Caramelised Pork Belly Sliders

Beautiful bite sized buns made with Kylie Kwong’s Braised Pork Belly.

Quite a few years ago when I went travelling with some friends to Singapore and Japan I found a pair of thick framed glasses (when they were all the rage) that I wore for the hell of it. I was, without any hesitation nicknamed Kylie Kwong; partially in part because of sexual preference but mostly because in some strange way, I LOOKED LIKE HER. Raging, thick framed beauty cooking up a storm in the tiny kitchen of a hostel in Tokyo. So following in tradition, many years later I’ve taken one of Kwong’s best family recipes and used them to make the ultimate pork belly bun.

This two pronged recipe is quite lengthy, so I will break up the Ingredients into two parts; Kwong’s caramelised pork belly and my slider put together, which takes NO time at all.

Some of these ingredients may be hard to find, but between an Asian grocer and a more metropolitan supermarket you will find all the ingredients. ALWAYS ask the butcher for female pork belly. Male pork tends to have a pungent smell that is quite distinct and over powering at times.

Ingredients

Serves six

Kwong’s Caramelised Pork Belly

600gm female pork belly cut into 2.5cm cubes

1 cup brown sugar

3 limes, juice only

2 tbsp fish sauce

Red braising stock

2½ cups Shaoxing wine

1½ cups organic tamari

1 cup brown sugar

6garlic cloves, coarsely crushed

90 gm(18cm piece) ginger, thinly sliced

4spring onions, trimmed and halved lengthways

5star anise

2cinnamon quills

3pieces of orange rind, removed with a peeler

1 tsp sesame oil

Pork Belly Sliders

6 plain white buns

1 cucumber

1 bunch coriander/cilantro

Sliced pork belly

Directions

Start by boiling your pork belly to remove all impurities, then running under cold water. This only requires a 5 – 10 minute boil. Next, combine red braising stock and bring to the boil, then let sit and infuse for 30 minutes. When infused, add pork belly and simmer for 1 to 1.5 hours until tender. To make caramel, combine brown sugar and 250 ml water and simmer for 20 minutes until caramel forms. Soon after add lime juice and fish sauce. Slice pork belly and drizzle with caramel.

Steam buns as directed on packet. While buns are steaming, slice cucumber length ways. Place a slice of pork belly on the bun with cucumber and coriander and finish with a drizzle of caramel