Lechon Kawali is childhood favorite of mine as it is juicy inside but crispy outside. It is a deep-fried pork belly usually dipped in sauces like Mang Tomas all-purpose sauce, UFC banana ketchup, or soy sauce mixed with vinegar, sugar, onions, and chili (optional). Commonly eaten with rice but since I’ve been cooking only plain rice, I thought I may as well go all the way as to cooking fried rice. Not forgetting to have veggies during meal time, I went for the steamed pak choi.
What’s in it:
- Pak choi
Lechon:
- Salt
- Whole peppercorn
- Dried bay leaves
Lechon sauce:
- Soy sauce
- Vinegar
- Onion
- Chili
- Brown sugar
Fried Rice:
- Rice
- Bacon bits
- Egg
- Salt
- Pepper
- Sesame oil
- Soy sauce
The lechon itself is probably the more difficult to cook as you will need to tenderize it first via boiling in a pot with salt, peppercorn and dried bay leaves. Once tender, pat dry to reduce the meat’s water content and you can leave it to chill in the fridge to get that contrast of hot oil and cold meat upon frying for a crispier outcome. I didn’t slice the meat yet until after deep-frying knowing it would turn out juicier that way and so I cooked it whole and sliced only right before serving onto a plate lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil and keep the meat crispy.
If you want to know how I cooked the fried rice, I’ve published in my previous posts that you can easily check by clicking here. I hope you enjoyed this post and try it yourself and savor the goodness of lechon kawali.
