Roasted Pork Belly or Lechon Liempo is one of the favorite dishes of Filipinos everywhere in the world. There are different versions you can find online but I had love to feature the version of my good friend who is now an official Chef. Hooray and congratulations Chef Emz! 

She’s one of the few new Cebuana friends I met back in 2008 when I was just less than a month in Singapore. I remembered her and hubby (Kim) brought me to Makansutra and treated me for a dinner. They ordered some nice local food they wanted me to try, at that moment I knew we have something in common — our great love for food. No wonder there was an instant click.

Now back to the Roasted Pork Belly (hehe!), we cooked it at her beautiful kitchen in Sengkang. It was a lovely Sunday get together with few friends too. Literally, girls bonding over progressive cooking, laughing, chit-chat, eating, and coffee time. We also baked my favorite Banana Cake and cooked a Cream of Mushroom Soup.

Emz did buy all the ingredients that we need for the day, she said it’s important to choose the perfect pork belly slab from the local supermarket. It should be boneless, if not you can ask your butcher to remove the ribs from the pork belly or do it yourself.

I forgot to take more photos of the process because we are all excited to cook and eat but I swear it’s so crispy and tender juicy inside.

Roasted Pork Belly

Author: Chef Emz
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 3 hours
Total time: 3 hours 15 mins

Ingredients:

• 2 kl pork belly slab (no bones)
• 3 stalks lemongrass leaves (smashed)
• 3 pieces spring onions (rough cut)
• 1 small red onion, sliced
• 1-2 tablespoon pink salt/sea salt
• ¼ to 1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 2pcs Star anise
• 3 pcs bay leaves

Note: You may adjust the recipe accordingly.

Instructions:

1. Lay the pork belly on a flat surface and the skin is facing down. Drizzle the meat with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
2. Put-in the lemongrass, spring onions, red onion slices, star-anise and bay leaves. (I suggest to season the spices mixture with salt and pepper)
3. Start rolling the pork from the lemongrass side to the opposite side.
4. Secure the rolled pork belly by tying it with a kitchen twine.
5. Drizzle the skin with olive oil and season with salt & pepper
6. Drizzle/rub with vinegar all over the skin (this will make the skin so crispy)
7. Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C to 200 C.
8. Cover the pork with aluminum foil and place it in a roasting pan and roast for 2.5 hours.
9. Remove the aluminum foil and continue to roast for 30 minutes or until the skin is brown and crispy.
10. Remove from the oven. Let it cool down for 15 minutes.
11. Slice the Roasted Pork Belly and serve.

Will you be cooking this at home?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments!