Braised pork belly with Belimbing

Belimbing  ~  Averrhoa Bilimbi  is a greenish, mini fruit which has a very sour taste and can be eaten raw with some sambal belacan, a shrimp paste chilli dip, used in curries or cooked like how I did.  I remember this tree in my grandma's backyard long, long ago and she used to cook this with some onions, preserved bean paste, some red or green chillies and bits of fried pork fat aka as 'chee yau char' in Cantonese.  As a kid, I used to pluck this from the ever flourishing tree and just taste it and gosh, it's awfully sour!  Read more of this  Belimbing from Wiki ......

Here's a picture of Belimbing

I haven't had this dish for a long, long time and when I served this on the dining table, my other half  asked me what it was ..... he had never tasted this before but commented it did go well with white rice.

Recipe for Braised pork belly with Belimbing

Ingredients

• 600 gm pork belly, cut into bite size  
• 4 pieces belimbing, sliced thinly
• 2 pips garlic, chopped
• 1  Tbsp tau cheong/fermented bean paste
• 1/2 tsp dark soya sauce
• 1 green chili, sliced
• 1 big onion, cut into wedges
• 2 cups water
• 2 tsp sugar or to taste
• Seasalt to taste

Preparation

1. Marinate the pork belly with some seasalt, set aside.
2. Saute the chopped garlic and fermented bean paste with some oil till fragrant.
3. Add in the pork belly, stir-fry for a while and add in 2 cups water and dark soya sauce.
4. Bring to the boil, lower heat, cover and simmer till meat is tender and the stock reduced.
5. Add in the sliced belimbing, sugar and stir-fry for a while.  
6. Add in the sliced green chilli and onion wedges, stir-fry.  Fine tune to taste.
7. Dish out and serve with white rice or plain white porridge.

I'm linking this entry with Weekend Herb Blogging # 333 hosted by

Cindy of  Cindystar