“You had me at pork belly”- Dorothy in Jerry Maguire

Okay, I know she said “hello” but it should have been pork belly.  I mean seriously, it’s pork belly y’all!  What else do you need in life besides some pork and fat??  I get all jelly in the knees over it, especially when it’s slow cooked and oh so tender, like this Thai Braised Pork Belly.  I’m a big fan.

Pork belly has commonly been used for bacon or salt pork in the United States but it’s popularity has surged over the past several years in restaurants.  I’ve seen it go from being exclusively sold in Asian food markets to now being readily available in local grocery stores.  In college, I cooked a lot of Asian cuisine and fell in love with belly.  I couldn’t get enough of it.  It seemed like weekly I was making Chinese crispy pork belly and braised belly.  A huge plus was that it was super cheap and fit right in with my student budget.  Sadly, the price of belly has pretty much tripled in price per pound due to demand and that sucks big time for people like me who are addicted to it.  Regardless of price, I continue to buy (and eat) a lot of it and refuse to ration my pork belly consumption.  Not gonna do it.

Look for a meaty belly with the skin-on for this dish.  To cut the richness of the belly, serve it with white jasmine rice and stir-fried crisp veggies.  Here’s a tip:  Make extra of the belly, rice, and veggies to make an easy fried rice for the next night’s dinner.  OMG!  I cannot stress enough how freaking awesome leftover Thai style braised pork belly is in fried rice.  Not. Kidding. At. All.

By the way, this has nothing to do with pork belly BUT we finished the camper renovation last weekend.   YAY!!  You have no idea how happy I am to finally be D-O-N-E with that darn camper.  I going to try to take some pictures today of it to write a post for next week.  I’m so excited and can’t wait to show you all the result!  Also, we are taking it to the beach this weekend so cross your fingers that all goes well on our camping trial run

Hope you try this recipe for Thai Braised Pork Belly and don’t forget to make fried rice with the leftovers the next day!

5.0 from 4 reviews

Braised Thai Pork Belly

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

1 hour 30 mins

Total time

1 hour 40 mins

 

Author: Tasty Ever After

Recipe type: Entree

Cuisine: Thai

Serves: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 2 pounds meaty pork belly, skin-on and cut into 1" cubes
• 1 Tb olive oil
• 1 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1 cup water
• ¼ cup dark soy sauce
• ¼ cup fish sauce
• ¼ cup unseasoned rice vinegar
• ¼ cup dry sherry
• 2 whole cloves of fresh garlic, minced
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
• 1 tsp granulated sucanat (can substitute brown sugar)
• ½ tsp white pepper
• 1 fresh lime

Instructions

1. Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottomed pot and over medium-high heat. Add the pork belly and fry until all cubes are thoroughly browned. Add all of the remaining ingredients to the browned pork belly in the pot and bring the sauce to a boil. Reduce heat to low, stir well, and half cover the pot with a lid. Simmer until the liquid has reduced and the pork belly is tender, about 1 to 1½ hours.
2. Squeeze fresh lime juice over the cooked pork belly. Serve with plain jasmine rice and stir-fried vegetables.
3. Tip: Use leftovers to make fried rice for the next day's lunch or dinner! :)

3.3.3077

 

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