Losar Pork
Pan-roasted pork belly made during Tibetan New Year—a Wang family recipe
- Cooking time2 hours
Calories435kcal
In this episode of Pasher Barir Ranna, Doma Wang, chef and founder of The Blue Poppy, the Tibetan restaurant that was originally housed in Sikkim House on Middleton Row in Kolkata, cooks a recipe very close to her heart: her father's Losar pork roast.
Losar (ལོ་གསར་) is the Tibetan New Year. Doma di recalls how her father made 10–15 kgs of this pan-roasted pork every year on Losar for friends and family while they were living in Kalimpong. For this recipe, Doma di recommends getting a good slab of pork belly with skin, containing about 30–40% fat. Having alternating layers of fat and meat ensure that when you cut a cross-section of the roast, you get a good mix in every mouthful.
The other unique technique Doma di teaches us is to caramelise the pork skin using sugar so that you get a rich brown colour to your roast. With about 60–90 mins of slow-cooking in a covered pot, the hunk of pork belly becomes nice and tender, and the sauce cooks down to a rich, sticky, jammy consistency.
The colour of the roast comes most notably from the caramelised sugar, and from the use of soy sauce. Doma di likes to use Sing-Cheung's dark soy sauce for its deep colour and saltiness.
Losar pork roast can be enjoyed on its own with drinks, or turned into sloppy sliders using the Tibetan bread "phalay", or more simply with plain sticky rice and stir-fried greens.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ingredients
- 1 kg pork belly with skin (30–40% fat, with alternating fat and meat layers)
- 50 g sugar
- 175 g onions (sliced)
- 15 g ginger paste
- 75 g dark soy sauce
- 30 ml dark rum
- 675 ml water
- 4 g salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 3 pcs star anise
Method
- Clean the pork belly thoroughly, scrubbing the skin until all the dark spots are gone and all the hair is removed. Pat it dry completely.
- Slice onions and make ginger paste. Also gather all the other ingredients and have them on hand.
- In a heavy-bottomed pan, add sugar. Wait until it caramelises and turns golden.
- Place the pork belly skin side down and press it into the melted sugar until the skin is a rich brown colour. Be careful not to burn your fingers.
- Now quickly add the sliced onion, ginger paste, soy sauce, rum, salt, pepper and star anise to the pan. Add water just enough to cover the pork belly.
- Cover the pot with a lid and slow-cook the pork until tender. Check on it every so often to ensure that the water hasn't dried up. If it has and the pork is yet to soften, add in some more water and continue cooking. The entire process should take 60–90 mins on low heat.
- Once the pork is tender, continue reducing the sauce until it is dark and sticky, and coats the pork nicely.
- Turn off the heat and allow the roast to rest for 30 mins before slicing it.
- Serve it by itself, or with tingmo, phalay, or sticky rice and stir-fried greens.
