Char Siu Pork Belly Tacos

5 from 1 vote

These char siu pork belly tacos are full of big, bold flavours. Bite sized pieces of juicy, caramelised bbq pork belly, crunchy pickled cabbage, cucumber and creamy sriracha mayo, all piled in a soft tortilla. Perfect for taco Tuesday or feeding a hungry crowd, these pork belly tacos are delicious, messy and fun to eat! And they can be on your table in less than 30 minutes.

Prep Time10

Cook Time15

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Chinese, Mexican

Servings: tacos

Calories: 323kcal

Author: Andrea Geddes

Ingredients

700 grams pork belly skin removed, sliced into 2cm, bite sized pieces
⅓ cup hoisin sauce
3 tbsp tomato sauce
2 tbsp Shaoxing (Chinese wine)
4 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp honey
¼ tsp Chinese five spice ground
pinch star anise ground

Pickled cabbage

3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
3 tbsp caster sugar
2 cups purple cabbage shredded

Sriracha mayo

½ cup kewpie mayonnaise found in most Asian grocers and major supermarkets
1 tsp sriracha chilli sauce to taste

To serve

1-2 cucumbers diced
10 mini tortillas warmed
coriander small bunch, chopped
lime wedges to squeeze

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Place an oven tray into the oven and pre-heat to 220C°. (Lining with foil is optional).
Place the sauce ingredients into a jug and stir to combine. Stir ¾ of the sauce through the pork and set aside. (If you have time, this step can be done the day before and marinated overnight in the refrigerator). Keep the reserved sauce.
Carefully remove the hot oven tray from the oven and place the individual pork pieces on the tray, far enough apart that the pork pieces are not touching. Leave the excess sauce in the bowl, try not to put too much sauce on the tray as the pork will stew.
Place the pork in the oven and cook for ten minutes. Remove the tray from the oven and turn the pork. Spoon the remaining sauce over the top of the meat and return to the oven for 5-10 minutes, until cooked and lightly black/caramelised around the edges. Remove from the oven.

For the pickled cabbage

While the pork is cooking, stir the rice wine vinegar and sugar in a bowl and stir until the sugar has mostly dissolved. Add the cabbage and stir to coat. Set aside.

For the sriracha mayo

Stir the kewpie mayo together with the sriracha sauce. Add more or less sriracha to suit your personal taste.

To serve

Heat the tortillas to packet instructions.
Top with the BBQ pork, cabbage, cucumber and desired amount of sauce. Sprinkle coriander over the top and squeeze lime juice over. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

Notes

Shaoxing is a Chinese wine made from fermented rice that is used in Asian cooking. It can be found in most Asian grocers and major supermarkets.

While cooking, keep the pork belly pieces separated and try not to add too much sauce to the tray as it will stew the pork.

This recipe can be easily multiplied to feed a hungry crowd.

Traditional char siu pork belly is marinated overnight. You can do this if you have time, but it is not essential.

With char siu pork, select a leaner pork belly that has thick layers of meat and thin layers of fat. When roasted in the oven, the fat will render slightly and become caramelised. To reduce calories, you can choose a leaner cut of pork (the result won't be quite the same!).

Nutrition