Tender Braised Soy and Black Bean Pork Belly with Mango Butter

Pauline's mum has always made one of the best home cooked pork belly, and I was determined to replicate it with my own touch on it.

And credit must go to nuttylive, whose My Delicious Life's Babi Ponteh recipe formed the base for my new dish.

To begin, get 2 nice slabs of pork belly and season with light and dark soy sauce, sesame oil, chinese wine and black pepper.

Seal it in a pan until they are brown on all sides and set aside.

In a pot, saute some shallots and garlic with olive oil until they are fragrant. Drizzle some white wine and add a tablespoon of black bean paste and stir.

Mix in some chopped mushrooms (shitake preferable) and mix them thoroughly. Cut the pork belly into smaller strips and return them to the pot and ensure that they are coated thoroughly with the rest of the mixture.

Add in one and half cups of water and bring the pot to a boil. Add a teaspoon of sugar and a dash of dark soy to color it. Once boiled, let it simmer for at least an hour, until the pork belly is tender and absolutely meltable to the mouth.

Prepare the mango butter by melting a large knob of butter in a pan. Dice a mango into small cubes and saute them in the melting buttter until they are soft and tender.

Blitz the softened mango in a blender until they form a smooth puree and butter like mixture and set aside for later.

In another pan, saute about 3 cloves of garlic and cook the spinach until they shrink and bright green. Add a dash of chinese wine and lightly season with black pepper and salt.

To plate, bed it with the spinach first and place the pork bellies neatly in a row. Sauce it with some of the mushroom and onion mixture and gravy and place a tablespoon of mango butter on the side as shown in the picture.

The pork belly should be meltingly tender to the palate, whilst the sweet acid of the mango will nicely balance the fattiness of the meat perfectly! An oriental dish with a slight western touch.