This is another great summer recipe for your slow cooker, and it tastes even better if you finish it off on the barbecue. Pork belly is a really cheap cut, and it responds well to slow cooking. It is a very fatty joint, but by cooking it for a long time you render off a lot of the fat, which you can just skim off the top of the sauce.
I love recipes like this for when I am entertaining, as you get tasty results from not a great deal of effort, it’s a dig in and help yourself kind of dish which means you can enjoy your party too! This serves at least 4-6 but it really depends on the size of your pork joint, the size of your appetites, and the number of accompaniments you serve with it. I usually serve with pitta bread and a good home-made coleslaw and that’s it, couldn’t be easier.
Ingredients
- Belly Pork Joint – the biggest one you can fit into you slow cooker if you have leftovers then that a bonus, but I doubt you will!
- 2 star anise
- 2 tsp chilli flakes
- 2 tsp chilli sauce (whatever your favourite is)
- 2 tbs water
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled
- Ginger, thumb size piece cut into chunks, no need to peel
- ½ tsp sesame oil
Instructions
- Put belly joint into slow cooker
- Mix the water, chilli flakes, chilli sauce and sesame oil together and pour over the pork
- Stuff the garlic, ginger and star anise down the sides of the pork
- Cook on low for at least 6 hours, you will end up with more sauce and the steam will condense
- If your pork came with a rind, cool it slightly and then remove
- Put pork on a hot barbecue to get it nice and charred
- Remove the star anise, garlic and ginger from the sauce, skim off any excess fat and pour into a pan. Reduce by about half and serve with the pork
You can cook the pork the day before your barbecue and keep it in the fridge, then just bring it up to room temperature before charring on the barbecue.
