Coconut-Water-Braised Crispy Pork Belly Bicol Express

Method

1. Cut the pork belly into 3 cm cubes and put them in a 20 cm pot with the coconut water, part of the garlic, crushed, and the salt. Bring to the boil on high heat, about 5 min, skim, then turn down to low heat, cover and braise for 40 min. When a chopstick slides in easily, lift out the pork and keep the braising liquid.

   Add in this stepPork belly, in one piece 500 gUnsweetened coconut water 500 mlGarlic cloves 2.4Salt ¾ tsp

   high heat→low heat

2. Pat the pork dry with kitchen paper and put it skin-side down in a dry 24 cm pan on medium-high heat for 8 min. Fat may spit, so keep a lid or splatter guard handy. When every side is golden and the edges are crisp, take the pork out and leave about 1 tablespoon of fat in the pan.

   medium-high heat

3. Add the thinly sliced shallots, the rest of the garlic (minced) and the ginger cut into fine matchsticks and fry on medium heat for 3 min until the shallots are soft and pale gold.

   Add in this stepShallots 3Garlic cloves 3.6Fresh ginger 15 g

   medium heat

4. Add the bagoong and the sliced bird's eye chillies and fry on medium-low heat for 1 min 30 sec until the bagoong smells toasty. The chillies can make sharp fumes, so open a window.

   Add in this stepBagoong alamang (ready-to-eat sautéed shrimp paste) 1½ tbspBird's eye chillies (siling labuyo) 3

   medium-low heat

5. Pour in the coconut milk and 100 ml of the braising liquid saved from step 1 and reduce on medium heat for 10 min, stirring, until the sauce thickly coats the back of a spoon. A little oil showing at the edges is just right.

   Add in this stepCoconut milk 350 ml

   medium heat

6. Add the crisp pork and the diagonally sliced long chillies and simmer on medium-low heat for 5 min, turning the pork in the sauce. Keep it short so the pork stays crisp.

   Add in this stepLong green chillies (siling haba) 4

   medium-low heat

7. Turn the heat off, add the coconut cream, fish sauce and lime juice and fold gently for 1 min. Adding the cream at the end keeps a fresh coconut flavour and a glossy finish. Serve straight away with hot rice.

   Add in this stepCoconut cream (kakang gata) 100 mlFish sauce 1 tspLime (or calamansi) ½