So this is exactly what Jan’s cooking when I’m not at home. Wouldn’t that piss you off? But I have to admit it looks amazing. What do you think?
For 2 portions:
400 g pork belly
20 g ginger
20 g garlic
1 bird’s eye chilli
100 ml soy sauce
200 ml red wine
20 ml fish sauce
300 butternut squash
250 ml coconut milk
10 g yellow curry paste
30 g onion
300 ml milk
50 g peanuts
10 g brown sugar
50 g cucumber
20 g cilantro
20 g honey
20 g butter
a few drops of pumpkin oil
salt and pepper
First, prepare the marinade. Mix the soy sauce, fish sauce, chilli, thinly sliced ginger, whole garlic and red wine. Marinate the meat overnight (or as long as you can).
Cook the pork belly until tender, it will take about 90 minutes. When it’s ready, take it out and let it cool down. You can even press it between two sheets of baking paper – it will preserve its shape better. So just weight it down with something in the fridge. Strain the marinade and reduce it to a sirup. Add honey and butter – we will glaze the individual portions later.
Peel the pumpkin and cut it into 1 cm dices, all the pieces should be approximately the same size. Put a bit of oil in a hot pan and sauté the pumpkin until golden (at this point save aside about one third for plating). Add sliced onion and continue sautéing. Add the curry paste and continue for a bit longer. Pour in the milk and let it cook for 10 minutes. Add the coconut milk and season with salt. Blend the mixture and if needed, balance the seasoning with salt and sugar.
The purée should be creamy, slightly sweet and about the same consistency as potato purée. If you like, you can add some chilli – we used habanero.
Cut the pork belly into portions, sear it from all sides and add the reduced marinade that we cooked it in. Slowly glaze the meat until it has a great dark colour.
Cut the cucumber into small dices – it will give the dish a lovely crunchy texture and freshness.
Roast the peanuts in a dry pan until they start catching colour. Add salt, brown sugar and let the nuts caramelize. It takes only a moment. Cool down the peanuts and chop them roughly. Beware, this is an ideal snack that won’t be unnoticed..
And voila, we can serve! Put the meat on the plate, add pumpkin purée, pieces of pumpkin, cilantro, cucumber and pumpkin oil. Enjoy!
