Pork Belly Adobo

Tanya Abeyratne
May 22, 2021
2 min read

Updated: Jun 30, 2021

Ingredients

1 Packet of Adobo Seasoning

650g Pork Belly cut into chunks of about 4cm

1/3 cup coconut vinegar (you can use apple cider or regular vinegar if you don't have this)

1/3 cup light soy sauce

2tbsp peanut oil

1 onion, cut into slices

6 garlic cloves, finely chopped

270ml (9.1 fl oz) coconut milk

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 spring onions (scallions), thinly sliced (optional/garnish)

1tsp sesame seeds for garnish

Steamed rice, to serve

Instructions:

Prep: 10 mins | Cook: 30mins | Serves: 4-6

Combine the pork, vinegar, soy sauce, bay leaves and peppercorns in a large glass or ceramic bowl. Toss to coat. Cover and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to marinate.

Drain the pork, reserving the marinade. Pat the pork dry with paper towel. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan over high heat. Cook the pork, in batches, for about 3-4 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

Place the pan back on medium-high heat and add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil if you don’t have at least a tablespoon of fat in the bottom of the pan. Add the onion, garlic and chilli flakes. Season with a pinch of salt. Turn the heat to medium and cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes until the onion softens. Add the pork, reserved marinade and 1 cup of water. Cover. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.

Add the brown sugar and coconut cream and cook, uncovered for a further 45 minutes-1 hour or until the pork is very tender and the liquid reduced.

Garnish with chopped spring onions and sesame seeds. Serve with steamed rice.

Taste and Enjoy!

This recipe was inspired by Marions Kitchen find her YouTube video on cooking this delicious adobo recipe at www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5-YgvUWNNM&t=147s

I had a lot of fun cooking this sweet and tangy dish, as it took me back to my college years hanging out at my old Pinoy (Filipino) friends BBQ's and home parties where they would always have this famous dish i could never resist to eat.

This is the first time I've tried making any Filipino dish and for those that know about adobo and incase were wondering why this dish looks dark, it would be because i had no light soy sauce in my kitchen and so with the hope that the coconut milk would help lighten the colour, i made a bad decision and used dark!

So please excuse my bad decisions and follow the recipe and not me. 😅

Luckily, the difference between light and soy are its colour and saltiness and since dark soy has less salt than light soy, i was able to make up for the taste by adding more salt.