Roasted Crispy Pork Belly with Bok Choy: An Teach Bia

Ingredients

• 1kg of pork belly with skin on
• A splash of olive oil
• A cup of cider
• A teaspoon of ground fennel
• 4 Star aniseed
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 onion, cut into quarters
• A tablespoon of Chinese 5 spice
• 2 Bok Choy
• 2 tablespoons of sesame seed oil
• A teaspoon of sesame seeds
• A tablespoon of light soy sauce
• Two tablespoons clear honey
• 200g carrots
• 1/2 stick celery
• 1/2 leek
• Thumb sized piece of fresh ginger grated with microplane
• Seasalt and grounded black pepper

Method

The night before, make a mix of all dry ingredients above: ground fennel, star aniseed, garlic, Chinese 5 spice, ginger, and seasalt and ground black pepper.

Score your pork belly with diagonal criss cross with a sharp knife.

Dry rub ingredients into top and bottom of pork belly.

Let sit in fridge overnight to penetrate aromats.

In a roasting tray, caramelise the onion, carrot, celery, leek and star aniseed and glaze with cider.

Day 2: Pre heat oven to 190C/ 170C fan. In a thick based roasting tray, place the pork belly on a pivot of the glazed vegetables.

Cover with tinfoil and roast for half an hour.

At this stage, baste the pork belly with the juice.

Cook for a further 20 minutes, adding more cider if the bottom of the pan is dry.

Now turn the heat up to 220C/ 200C fan. To make the skin crispy, sprinkle sea salt over the top, for that nice crackling effect. Then back into oven for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and let rest for twenty minutes. Strain the cooking juices from the veg pivot and mix with honey, this is going to be your glazing sauce. Reduce to a glaze in consistency.

In a non- stick pan, dry toast sesame seeds over a medium heat, stirring continuously, this will be done in a matter of seconds.

To cook bok choy: Wash and pat dry the bok choy. Cut chunky. Then, in hot pan, stir- fry in sesame seed oil, a splash of soy and a splash of honey.

Plate up and enjoy.