• Recipe by Illanque van Aswegen

    Sweet and sticky Thai stir-fried pork belly and mango salad

    Serves: 4
    Cooking Time: 1 hour

    Ingredients

    • PORK

    • 10ml (2 tsp) fresh ginger, finely grated
    • 125ml (½ cup) soya sauce
    • 60ml (¼ cup) rice vinegar
    • 20ml (4 tsp) sugar
    • 10ml (2 tsp) sesame oil
    • 10ml (2 tsp) Chinese five-spice powder
    • 240g (1 cup) mango flesh, puréed
    • 2,5ml (½ tsp) chilli flakes (optional)
    • 500g pork belly, rind removed and
    • thinly sliced (like streaky bacon)
    • SALAD

    • 50g (½ cup) spring onions, thinly sliced
    • 2 large carrots, peeled and julienned
    • 1 small cucumber, julienned
    • 3 stalks celery, leaves removed
    • 240g (1½ cups) mango flesh, sliced
    • 180ml (¾ cup) orange juice
    • 30ml (2 tbsp) olive or avocado oil
    • 5ml (1 tsp) fresh ginger, finely grated
    • 60ml (¼ cup) sweet chilli sauce
    • 250ml (1 cup) basil leaves
    • 10ml (2 tsp) sesame seeds, toasted

    Instructions

    1

    For the pork, whisk together all of the ingredients, except the pork belly, to make a marinade. Add the sliced pork belly pieces to the sauce and leave to marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes or overnight, depending on how much time you have.

    2

    Remove the pork strips from the marinade and cut into bite-size chunks.Fry in a wok until the meat is tender and the sauce has thickened, 12 – 15 minutes. Do this in batches, as you don’t want to overcrowd the wok.

    3

    For the salad, toss the spring onions, carrots and cucumber together. Use a vegetable peeler to make celery shavings and combine with the rest of the vegetables. Toss in the mango pieces.

    4

    Whisk together the orange juice, oil,ginger and sweet chilli sauce, and pour this over the vegetables.

    5

    Divide the vegetables onto 4 plates, add the sweet and sticky pork belly pieces, scatter the basil on top and add sesame seeds just before serving.

    Notes

    Turn this salad idea into a warm meal by replacing the julienned salad ingredients with julienned stir-fried vegetables and cooking it all in the wok. Serve with rice or glass noodles.