Category: pomegranate

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black bean roast pork belly

black bean roasted pork belly

If you’re a carnivore, I hope you like pork belly. When treated right, it’s dream-like: crisp, puffed-up skin that crunches to the tooth; the layer of creamy, wibbly fat; and the tender, succulent flesh. Here I’ve chosen to coat it with black bean sauce to amp up the savoury notes. Read on for the recipe.

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I was spurred on to try this by the good folk at Amoy, given that I’m on the crest of an Asian wave right now hearing from them couldn’t be more timely. They sent me some of their soy sauces (the lemongrass and kaffir lime one is delicious), as well as stir fry sauces such as black bean (more on this later) hoi sin and others.

They also sent me some of their dinner kits: all the complicated bits of some meals ready to cook, adding meat, fish and/or vegetables to complete. They’re pretty much bung-in-a-pan-and-fry I tried all of them and they varied from OK to really tasty. The laksa was an interesting meal but tasted more like satay, not the warming, meaty broth I’m used to. The nasi goreng however was triumphant, a really enjoyable rice dish with a fragrant spice. They retail at £2.99 which I found about 50p to £1 too much, but querying it with friends who would regularly buy these products thought that reasonable.

Thai green curry
nasi goreng

Back to the pork. I thought it would be a good idea to coat the pork in black bean sauce, and I wasn’t wrong. Deglazing the pan with pomegranate juice gives you a sticky sweet-savoury sauce for dipping and pouring.

Find more Amoy Asian flavours at Utterly Scrummy.

Here’s a very detailed roast pork belly article from Greedy Gourmet.

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black bean roast pork belly

Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

  • 1.5 kg pork belly
  • 2 sachets Amoy black bean sauce
  • 2 red onions halved
  • 500 ml pomegranate juice

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 220C.
  • Get the pork belly in a roasting dish and score the skin. Pour over a sachet of the black bean sauce. Rub sea salt into the scorelines and pop the onion halves around the meat. Roast for 20 minutes.
  • Turn down the heat to 160C and add the other sachet of sauce. Cook for another hour or until the pork reaches 65C when tested with a thermometer.
  • Remove the pork to the side and cover to rest. Put the roasting tray on top of a hob and add the pomegranate juice. Bring to the boil and reduce by half. Serve the pork in thick slices with the dipping sauce on the side to drizzle over. Serve with potato wedges dusted with five-spice.
  • TIP: if the skin isn't as crisp as you'd like, use a long knife to separate from the flesh and puff up under a screaming hot grill.
Categories
beansprouts broccoli food noodles onion peppers pomegranate pork red onion

roast pork belly and broccoli pomegranate stir fry

This is a hefty Sunday lunch in disguise. There’s quite a lot going on here so you have to plan ahead but by golly it’s worth it. There’s quite a few pans to have on the go too. The pomegranate juice makes it – sticky and sweet. That with juicy belly pork, crunchy veg and tasty noodles, this is a really interesting plateful with every mouthful slightly different.

This recipe is from Alex Mackay’s Everybody, Everyday. The recipe makes enough for 4 with pork, onions and juice left over so keep that in mind! I reheated mine with some wet polenta which works really well. You can see other recipes from this book that I’ve cooked here.

Pork and pomegranate stir fry (serves 4):

1kg boneless belly pork

6 red onions, peeled and halved

500ml pomegranate juice

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

500ml chicken stock

2 teaspoons cornflour mixed with a splash of water

8 dried apricots, finely chopped

1 heaped tablespoon rosemary, finely chopped

1 head of broccoli

1 clove garlic, peeled and minced

1 red pepper, sliced

1 carrot, peeled

3 nests cooked noodles

1 pack beansprouts

  1. Preheat the oven 160°C. Score the pork belly with a sharp knife and rub all over with salt. Get a thick-bottomed roasting tray on a high hob and get a little oil really hot. Add the pork skin side down. Turn the heat down and fry for 10 minutes. One the crackling looks golden add the onion halves, flip the pork over and put it on top of the onions. Transfer to the oven. Roast for 25 minutes.
  2. While the pork roasts, bring the soy sauce, pomegranate juice and stock together in a saucepan to the boil. Reduce by two-thirds and whisk in the cornflour, add the rosemary and apricots and turn off the heat.
  3. When the pork reaches 65°, remove from the oven to rest. Slice thickly and use reserve half for another recipe. Put the onions to one side and use half of these in another recipe.
  4. Take a lidded saucepan and put it over a high heat. Trim your broccoli into florets and halve each one so they have a flat side (this will catch and create a lovely toasted flavour). Add the florets to the pan for abut 3 mins, then add the garlic, a sprinkle of salt, a splash of water and jam the lid on. After another 3 mins shake vigorously until tender, and then put to one side until you’re ready to stir fry.
  5. Get your largest wok out over a high heat. Add a dash of oil and fry the red pepper for a couple of minutes. Add the beansprouts and cook for a further minute, add the pork, 5 or 6 onion halves, broccoli and use a peeler to shave in the carrot in thin strips. Keep it moving as much as you can, and add about 200ml of the sauce from earlier. Toss in the noodles and keep stirring. When everything gets up to temperature sprinkle over some chilli flakes and serve. Eat immediately.
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