Thai Braised Pork Belly Recipe

Our Pork Belly is on special offer this week. Free-range and slow-growing, it delivers beautifully tender meat with rich, yielding fat and some of the finest crackling you'll find anywhere. This week we're taking it somewhere a little unexpected — a fragrant Thai braise with tofu and fresh basil that's as comforting as it is bold. It serves eight, making it ideal for a relaxed dinner with friends.

Ingredients

- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1.5–2kg Lidgates pork belly, bone removed if present, cut into 8 pieces, skin on
- 2 onions, sliced
- 8 spring onions, sliced
- 4 tsp caster sugar
- 3 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 tsp chicken stock powder
- 900g firm tofu, cut into cubes
- 3 small packs Thai basil, leaves only
- 1 tsp salt

For the spice paste:
- 50g fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
- 6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 10 fat green chillies, seeds in, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil

Method

1. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a heavy, wide flameproof casserole over a medium-high heat. Working in batches, brown the pork pieces skin-side down for around 5 minutes until golden and beginning to crisp. Set aside. While the pork colours, blitz the ginger, garlic, chillies and oil in a food processor to a rough paste.

2. Add the remaining oil to the casserole, tip in the onions and spring onions, and cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes until softened. Reduce the heat, stir in the spice paste and fry gently for 2–3 minutes until fragrant.

3. Return the pork to the pot and pour over enough cold water to just cover. Add the sugar, both soy sauces, rice wine vinegar, stock powder and salt, then bring to the boil. Cover with a lid, reduce to a low simmer and cook for 1 hour 30 minutes.

4. Add the tofu and Thai basil, stir gently and continue to cook for a further 30 minutes. By this point the pork will be meltingly tender and the broth deeply flavoured. Taste, adjust the seasoning, and serve with steamed jasmine rice.