Braised pork belly & toasted quinoa & broccolini

Another favourite childhood food memory is mum's braised pork belly. I haven't quite replicated the way my mother makes this dish but I was happy with the result. The smell of this dish cooking away in the oven is divine, my visitors were commenting how good it smelt as the fragrant spices wafted through the house.

Having recently eaten at One Red Penny in Summer Hill, I was quite taken with the use of the toasted black quinoa and black barley for one of their dishes. Toasting quinoa is quite easy to do and I think it just lifted this dish to another level with the nutty crunch. It's so good that hubby has told me that this is his new favourite dish. May have to make this dish again soon.

 

Ingredients

2 tbs sugar

1 tbs rice bran oil

1 tbs Shao Hsing cooking wine

500g pork belly

4 cups of water

2 tbs dark soy

3cm thick piece of ginger cut into large slices

4 crushed garlic cloves

3 cardarmon pods

1 star anise

1 cinnamon quill

1 cup of water during cooking 

1 tbs black quinoa

1 tsp rice bran oil

1 bunch of broccolini 

 

Method

1. Preheat oven at 170 degrees Celsius. 

2. Cut pork belly into strips 2cm wide and 2cm thick.  Pour 1 tbs shao zhing wine over pork belly to marinate for 20 mins. 

3. Add sugar and oil to a heavy based pot over medium heat until sugar dissolves. 

4. Add pork belly to the pot to melted sugar. 

5. Add 4 cups of water into the pot. Add dark soy, garlic, cardarmon, star anise and cinnamon. 

6. Put into the oven for 2hrs.

7. Add another cup of water after it has cooked for 2 hours and continue cooking for another 1 hour. (The pork will be melt in your mouth tender) 

8. Cut broccolini in half so you end up with stems and florets. Boil water and blanch for 2 mins. Drain water and cool with cold running water. 

9. Add 1 tsp rice bran oil to a fry pan over medium heat. Rinse 1 tbs of black quinoa through a sieve before adding to the frypan. Shake the pan every 1 min for approximately 3mins until you hear quinoa popping and pour into a bowl to use for later.
 

10. Place broccolini on plate and pile with braised pork belly. Sprinkle toasted quinoa on top before serving.