the kitchen runner: Korean Braised Spicy Pork Belly

One pot wonders are truly a wonder. A party of flavours cooked in a single pot over a slow period of time. The aroma coming from this pot travels and lingers longingly. Patience is tested. A taste is not an option for another few hours. Patience rewards.

This particular pot was quite a torture. Every time I lifted the lid, to sir, the spicy scent from the sauce escaped and teased my scent sensory. Braised pork belly, you will soon be eaten, fat and all. :D

What makes this stew different than others is the sauce used. Korean sauces has an array of flavours in their dishes and its hard to extract each individual ingredient as they then to blend so seamlessly together.

So to begin, let's start by making the sauce!

Spicy Sauce Ingredients:

5-6 cloves of garlic

1/2 of onion

1 asian pear or alternately I used 2 gala apples (I had a fridge drawer full of it :D)

3 tbsp of gochujang - korean chili paste

2 tbsp of soy sauce

1 tbsp of sesame oil

salt and white pepper

Directions:

Over medium high heat, pan fry the cloves of garlic until light golden brown with olive oil. This will enhance the sweet flavour of the garlic and cook out the bitter kick. Once golden, turn off heat and set aside.

Next, peel off the skin of asian pear or apple, whichever you decide to use and slice onions. Asian pear will provide a sweet savory liquid component to the sauce without the need to dilute with water.

You will need a food processor to pulse all the ingredients together. In the process bowl equipped with the blade, throw in the sliced onions, cubed apple (since that's what I used instead of pear) and all other ingredients found above list. EXCEPT for the sesame oil.

Pulse until it comes together looking like below picture.

Now add in your sesame oil and mix. Tada! Your sauce is completed. :) Set aside.

Next, lets prepare the vegetables. You'll need one whole turnip root, carrot stalk, 2 - 3 sticks of sweet long pepper & green onion stalks.

Peel off skin of turnip and carrot. Cut in 3/4" slices.

Slice peppers in 1/2" pieces. Optional to keep or remove the seeds.

Only use 3-4 bottom part of the green onion stalks.

Set vegetables aside. Let's prepare the pork belly now!

Pork belly are sold in different ways, as a huge slab, thinly sliced or pre-cut into huge chunks. For this particular dish, you'll want the big chunks, approximately a pound of it. Most of the pork belly come with the skin on. If you are a skilled butcher, feel free to slice off the skin, otherwise, just leave it on. You don't need to eat it. :)

Tip: slice the meat using a knife but since the skin is real tough, I recommend using a kitchen scissor to cut the skin part.

We are almost done prepping!

Let's start putting the pot together.

Line the bottom of the ceramic pot with the radish. This will act as a barrier for the pork from touching direct heat, allowing the meat to slowly heat up and soften during cooking time.

Add some of the other vegetables too.

Layer the pork belly on top like so.

Next, spread all the sauce overtop.

Add the rest of the vegetables overtop. Add a little bit of water (approx. 1/4 cup) into the bowl that use to hold the sauce, scrap down and mix any leftover sauce and pour overtop of vegetables.

Turn on heat to medium low and cover. Allow the contents in the pot to slowly heat up without forcing the heat. This will take approximately 30-40 mins before bubbles is visible on top. Avoid taking off the lid at this time.

Once you see bubbles on top, turn down the heat to low and allow to simmer for another 2 - 3 hours.

That's how it looks after simmering for 1.5hrs. You can see the sauce has somewhat reduced.

After another 1hr on the stove. I added fried tofu balls to the pot just because. This is optional. Simmer for another hour. The fat from the pork belly will melt, adding flavour to the sauce. ;)