Lechon Kawali Recipe

Ingredients :

• 2 to 2½ lbs. whole pork belly
• 1 medium red onion
• 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorn
• 1½ tablespoons salt
• 6 cloves crushed garlic
• 4 to 6 cups water
• 3 cups cooking oil

Procedure :

1. Arrange the pork belly in a wide and deep cooking pot. Pour-in the water. Make sure that the pork belly is fully submerged in water. Let boil.
2. Once the water starts to boil, add the garlic, onion, 1 tablespoon salt, and whole black peppercorn. Simmer for 30 to 40 minutes.
3. Remove the boiled pork belly from the cooking pot and place in a plate. Let it cool to room temperature.
4. Rub the remaining ½ tablespoon of salt all over the boiled pork belly. Let is stay for 10 to 20 minutes.
5. Heat the cooking oil in a deep cooking pot. When the oil gets hot, gently put-in the pork belly and deep-fry in medium heat until the pork belly turns golden brown and the texture gets crispy. The oil will splatter during this process, so be careful. Make sure that you do not cover the cooking pot completely while deep frying. You can put a splatter guard on top of the cooking pot to control the oil.
6. Once the pork belly is golden brown and crispy, remove it from the cooking pot and arrange in a plate lined with paper towel. Turn the stove off and let the pork belly cool down to room temperature.
7. When the pork belly cools down, heat-up the oil on more time. Deep fry the same pork belly for the second time in medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes or until it gets extra crispy.
8. Remove from the cooking pot and place in a plate lined with paper towel. Let the towel absorb the excess oil.
9. Slice the pork bagnet into serving pieces and serve with bagoong monamon (also known as bugguong munamon) or even guinamos or bagoong Balayan. Note: you can squeeze lemon or calamansi on the bagoong to make it taste better.
10. Share and enjoy!