Lechon Kawali
Pork belly with skin that shatters like glass. The real thing is boiled, dried overnight and deep fried, so this version starts from pre-cooked belly - buy or batch-cook it ahead, then it is a fifteen-minute road to crackling.
- Total time
- 19 min
- Serves
- 2
- Effort
- Medium
What you need
Written for 2 — nudge the counter and the numbers follow.
0 of 8 in the basket.
How you make it
Pat the pork belly cubes bone dry with kitchen paper and rub the skin with the salt - any surface moisture will spit violently and stop the skin blistering.
Mix the vinegar, garlic, shallot, chilli and pepper into a dipping sauce and set it aside to mellow.
Heat the oil in a deep, heavy pan to 180C, using a thermometer and a lid kept within reach.
Lower the pork in carefully, skin-side down, and fry for 6 to 8 minutes until the skin is puffed, blistered and deep golden, and the meat is piping hot right through to the centre.
Drain on a rack for 3 minutes, then chop into thick slices and serve with the vinegar dip.
Read all that and thought “absolutely not”?
Completely fair. Lechon Kawali is sitting in the Filipino kitchen right now, it costs nothing, and it will never arrive.
Order it insteadMore from the Filipino kitchen
Sweet, sour and salty, all turned up at once.