Hi Globetrotters,
It has been quite the week! I celebrated my mom, as we should every day. As my mom’s birthday crept around the corner, I had my eye out on a couple of recipes. I ended up landing on an air fryer thịt heo quay recipe.
In Vietnam, thịt heo quay is like chicharrón. The whole pig is on the spigot and is rotated over an open flame. I don’t have land for that, and also the permit. I saw, though, an air fryer recipe, which is so easy as 1, 2, 3.
I called my local grocery store for the pork belly cut. I dried out the skin with kosher salt, scraped it off and then added the seasoning right before going in the air fryer.
Let me tell you! It was really good. The skin came out crispy. My dad, who is on a diet, kept picking at it. My mom, who hates fatty foods, kept eating it. Also, my brother heated it up for a midnight snack.
I, on the other hand, ate 3 or 4 small pieces before I had to close my eyes. Unfortunately, I am on a diet for my postponed wedding, which is actually still very uncertain at this point. I might be on a diet forever at this rate.
I wish we had a picture to show you how golden brown it was, but we got greedy and wanted to eat it right away. For those of you who want to try it, the recipe is from @foodwithsoy on Instagram. Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients
- 2lb pork belly, skin on
- Kosher salt
- Chinese 5 spice
- Brown sugar
Directions:
- Stab a bunch of holes in the skin with a steak knife.
- Coat the skin with kosher salt. Careful not to get too many salt grains on the actual meat side. Wait 30 minutes.
- Scrape the kosher salt off the skin well.
- Mix 1 part Chinese 5 Spice, 1 part kosher salt and 2 parts brown sugar.
- Air fry right away or place in an open container, skin side up, overnight. Right before you Air Fry, sprinkle the seasoning mixture on the meat side.
- Air fry at 375 degrees F for 45 minutes.
- Take the pork belly out and let it rest for 30 minutes, skin side up.
- When ready to cut, flip the pork belly over, take a large knife and press down to make slices.
Note: Some parts were a little saltier than others, mainly on the skin, even if you scraped off the kosher salt well. If you prefer less salt, omit the kosher salt from the seasoning mix. Sometimes Vietnamese dip this in soy sauce, but it was salted enough. We ate it with a French roll and it was perfect.
Then, we ate the tres leches cake, which was one of the best ones I have ever tasted. The cake was actually firm after being soaked in the milk. It was not a very healthy day. At least, it was somewhat cultural .
Ciao,
Amy
amy 