Roasted Pork Belly with Five-Spice Powder ((Thit quay hung liu))

Roasted pork with five spice powder is a very simple dish and I guest once you make it, everyone will love it. It smells so good that whenever I made this dish, my husband came home and said:” I know what’s for today dinner ;)” … The good thing is that it can be roasted in an oven or even in a frying pan. Today I would like to introduce my mom’s way to make it in a pan, which is more common as a home cook in Vietnam. Simple but delicious are those words I have to say about this dish ;)

Vietnamese roasted pork belly with five-spice powder – Just like heaven

The best part of pork meat to roast is pork belly. It’s not easy to find pork belly in an US supermarket, but you can find it anywhere in Asian markets. My husband doesn’t eat fat meat, but he loves roasted pork belly so much because he said: “ The fat is burned while we roast the pork belly and anything left is not fat at all” … Haha, I know it’s a kind of weird explanation but I guess the burned fat make the dish smells good. In addition, we usually have this dish with Vietnamese pickled mustard greens. The sour of fermented pickled mustard greens seems to neutralize the fat meat and make the dish like in heaven ;)

1. Ingredients:

• 400 – 500 grams pork belly
• 2 tablespoons minced shallot
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 2 tablespoon granulated sugar or brown sugar ( I prefer brown sugar because it makes the color of roasted pork belly more attractive)
• 1 teaspoon five-spice powder
• A pinch of salt and pepper
• 2-3 tablespoons cooking oil

2. Intructions:

• First, clean the pork belly and cut it into two pieces or so (like in the below photo). Mix all the ingredients: fish sauce, sugar, five spice powder, salt and pepper and minced shallot into a small bow.

Prepare the ingredients to make Vietnamese roasted pork belly

• Take a little bit of the mixture and rub it in the pork belly, piece by piece (Kind of massage for the pork belly).

“Massage” the pork belly

• Put the meat into a container. Leave at room temperature in about 15 mins and then put the container into the fridge for at least 2 hours. I usually make it and put in the fridge overnight, which would make the meat marinated even better.

Put in a tight container and marinate at least 2 hours

• Before roasting, bring the container to room temperature in about 15 mins. Preheat the pan with 2-3 tablespoons cooking oil in medium heat (We don’t need to use a lot of cooking oil because once we cook the pork belly, the fat will be burned out).
• Put the pork belly into the preheated pan then cover with the lid. Cook for about 10 mins each side. When you put the lid on, the meat will be cooked faster inside but not burned outside. If you want to make the skin crispy, turn the heat to low then put the skin side directly to the pan, then put the lid on and turn the heat to medium again and cook for another 5 mins. Please be careful at this step because the skin is gonna pop up, so after that, turn the heat down and take out the lid fast so that the water would not fall into the hot oil. You don’t want to burn yourself before you have a chance to taste the heavenly delicious roasted pork belly, right ;)

Steps to roast pork belly with a pan

• Take the roasted pork belly out and cool down a little bit for 5-10 minutes then slide into thick pieces.

Slide roasted pork belly into thick pieces

The star of this dish is the smell while you are cooking and mostly it is from the five spice powder. Vietnamese people usually dip roasted pork with fish sauce sprinkling with hot pepper or soy sauce. It would be yummier if you have it with the side dish of pickled mustard. You can check it out how to make pickled mustard greens at home at this link:

https://en.candycancook.com2010/10/how-to-make-vietnamese-pickled-mustard-greens/ 

Roasted Pork Belly (Thit quay hung liu) with Five-Spice Powder

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Serves: 4 Prep Time: 10 mins Cooking Time: 20 mins 20 mins

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 1 voted )

Ingredients

• 400 – 500 grams pork belly
• 2 tablespoons minced shallot
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 2 tablespoon granulated sugar or brown sugar ( I prefer brown sugar because it makes the color of roasted pork belly more attractive)
• 1 teaspoon five spice powder
• A pinch of salt and pepper
• 2-3 tablespoons cooking oil

Instructions

• Clean the pork belly and cut it into two strips . Mix all the ingredients: fish sauce, sugar, five spice powder, salt and pepper and minced shallot into a small bow.
• Take a little bit of the mixture and rub it in the pork belly, piece by piece
• Put the meat into a container. Leave at room temperature in about 15 mins and then put the container into the fridge for at least 2 hours. I usually make it and put in the fridge overnight, which would make the meat marinated even better.
• Before roasting, bring the container to room temperature in about 15 mins. Preheat the pan with 2-3 tablespoons cooking oil in medium heat
• Put the pork belly into the preheated pan then cover with the lid. Cook for about 10 mins each side. If you want to make the skin crispy, turn the heat to low then put the skin side directly to the pan, then put the lid on and turn the heat to medium again and cook for another 5 mins. Turn the heat down and take out the lid fast so that the water would not fall into the hot oil.
• Take the roasted pork belly out and cool down a little bit for 5-10 minutes then slide into thick pieces.

Notes

It would be nice if you have it with the side dish of pickled mustard. You can check it out how to make pickled mustard greens at home at this link: https://en.candycancook.com2010/10/how-to-make-vietnamese-pickled-mustard-greens/

Final touch of Vietnamese roasted pork belly using a pan

Good luck and enjoy the dish ;)