Pork Belly Cucumber Noodles

This is a Sichuan inspired dish, usually served cold! It’s really refreshing for the summer but I find that it makes the perfect quick and easy lunch/dinner for a weekday. It’s really just 20 mins of active cooking time.

Serves 3-4

Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

  • For the Pork:

    • 1 lb pork belly (skin on or off)

    • 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine

    • 1 tbsp sichuan pepper corns

    • 2 scallions

    • 6 slices of ginger

    • 2 star anise

    • 6 cups of water

  • For the Sauce

    • 1 tsp grated ginger

    • 1 finely chopped scallion

    • 6-7 cloves of grated garlic

    • 1.5 tbsp red chili flakes

    • 1 tsp five spice powder

    • 1 tsp sugar

    • Pinch of salt & black pepper

    • ~1/4 cup of boiling hot oil (just enough to make a thick slurry, no more)

    • 1 tbsp soy sauce and black vinegar each

  • 1 tsp sesame oil

  • Handful of sesame seeds

  • 1 cucumber

  • Noodles of choice

Instructions:

  • Start by boiling the 6 cups of water until it’s a rolling boil, then dropping in your pork belly, shaoxing wine, scallions, ginger, star anise, and sichuan peppercorns

  • Decrease the heat to medium and let the pork belly boil for 40 mins

  • In the meantime, just relax until the last 10 mins where you put noodles to cook and start making the sauce

  • For the sauce, heat up 1/4 cup of veggie oil or neutral oil. You’ll know it’s hot enough when you place a chopstick into the oil and see it bubbling immediately.

  • In a separate heat proof bowl, combine the garlic, ginger, scallion, spices, but save the soy sauce and black vinegar for LATER

  • Pour the hot oil onto the dry mix and let it bubble, making sure to stir so that all ingredients get soaked by the oil

  • Once it’s a little cooler, add in the soy sauce and vinegar and mix well.

  • To serve, take a tbsp of the sauce you just made and mix with 1/3 cup of the pork broth made from simmering the pork belly. Then add in 1 tsp sesame oil and some sesame seeds.

  • Place your noodles into a bowl, add in shaved cucumber and pork belly then pour on the sauce and mix well. Adjust seasoning to taste with a little more soy sauce or vinegar.