Cantonese style

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This post is part of Our Growing Edge, a monthly blogging event to encourage bloggers to try new food related things. Ash from Organic Ash is the host for this month’s event. If you have a blog and you are eating or cooking something new this month, click below to join. More information here. Crispy roast pork (siu yuk) can be found hanging among roast ducks and slabs of shiny red BBQ pork in the windows of Cantonese BBQ restaurants everywhere. Traditionally, pork is roasted with seasoning in a charcoal furnace and is served as an appetiser* with your choice of dipping sauce. Soy sauce and hoisin sauce are popular but I love it dipped in mustard. Served with a bowl of rice and some Chinese greens, it’s a simple and delicious dinner. It’s interesting to note that the words “siu yuk” directly translates to roast meat, not roast pork. I guess pork is so ubiquitous in Cantonese cuisine that meat equals pork by default. While I have made English-style roast pork on many occasions, I’d never considered cooking the …

First visit to the butchery and 20 Hour Slow Cooked Pork Belly

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This post is part of Our Growing Edge, a monthly blogging event to encourage us to try new food related things. Alice from Nom Nom Cat is the host for month’s event. If you have a blog and have cooked, eaten or experienced a new food this month, come and join this event.  We have been shopping smarter and started a new routine that will hopefully stick. Supermarket: once a month Produce delivery: twice a month Asian grocer: twice a month Free range butcher: once or twice a month Specialty food shop: once a month This results in a shopping trip once a week but the best quality items for the best prices. Westmere Butchery I’ve been meaning to visit Westmere Butchery for ever. Highly recommended by my meat eating friends, they specialise in free range, free farmed and organic meats and their prices are reasonable. They also make award winning sausages on premises.  Years ago, a friend brought beef and scallop sausages to a BBQ. That sausage made quite an impression on me apparently. Fat scallops dotted throughout …

Hakanoa (Ginger Syrup) Braised Pork Belly

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I’m quickly falling in love with Hakanoa Hand-made Ginger Syrup. “Made from filtered water, organic fairtrade raw sugar, fresh ginger, organic dried ginger, organic sultanas and fresh lemon juice,” this syrup ticks all the boxes ethically and best of all, it is delicious. More info on this product can be found on their website hakanoa-handmade.co.nz. I’ve used it to make sangria as well as ginger flavoured milk. Don’t know it until you’ve tried it. It is amazing. Best of all, I like to use it as a marinade in meat dishes and my favourite meat and cut has got to be the delicious pork belly. Free range pork belly should be available where ever you find free range pork. Maybe you are bored of pork belly these days. No problem. Hopefully the world gets tired of pork belly and it will return back to being a cheap cut of meat. More for me! If you still have room in your life for another pork belly recipe, try my Hakanoa Braised Pork Belly recipe. The addition of cornflour …

I ♥ Pork & Apple…still

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Tasty, fatty comfort food. Make a big pot of this stew plus a big pot of rice and help yourselves to little bowlfuls whenever it takes your fancy. Great for lunch the next day and this stew seriously tastes better and better with time. Pretty similar dish to this rough guide. I seared (even burnt bits) the pork in a pan before I simmered and included some chunks of turnip (Chinese white carrot). Star anise might not be familiar to y’all but it’s a aniseed flavour that I love even though I don’t like licorice. They are added to food for flavour, but don’t eat them. It’s not nice to crunch on so try and remove them prior to serving or if they are intact, they can serve as a pretty garnish. The rough guide to Aromatic Pork Belly and Apple Ingredients: Pork belly, granny smith apple, onion, garlic, ginger, 5 spice powder, cloves, star anise, black vinegar, raw sugar, soy sauce. Preparation: Brown the pork and then simmer with all the other ingredients for about 1.5 …