Deep-Fried Pork Belly
A super crispy deep-fried pork belly with unbelievably tender inside.
- Prep time
- 4 hr
- Cook time
- 15 min
- Yield
- 3 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 3 pork belly strips - move the skin and cut into thiner strips
- 1/4 tsp. salt + 1/8 tsp. ground pepper
- 2 tbsp. Shaoxing cooking wine
- 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp. red fermented bean curd
- 3 scallion (cut into sections)
- 1 thumb ginger (cut into shreds)
- 1/4 cup sweet potato starch or other types of starch you have in the kitchen
- oil for deep-frying
Instructions
- 1
Choose well-marbled pork belly strips. Remove the skin and then cut it into thin strips. Thinner strips are much easier to cook through and absorb the flavors from the marinating better.
- 2
Add a tiny pinch of salt, ground pepper, light soy sauce, oyster sauce, the scallion and ginger, and red bean curd sauce. If you don’t want to find red bean curd sauce, skip it and increase the amount of oyster sauce.
- 3
The marinated pork belly should be well covered with a plastic wrapper and set aside for at least 4 hours. Or overnight.
- 4
Remove the pork belly ginger and scallion from the surface before frying, as they might be burnt in the deep-frying process.
- 5
Add 1/4 cup starch and massage to ensure the thin layer covers the pork belly. I use sweet potato starch, my top choice for deep-fried dishes. But cornstarch or even flour works if it is hard to find this ingredients.
- 6
Message for a couple of minutes until the starch becomes sticky and well covered on the pork belly strips.
- 7
Heat the oil to 120 degrees C and add the pork belly. Continue frying for 10 -12 minutes to ensure the pork belly is thoroughly cooked. If you are deep-frying in batches, finish all of them.
- 8
Now, turn the fire up and raise the oil temperature to 180 degrees C. Return the pork belly to fry for another 1 minute.
- 9
Cut into smaller pieces and serve immediately.