SWEET AND SOUR PORK WITH STICKY CARAMELISED PINEAPPLE

SERVED WITH SUMPTUOUS COCONUT RICE...

Ooooh I like this too much...Crispy succulent, juicy belly pork, sumptuously covered with a fabulous fresh sweet and sour sauce then tossed with the most gorgeous caramelised sticky pineapple that extra wow can't talk gotta keep eating making this dish one of my top favourite comfort eats...

Prep Time 10 minutes / Roasting Time Un-attended 1 hour / Cooking Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

(serves 4 or in my case a greedy 2!)

Crispy Five Spiced Belly Pork

1 kg belly pork skin on and not fridge cold

1 tbsp sea salt

1 tsp five spice powder (recipe below)

1 onion roughly chopped

1 green pepper roughly chopped

1 carrot roughly chopped

1 pineapple cubed

2 cups basmati rice

2 cups water

2 cups coconut milk

Sweet and Sour Sauce

125g sugar

50ml pineapple juice

6 tbsp white wine vinegar

4 tbsp tomato ketchup

1 tbsp light soy sauce

Five Spice Powder

1 tbsp star anise ground

1/4 - 1/2 tsp whole clove ground

1 tbsp fennel seeds ground

1 tbsp cinnamon powder

1 tbsp sichuan peppercorns ground

Mix all the ground spices together and that's it, the clove powder is personal, I am not the biggest fan of clove but I know it has its place in flavour, so ideally 1 tbsp would be correct for this recipe but I just find that so over powering on my taste, therefore I have lowered it to what I find beautiful, so this is a taste experience for you to develop for your personal flavour...

The Sweet and Sour Pork

Pre heat your oven to 220 C / 430 F and place the roasting tray in the oven to warm up, meanwhile take you side of belly pork that ideally has been out of the fridge for at least an hour or two.  Using kitchen paper pat the skin side so that it is completely dry.  Rub in the salt and five spice all over the skin, this is the key to crispy crackling.  Pop in the oven and leave to cook for 30 minutes then turn down the heat to 200 C / 392 F for the last 20 - 30 minutes.  Once cooked remove from the oven and leave to rest on the side while you make the sticky pineapple and sweet and sour sauce.

When the pork has 20 minutes left to cook place the rice in a pan with the water and coconut milk, bring to a simmer, pop on the lid and leave on a gentle simmer for 10 minutes, do not at any point take the lid off or stir the rice, stirring rice makes it more glutinous and stodgy.  When the 10  minutes is up just take the rice off the heat and leave for a further 10  minutes to finish cooking under its own steam.

While the pork is resting make the sweet and sour sauce, heat a frying pan to a medium heat, add the oil and the pineapple and sear the pineapple for a couple of minutes you want to catch the sides so that they brown up a little, then add the onions and green pepper and cook for a further minute, next add the sugar and stir in, leave the pan alone for a couple of minutes to allow the sugar to caramelise, but not burn, the sugar will change colour to a light brown, don't let it get to dark or it will become a solid caramel mass when you add the liquid!  When the sugar has lightly caramelised add the pineapple juice and white wine vinegar, there will be an eruption of spitting bubbles, that's good, stir well next add the tomato ketchup, soy and stir in, if you feel the sauce is too thick add more pineapple juice.

Slice the crispy belly pork in to inch square bites and add to the sweet and sour sauce along with any rested cooking juices and your good to go, serve with your perfectly cooked coconut rice.