Piri-Piri Pork Belly with Fresh Slaw

Ingredients

Cooks in:3 hours (mostly unattended)        Serves:4

For the Piri Piri Sauce

• 2 lemons
• 2 limes
• ¼ cup Willow Creek olive oil
• ¼ cup chopped garlic (4-5 cloves)
• 5 birds eye chillis (de-seeded and chopped)
• 1 red pepper, de-seeded and chopped
• 1 Tbsp paprika

• 1 level tsp salt & pepper
• 2-3 Tbsp red wine (or use red wine vinegar)
• 1-2 tsp coconut sugar, or more to taste
• 1 tsp tamarind paste

For the Pork Belly

• 750g pork belly or shoulder
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 2 red onions, roughly chopped
• 1 cup chicken stock

For the Fresh Slaw

• 1 cup chopped spinach or kale
• 1 cup chopped cabbage
• A few slices of white or pink radish
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced
• ½ apple, grated or finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp roughly chopped fresh parsley
• 1 Tbsp roughly chopped fresh mint
• 1 beetroot, grated
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

For the Creamy Dressing

• ½ cup natural yoghurt mixed with:
• 1 Tbsp Willow Creek olive oil
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp lemon zest, to dress

What to do

For the Piri Piri Sauce
1. Halve the lemons and limes and place cut side down on a pre-heated griddle pan over medium-high heat, cook for 3-4 minutes or until blistered and starting to blacken and caramelise.

2. Meanwhile, add the remaining peri-peri ingredients to your food processor, then squeeze in the lemon and lime juice. Blitz well and check for seasoning.

For the Pork Belly
1. Preheat the oven to 240 °C. Salt the pork skin and place the meat in an ovenproof dish. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the skin has just started to blister.

2. Turn the heat down to 140C. Remove the pork from the oven, lift it out and set aside while you add in the remaining ingredients, along with ¾ of the piri piri sauce. Place the pork back into the dish and cook for a further 2.5 hours or until the meat is tender. The sauce should have thickened and you should be able to ‘pull’ the meat apart with two forks. Check the liquid at 30 minute intervals to make sure the meat does not dry out. If you need to add more liquid, add about another 100ml stock or water.

3. Mix the slaw ingredients together and dress with the yoghurt and mustard dressing.

4. When the pork is done, remove it from the oven and leave to rest for 20 minutes. Then serve alongside your slaw.

Alternatively, shred the pork with two forks and pile the the pulled pork meat into fresh white bread rolls or fold into wraps, and serve with the slaw on the side.

Photo from 'Sarah Graham's Food Safari Season 2' by Ricardo de Leça.

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