Vietnamese Grilled Lemongrass Pork Belly
Recipe byTwo essential things for making this dish: First is marinating. The pork needs time to absorb the flavors of all in the ingredients in the marinade. Second is high cooking temperature to immediately sear the meat as soon it somes in contact with the heat.
Equipment
- Oven
Ingredients
- 600 grams pork belly we used boneless with generous layers of fat (increase to 700 grams if using bone-in pork belly)
For the marinade
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 shallot peeled and finely chopped
- 2 large stalks lemongrass minced (peel the outer layers and use only the lower portion of the stalks)
- ΒΌ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce (we used Kikkoman)
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
For the dipping sauce
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons lime or lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 2 bird's eye chilies slit and cut up
To garnish
- 1 to 2 cucumbers
Instructions
Marinate the pork
- Rinse the pork belly and pat dry with a kitchen towel. Cut into two-inch cubes. Place in a bowl.
- Using a mortar and pestle ground all the solid ingredients for the marinade to a paste (or use a mini food processor). Stir in the liquid ingredients to make the marinade.
- Pour the marinade over the pork belly cubes. Mix well. Cover the bowl and keep refrigerated for 24 hours.
Cook the pork
- Preheat the oven the 475F.
- Place a rack over a baking tray.
- Arrange the pork belly cubes on the rack in a single layer. Grill at 475F for 20 minutes or until done and the edges are lightly charred.
Prepare the garnish
- While the pork cooks, rinse the cucumber and slice into rings.
- Stir together all the ingredients for the dipping sauce.
Serve the grilled lemongrass pork belly
- Arrange the grilled pork on a platter with the cucumber rings and dipping sauce on the side.
Notes
Adapted from a recipe by Andrea Nguyen in Into the Vietnamese Kitchen.