Rick Stein’s Filipino Pork Belly Adobo with Mango Atchara
Inspired by the classic Filipino dish, Rick Stein's Pork Belly Adobo is served with a quick mango pickle as a bright contrast to the meat.
From the book
Introduction
Prior to going to Belfast to film an episode of my latest TV series, I had almost no knowledge of Filipino cuisine. I can only say – what have I been missing? We visited an amazing stall called Kubo, run by chef Nallaine, and we filmed a traditional Filipino lunch called a ‘kamayan’ in which seven or eight dishes are laid out along a strip of banana leaf for everyone to help themselves and eat with their hands. The star turn for me, and the centre of the whole spread, was the pork belly adobo. Like many Filipino savoury dishes, it is cooked with dark sugar, vinegar and soy sauce which are then reduced right down to coat the meat. The adobo, which can be made with chicken instead of pork, is a typically Asian way of producing wonderfully flavoured food, while the vinegary sauce also helps to preserve the meat in a tropical climate and is utterly delicious. The mango pickle and the special rice flavoured with pandan leaf are great accompaniments. Sugar cane vinegar is much used in Filipino cooking and can be bought in the UK but if you don’t have any, use apple cider vinegar.
Ingredients
| 2 tbsp | vegetable oil |
| 900g | pork belly, skinned weight, cut into cubes |
| 1 | onion, sliced |
| 9 | garlic cloves, finely chopped |
| 4 | dried bay leaves |
| 1 tbsp | black pepper |
| 250ml | sugar cane vinegar, or apple cider vinegar |
| 125ml | dark soy sauce |
| 3 tbsp | fish sauce |
| 4 tbsp | dark brown soft sugar |
| ½ tsp | salt (add at the end after tasting, if required) |
| For the mango atchara: | |
|---|---|
| 2 | unripe (green) mangoes |
| 2 tbsp | raisins |
| 250ml | sugar cane vinegar vinegar or apple cider vinegar |
| 45g | caster sugar |
| 1 | bay leaf |
| 2 | whole cloves |
| 2 | whole garlic cloves, crushed or grated |
| 3-4 | peppercorns, crushed |
| ½ tsp | salt |
| To serve: | |
| Jasmine rice |
Method
Ideally, make the mango atchara a couple of hours ahead of time, but don’t prepare it days ahead as the vinegar will break down the mango flesh and make it soggy.
Slice the mangoes into sticks 1–2cm thick and put them in a bowl with the raisins. Put the vinegar, sugar, bay leaf, cloves, garlic, peppercorns and salt in a pan and stir to combine. Place over a medium heat and stir until the sugar is fully dissolved. Leave to cool until the liquid is warm to the touch of your hand but not fully cooled, then pour over the mangoes and raisins in the bowl. Cover with foil.
For the pork, heat the oil in a wide pan over a medium heat. Add the pork belly and fry for about 5 minutes until browned on all sides. Then add the onion, garlic, bay leaves and black pepper and fry until the onion is translucent.
Add the vinegar, dark soy sauce, fish sauce and sugar, then stir to combine. Simmer over a medium-low heat, uncovered, for about 45 minutes until the pork is tender and the liquid has reduced to below the level of the pork. Turn the heat down low and continue to cook, stirring so the pork doesn’t stick to the pan, until the liquid has thickened and is coating the pieces of pork. The soy sauce makes this quite salty already, but taste and add more salt if required.
Serve the pork with the mango atchara and jasmine rice.
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