Pork adobo with rice

Like many Filipino dishes, pork adobo is cooked with dark sugar, vinegar and soy sauce, which are then reduced right down to coat the meat. Jasmine rice flavoured with pandan leaf is a great accompaniment. Serve with the mango atchara.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 900g/2lb pork belly, skinned weight, cut into cubes
• 1 onion, sliced
• 9 garlic cloves, grated or finely chopped
• 4 dried bay leaves
• 250ml/9fl oz sugar cane vinegar or Japanese rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• 125ml/4fl oz dark soy sauce
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 4 tbsp dark brown sugar
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the rice

• 300g/10½oz jasmine rice
• 2 or 3 large garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ tbsp cracked black pepper
• 1 pandan leaf, fresh or frozen (optional)

Method for Pork adobo

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a wide frying pan over a medium heat. Add the pork belly and fry for about 5 minutes until browned on all sides. Add the onion, garlic, bay leaves and 1 tbsp black pepper and fry until the onion is translucent.

2. Stir in the vinegar, dark soy sauce, fish sauce and sugar. Simmer over a low–medium heat, uncovered, for about 45 minutes until the pork is tender and the liquid has reduced to below the level of the pork.

3. While the pork belly is cooking, make the rice. First rinse the rice in a bowl of cold water at least three times until the water runs clear, then drain. Put the chopped garlic into a frying pan with a little oil and fry until golden-brown. Set aside.

4. Put the rice into a saucepan and cover with 500ml/½ pint water. Add the bay leaf, black pepper, pandan leaf, if using, and the browned garlic. With your hands, stir the rice to incorporate the aromatics.

5. Place the rice pan over a medium-high heat, uncovered, and bring to a rolling boil. Once boiling, remove the pan from the heat, cover with a lid and set aside for 20–30 minutes, by which time the rice should be cooked. Remove the lid and fluff the rice with a fork before serving.

6. Once the pork belly has been cooking for 45 minutes, turn the heat down low and continue to cook, stirring so the pork doesn’t stick to the pan, until the liquid is thick and coating the pork. The soy sauce makes this quite salty already, so taste and add more if required, then serve the pork with the rice.

Pork adobo with rice