#Indian Spiced Roast #Pork Belly

I usually just make a simple roast pork belly seasoned with salt and pepper, and then jazz it up like in Crispy Asian Pork Belly Salad or serving with a tasty side like braised Italian.red cabbage.

Last night I decided to try adding some Indian flavours by using a sea salt rub and spicy paste, then roasting over a bed of dried chillies, using a similar technique technique to Indian Hunters Style Roast Lamb, but not needing any extra ghee or oil.

The fat from the roasting pork “fries” the dried chillies and curry leaves underneath releasing a smoking, spicy flavour into the pork. There is hardly any fat or oil left when the cooking process is complete as the chillies absorb all the oil.

The resulting pork was slightly spiced and went deliciously with my Pineapple, coconut and chilli sambal and a crispy, crunchy Shredded Brussel Sprout and Green Bean salad.

Prep time: 2 hours including marination cooking time: 2 hours

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:
600g boneless pork belly with the skin scored (Ask your butcher to do that)

Sea Salt Rub
1 tablespoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon fennel powder
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Garlic Spice Paste
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon fennel powder
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon vegetable or olive oil

For Roasting:
15 dried red chillies
2 stalks of curry leaves

Method:

Combine sea salt rub ingredients in a small bowl.

Crush garlic with table salt to a paste in a mortar and pestle.

Combine garlic spice paste ingredients in a seperate small bowl

Place pork skin side down on a board.

Pierce meat side of pork with a knife to make lots of little “holes”.

Rub garlic spice paste thoroughly into the meat side of the pork.

Turn pork over.

Pat top of pork (skin side) as dry as you can get, and then rub half of the sea salt mixture into the skin and scored surfaces.

Place pork in fridge uncovered for 1-2 hours or overnight to dry out.

Heat oven to 220 degrees celcius on fan force.

Line a roasting tray that the pork can fit snugly into with foil, then baking paper.

Break dried chillies in half and lay with the curry leaves on the tray in area that pork will be placed on.

Remove pork from fridge, pat top dry again and rub rest of sea salt mixture into the skin side. place pork directly on the bed of dried chillies and curry leaves.

Place in oven to roast for 30 minutes at 220 degrees then reduce heat to 170 degrees for another 1 hour and 20 minutes. Pork should be just cooked by now with juices running clear.

Turn on grill or turn up oven to highest heat to finish off the crackling, watching carefully so the skin puffs up more but doesn’t burn

Remove pork from roasting pan, brushing off all the chillies and curry leaves from the underside, then allow to rest for 10 minutes or so, before sticking into thinking pieces to serve.