Vietnamese Braised Pork Belly In Coconut Milk

• 500g pork belly, rind removed and dice into chunks
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 onion, finely sliced
• 25g ginger, peeled and sliced into matchsticks
• 1 tbsp dried chilli flakes
• Pinch ground black pepper
• 400g coconut milk
• 200ml water / chicken stock
• 100g kale
• 2-3 tbsp fish sauce
• 1-2 tsp palm sugar

• Peel, chop and slice all of your ingredients before you begin to cook. Gather the rest of your ingredients so you are ready to begin.

• In a pan over a medium high heat, add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, followed by the onion, cook until softened, add the ginger and continue to cook on low heat.

• In a separate frying pan, add a couple of spoons of vegetable oil, heat until smoking hot, add the sear the pork belly cubes until golden brown. Depending on the size of your pan, this may need to be done in batches. Add the pork belly to the ginger and onion along with the chilli flakes and continue to cook for 5-10 minutes until flavours are well combined. Add a teaspoon of black pepper and stir well.

• Pour in about a third of the coconut milk can, cook for a couple of minutes after adding the rest of the can, mix well and top up with approximately 200ml of chicken stock or water. Bring to a vigorous boil before reducing the heat and simmer on medium to low heat for 45 minutes. If you simmer for 1.5-2 hours the pork will become even softer and the coconut stock will thicken up more too. The longer you simmer for, the tastier this dish becomes.

• Once the meat has softened and the sauce has reduced, add the kale, and season with the fish sauce and palm sugar, stir through to allow the palm sugar to melt through and then taste for seasoning. You are looking for a good balance of sweet, spicy and salty. Stir and cook with a lid on for a further 5 minutes until kale has wilted and softened, then serve with steamed rice.