Ben and I love modern Asian food, but I think everyone in Melbourne does... it would be un Melbournian to dislike it. Chin chin, Lucy Liu, Red Spice Road, Mr. Miyagi, we love them all. One of my favourite Melbourne dishes of all time is Red Spice Road's famous pork belly dish. Im sure if you've been to this restaurant you would have tried it. Its heavenly and its one for the books. We love heading out for dinner with friends and trying new and yummy foods, but obviously with the current bans in place, and the area we live in, its not exactly possible to head out, nor order uber eats all the way out in the sticks.
Today I decided I would make Red Spice Road's pork belly myself! Its got chilli caramel, amazing master stock, crisp apple slaw and the most delectable bits of crackly pork belly ever. This one is a little complicated, definitely not a weeknight number. If your wanting to make this dish, plan to do it on a weekend. You need to set aside a full morning or afternoon, there is a-lot of ingredients (lucky I keep a very well stocked and labelled pantry!) and quite a bit of prep involved with every-step. I do hope you make it, because all the effort is definitely worth it!
RED SPICE ROAD'S PORK BELLY WITH CHILLI CARAMEL AND APPLE SLAW
INGREDIENTS
1kg piece pork belly, boneless
1 litre Masterstock (see below further details)
200ml Chilli Caramel (see below for further details)
2 cups tapioca or rice starch
2 tbsp five-spice powder
1 tsp salt
1.5 litres vegetable oil for deep frying
black vinegar to serve
Master Stock
3L water
200ml light soy sauce
600ml shao xing wine
250g yellow rock sugar (palm sugar)
5 cloves garlic
2 cinnamon sticks
3 cloves
6 star anise
4 cardamon pods
1 teaspoon sichuan pepper
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
Chilli caramel
500g castor sugar
500ml water
3 small red chillies, chopped
12 whole star anise
200ml fish sauce
75ml light soy sauce
Apple slaw
1 cup finely shredded wombok (Chinese cabbage)
1 small handful coriander leaves, picked
13 Mint leaves, torn
1 small green apple
Apple Slaw Dressing
30ml lime juice
20ml fish sauce
1 tbsp castor sugar
METHOD
1. Make your masterstock by combining all masterstock ingredients in a pot. Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat, allow to cool, then strain.
2. Pre heat your oven to 180degrees. Place the pork belly into a tray, cover with 1L of masterstock, then cover the tray with foil.
3.Place the tray into the oven and cook for around four hours, checking occasionally to make sure that the liquid doesn't reduce too much. Add a little more masterstock if required.
4.Remove the pork belly from the liquid, set aside until cool, then refrigerate the pork until completely cold.
5.To make the chilli caramel, combine the sugar and water in a large saucepan. Place on to the heat and bring to the boil without stirring. Continue to boil until it starts to caramelise and resembles the colour of straw. Add the chilli, star anise, fish sauce and soy and stir together - turn off heat completely and leave for ten minutes. This will allow your flavours to infuse. Set aside for later use.
7.To make the apple slaw, place all the ingredients into a bowl. Set aside for later use.
8.To make the dressing, place all the ingredients into a small bowl, mix together thoroughly and set aside.
9.To serve, cut the pork into squares around 90 grams each, place in a large bowl and pour in around 100ml of water. Stir to coat.
10.Combine the tapioca starch, five-spice powder and salt in a large bowl and mix together thoroughly.
11.Place the pork pieces into the starch and stir to coat them thoroughly. Remove the pork from the starch, shaking off any excess.
12.Heat the oil in a wok to about 170C. You can test this by dropping in a piece of bread, which should start to colour almost immediately and float to the top.
13.Cook the pork in two batches, being careful not to overcrowd the wok. Cook the pieces for around five minutes, or until the outside is crisp and golden.
14.Place the pork into a serving bowl then pour over the chilli caramel. Add the dressing to your slaw, stirring to coat. Place the slaw on top of the pork.
15.Serve with a small jug of black vinegar. ENJOY!!!
L xx
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