Slow Cooked Pork Belly with Watermelon Salsa Recipe

Slow Cooked Pork Belly with Watermelon Salsa

Why not have a go at this street inspired recipe, you won't be disappointed! - by Amy Sinclair

Proudly supported by

Serve this slow cooked pork belly with a refreshing watermelon salsa, BBQ sauce and flatbreads. It's a street-food style roast worth taking the time for!

Ingredients

for the pork belly

1.6kg boneless pork belly

6 black peppercorns

½ small bunch thyme

1 bay leaf

1 tsp fennel seeds

500ml bottle dry cider

for the watermelon salsa

½ watermelon (around 800g), flesh finely chopped

1 red onion, finely chopped

1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

1 granny smith apple, finely chopped

2 limes, zest and juice

¼ small bunch coriander, roughly chopped

to serve

BBQ sauce

6-8 flatbreads

Method

Heat oven to 140C/120C fan/gas 2. Season the pork belly all over with salt then put it, the peppercorns, thyme, bay and fennel seeds in a deep roasting tin. Pour over the cider, then top up with water until the pork is submerged. Cover with foil and cook for 6 hrs.
Remove from the oven and leave the pork to cool until you can touch it easily, around 10 mins, then lift from the liquid and use cling film to roll the pork as tightly as you can, then leave to cool completely in the fridge overnight.
Mix all the ingredients for the watermelon salsa together and season. Set aside.
Slice the pork belly into eight 1-2cm rounds and place, flat-side down. in a lightly oiled frying pan, cook until golden, 1-2 mins, then turn over and repeat so both sides are nicely crisped, even in colour and the pork is hot throughout.
To serve, spread 1 tbsp of bbq sauce over each flatbread, top with the crisped pork belly and finish with a spoonful of the salsa.