Roast Pork

INGREDIENTS

1.5kg pork belly, tell the butcher it is for roasting to get a sufficiently fatty cut

4 tsp coarse sea salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven, set on roast, to 230 deg C.

2. Score the skin of the pork belly length-wise. The cuts should be about 0.5cm deep and about 1- to 2cm apart.

3. Rub 1 tsp of salt and black pepper on the underside of the pork belly, then turn it over and rub the remaining salt over the skin (right). Ensure that salt is rubbed between each slit in the skin, and if necessary, use more salt.

4. Place the pork belly on a grill rack and roast on the middle tray in the oven for 30 minutes or until the skin starts to brown.

5. Reduce the temperature to 180 deg C and roast for another 45 minutes to an hour until the skin is golden brown.

6. Switch to grill mode and raise the temperature to 230 deg C for seven minutes. Check freq- uently to ensure that the crackling does not burn.

7. Lower to 220 deg C and leave the oven door partially open. Roast for seven more minutes. Tap the back of a metal spoon against the crackling; if it produces a hollow sound, the pork belly is done.

Serves eight


CHILLI SAUCE

INGREDIENTS

10 red chillies

2 bird's eye chilli (optional)

2cm piece ginger

3 cloves garlic

60ml rice vinegar

1 small cube red fermented beancurd, or nan ru in Mandarin

2 tsp sauce from the jar of red fermented beancurd

2 tsp sugar

4 small Calamansi limes, juiced

2 tsp mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine)

2 tsp soya sauce

2 tsp sesame oil

METHOD

1. Blend chillies, ginger, garlic and rice vinegar in a food processor on high speed until a fine paste forms. Set aside 4 tsp and keep the remaining chilli paste as a condiment for flavouring other dishes.

2. Mix 4 tsp of the chilli paste with the red fermented beancurd, sugar, lime juice, mirin, soya sauce and sesame oil until well incorporated.