small plate, sweet, medium skill level recipe
Seb Holmes
pork belly, roast pork belly, soy, sweet soy, kejap manis, shallots, basil, spices, star anise, cassia bark, Thai cinnamon, palm sugar
2 Comments
small plate, sweet, medium skill level recipe
Seb Holmes
pork belly, roast pork belly, soy, sweet soy, kejap manis, shallots, basil, spices, star anise, cassia bark, Thai cinnamon, palm sugar
2 Comments
Sticky pork with som tam salad is one of those quintessentially Thai dishes that as soon as you taste it’s intense flavours, your taste buds will be wanting more forever. Every time I get the large wooden som tam pestles and mortars out at the restaurant the smell of dried shrimp, garlic and fish sauce ingrained into the wood takes me back to my mornings in Kho Phangan when travelling Thailand as an 18 year old little idiot. Stumbling along the beach one sunny morning like Bambi on ice after consuming literal buckets of Sangsom rum and red bull mixers the previous evening, I could not help but to be drawn in by the rich seafood smell of shrimp, palm sugar, fish sauce and lime juice getting sprayed through the sea air along with the satisfying thump, thump, thump of the wooden pestle and mortar that echoes across the beach. Som tam very quickly evolved from hang over cure to staple for me and became one of my favourite things to eat. It’s rich, sweet, salty yet savoury flavours make the salad a perfect one to impress friends. Som tam to the Thais varies on an almost infinite level from area to area, as paella does to the Spanish, or bolognese to the Italians. For me this sticky pork belly with som tam is some of the best sh*t you can ever ask for, if you don’t like it then you must be broken and you should probably get yourself looked at. I appreciate that I have not actually posted a som tam recipe yet but I will bear it in mind and get one up soon, in the meantime I will soullessly self promote and mention that there is a great recipe in my cookbook, Cook Thai. Me and the team atFaranglike to cold smoke the pumpkin and the pork belly over cherry wood in this recipe first, however a salt roast is a little easier to do at home without setting any alarms off or making your house smell like a bonfire so I have used this method in this recipe. In Thailand this is often eaten with sticky rice to dip.
Serves 2-3 people
Ingredients
300g, pork belly, skin removed
100g pumpkin, peeled and chopped into roughly 2cm by 2cm chunks
5g coarse sea salt
2 fresh bay leaves, dried will work fine
1-star anise
1 x 4cm long piece of cassia bark (cinnamon sticks will do)
500g palm sugar (dark soft brown sugar can also be used)
100ml oyster sauce
300ml vegetable stock
50ml dark soy sauce
100ml fish sauce
1 pandan leaf, tied in a knot and torn to release flavour (this can be left out if you cannot find one)
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
4 banana shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
500ml, sunflower oil, for deep frying the shallots
.
Method
Firstly get the pumpkin and the pork belly ready for cooking. In two separate boiling pots and bring some salted water to the boil, once boiling turn down to a simmer and add the whole chunk of pork belly into one pan and the pumpkin to the other. Cook the pumpkin for around 6-8 minutes and then remove and refresh under cold water, it should be softened but still very firm and holding its shape, not mushy, at this stage sprinkle the pumpkin with the coarse sea salt. Carefully cook the pork belly for around 15-20 minutes making sure not to boil the water whilst the pork is in it, the slower it is boiled the more tender it will be, remove once the pork has cooked throughout and all impurities have been cooked out of it, for best results use a themometer and aim to keep the meat at around 70-80 degrees for around 3-4 hours until very tender. leave aside to cool slightly. Once cool, chop the pork into roughly 2cm by 2cm chunks.
Next make the sauce. In a separate oven proof pan add the sugar, vegetable stock, oyster sauce, dark soy, pandan leaf, cassia bark, star anise and 50ml of the fish sauce to start. Heat all of this together gently and once melted add the chopped pork belly and stir well, making sure to coat all of the pork belly. Next, make a cartouche and place it over the top of the pork belly mix in the pan then turn the heat to a simmer and leave to cook for around 30-40 minutes. At this stage remove from the oven and add the blanched pumpkin and delicately fold it into the mix making sure not to mash up any pork or pumpkin, then returnto the heat for a further 5-10 minutes. Check the pork before you remove from the heat entirely, it should be slightly caramelised and tender, the pumpkin should be soft and ready to serve at this point, be careful handling it as it will be soft to the touch.
Meanwhile heat the oil in a medium pan on a high heat (roughly 180 degrees centigrade), once this is hot place one piece of shallot into the oil to ensure it is not too hot, the shallot should bubble and fizz in a controlled manner, if it hisses then the oil is too hot so turn it off and allow to cool for a few minutes before going again. Fry the shallots until they are beginning to turn golden brown and then remove and strain on a clean tray with kitchen towel to get rid of all excess oil. Use a fork to pick apart the shallots as they tend to cook together in clumps, as the shallots cool they will crisp up and become perfect for garnish.
Serve the sticky pork and pumpkin straight out of the oven, topped with the sliced spring onions and the crispy shallots. For the best experience eat immediately and as suggested above eat with som tam salad and some Thai sticky rice for mopping up all the rich juices.
Thanks for reading and I hope you like the recipe, please do let me know your comments if you cook it up, (unless you don’t like it of course in which case you can bugger off).
Hopefully I’ll see you inFarangsoon for a bite.
Cheers,
Seb Holmes
Head chef & founder of Farang London restaurant. Cookbook author of ‘Cook Thai’ & ‘Thai in 7’. Chief curry paste basher and co-founder of Payst London.
