Southern Thai-inspired braised pork belly with peppercorns
- Published: 1 Oct 24
- Updated: 1 Oct 24
This sticky pork belly dish is inspired by moo hong, a recipe from Phuket in southern Thailand. Simmered for hours, the peppercorn-packed sauce mellows as it cooks, leaving you with complex floral flavours and a warming heat. Perfect for a Sunday batch cook: dish it up hot, then freeze then rest.
Fill your freezer with more delicious batch cook dishes.
Before you start
Blanching pork is a method used in Asia and the Caribbean to remove proteins that can turn a sauce cloudy and affect its flavour, a bit like skimming the foam when making stock. It’s not strictly necessary, but we recommend it with dishes like this.
You can easily double or triple this recipe – just simmer a little longer to get the right consistency.
Ingredients
- 1.4kg pork belly, cut into 3-4cm cubes
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 5 star anise
- 1½ tbsp black peppercorns
- 400g banana shallots, sliced
- 12 garlic cloves
- 50g coriander, stalks and leaves separated
- 2 tbsp palm sugar
- 4 tbsp oyster sauce
- 4 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
To serve
- 60g roasted peanuts, whizzed to a powder
- ½ tsp caster sugar
Method
- Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Add the pork and cook for 1 minute, skimming away any scum that rises to the surface. Drain the pork, rinse under cold running water, then set aside.
- Add the oil to a large heavy- based pan over a low-medium heat. Once hot, add the star anise and 1⁄2 tbsp peppercorns, sizzle for 30 seconds, then add the sliced shallots with a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes until softened.
- Meanwhile, add the garlic, coriander stalks and remaining peppercorns to a food processor with 40ml water and whizz to a paste. Add this to the shallots and cook for 3 minutes before stirring in the pork. Add the palm sugar, oyster sauce and both soy sauces, then stir for a couple of minutes to coat the meat.
- Pour in 2 litres water and bring to the boil, skimming off any foamy bubbles on the surface. Once boiling, turn the heat down to low and leave to simmer gently (uncovered) for 21⁄2 hours.
- Transfer the pork to a serving bowl (or divide among bowls with rice). Mix together the whizzed peanuts and sugar and sprinkle it over the pork, adding some of the chopped coriander leaves to finish.
- Recipe from October 2024 Issue
Nutrition
- Calories
- 585kcals
- Fat
- 43g (14g saturated)
- Protein
- 38g
- Carbohydrates
- 12g (9.7g sugars)
- Fibre
- 1.6g
- Salt
- 3.2g
delicious. tips
Make to the end of step 4, leave the pork belly to cool completely, then cover and keep in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Reheat with a splash of water.
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