Vietnamese Pork Belly

Ingredients

Serves 2

For the Pork Belly

• 500g pork belly

• 2 garlic cloves

• 1/2 inch of fresh ginger

• 4 kaffir lime leaves (dried or fresh)

• juice of 1/2 lime

• 1 tbsp fish sauce

• 1 tbsp groundnut oil

• 1 tbsp caster sugar

• pinch of salt and pepper

For the Pickle

• 1 red onion

• 1 carrot

• handful of fresh coriander

• 2 tsp fish sauce

• juice of 1/2 a lime

• 1 tbsp caster sugar

• 3 tbsp cider vinegar

• Serve in a Ciabatta or Baguette

Method

Start by finely chopping the ginger, garlic and lime leaves and add to a container that will go in the fridge. Then add in the sugar, lime, fish sauce, groundnut oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well until the sugar has dissolved.

Now slice the pork belly into roughly 1 cm wide strips, here in the UK it tends to come pre sliced but a bit thick so I often halve each slice again.

Mix the pork belly in the marinade then refridgerate for at least 2 hours.

To make the pickles halve the onion then slice thinly into half rings. With a potato peeeler cut thin ribbons of the carrot then add both to another bowl. Finely chop the coriander and add with the rest of the ingredients. Mix well and refridgerate until ready to use.

After the pork has marinated, fry with a little more oil in a hot pan until the fat starts to crisp and it is cooked through, usually about 6-8 minutes turning halfway through. The sugars will caramelise on the outside giving you a lovely coating.

Now just rest while you toast off the bread in the pan then layer up an epic sandwich. I always add a bit of lettuce, mayo and hot sauce to give it an extra kick.