Pork Belly Kare 豚の脇腹肉カレー - The Simplest Version

Had this idea of having Japanese curry at home for the longest time. Finally gotten around to do it, so went shopping for ingredients. The vegetables were pretty simple. Had wanted to do a variety with lots of colours just like those soup curry in Hokkaido where they had potato, grilled pumpkin, green pepper, broccoli etc. But, not really cost effective. So settled with just the basic two; carrots and onions. Didn't get potato because the rice would provide enough carbs.

Then, of course, the curry itself. The curry pack is easily available in any supermarket. Just need to choose either 'mild' or 'hot'. Knowing that Japanese curry is more likely to be sweet than spcy, I got a box of 'hot' curry. Picked one that yields 5 servings for less than $5. One serving of 2 squares, was enough to make a semi thick curry for 2 pax.

Next, must have meat. Wanted to do beef curry with beef tendons. But in the end, went for the economical route instead. So, ended up with pork belly instead.

ingredients

Ingredients for Pork Belly Kare (feeds 2-3 pax)

• 2 carrots
• 2 large onions
• some  garlic cloves
• 1 block of pork belly

Steps

1. Peel, cut and wash the carrots, onions and garlic
2. Remove skin from pork belly
3. Cut into large chunks and wash
4. Drain off excess water from vegetables and pork belly
5. Season the meat with salt and pepper
6. Powder the meat with corn flour
7. Heat up some oil and brown the pork belly
8. Remove pork belly and set aside. Remove excess oil from pan.
9. Sauté the garlic cloves in the pan, then add vegetables and fry for a while
10. Add some water to the vegetables, add pork belly and let it boil
11. Transfer all to a pot, add enough water and let it boil further. 
12. Cook till meat is soft before turning off the heat
13. Add the curry cubes into the soup. Stir well to let it mix
14. When curry is dissolved evenly, turn on the heat and let it simmer further
15. Turn off the heat when meat is soft enough

boil the meat and vegetables, just like boiling soup

meat ought to be browned more

The desired outcome would be wobbly soft belly meat, flavourful curry and steaming hot fragrant rice (香米).

pork belly kare with a side serving of stir fried dou miao

The cost of the meal would be about $5 per pax.

Marmalade Pantry @ Oasia Hotel

Was there again for lunch. Time to utilize The Entertainer App, and one gets two main courses for the price of one. Yay!

For something new, the pan-seared salmon served on a bed of chilled yuzu dressed potato noodles. Hmm, loved the crispy skin and the tender flesh of the salmon. The yuzu flavour was rather mild and tangy.

salmon @$28++

Had the baby chicken again. This dish allows you to practice carving skills. Slicing the meat up beautifully required quite a bit of work, especially for novices. This was a slow cooked chicken, with braised celery, and baby potatoes. Flavours were mild as usual.

Baby Chicken @$28++

Minute Steak Sandwich @$28++

The steak was 150 days grain-fed sirloin, requested to be done medium rare. Turned out pretty chewy unfortunately. But the sweet potato fries were good!

Lechon Pinoy @ Lucky Plaza

Was around Lucky Plaza area, so had lunch at its Asian Mall Food Court. Many stalls offering Philippine's food such as Lutong Pinoy, Lutong Pinoy 2, Tapa King, Jollibee and Lechon Pinoy.

Previously had tried Lutong Pinoy and had their Porksilog. This time round, ventured to Lechon Pinoy and ordered their boneless lechon.

Basically, it's a mound of white rice and some chopped meat. Three types of sauce. The brown one that is sweetish, the vinegary chili and the dark sauce. 

Boneless Lechon @$8.50

closer view of the skin

It was pretty good. With some parts of the meat very tender and soft, and most parts with a chew but not too tough. The skin tend to have quite a bit of fats stuck to it and some parts crispy while most are chewy. Plenty of oil from the meat! Take more of the brown sauce and chili that's more vinegary than spicy. Actually it was not spicy at all.