Recipe, styling and photography by Hein van Tonder
Smoky pulled pork belly tacos with grapefruit salsa
Ingredients
PORK BELLY
- 2 tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp sea salt flakes
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1kg pork belly, skin removed but a layer of fat remaining
- 3 onions, peeled and quartered
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 4 sprigs fresh oregano
GRAPEFRUIT SALSA
- 1 large red grapefruit, peeled and chopped
- 1 medium tomato, chopped
- 1 yellow pepper, seeded and chopped
- 1 small red onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 fresh green chilli, seeded and sliced
- juice of 1 lime
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley and oregano, chopped
- 1 tsp castor sugar
- sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
TO SERVE
- hard corn taco shells
- red cabbage, shredded
- avocado, mashed
- lime and red grapefruit wedges
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
For the pork belly, in a bowl mix together the paprika, sugar, garlic, 1 tsp sea salt flakes and 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper. Add the olive oil to make a paste. Rub the mixture all over the pork, massaging it into the meat. If you have time, let the pork marinate in the refrigerator for 6 hours.
Put the onions into a lidded casserole dish, add the thyme and oregano sprigs and place the pork, fat side up, on top. Roast in the preheated oven, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 140°C, place the lid on the casserole dish and cook until the meat is very tender (adding a little water if it cooks dry), for a further 3 hours. Let the pork rest for 15 minutes before pulling the meat into shreds. Moisten the shredded meat with some of the juices in the casserole dish.
For the grapefruit salsa, while the meat roasts, combine all the salsa ingredients, season to taste and set aside.
Serve the pulled pork in hard corn taco shells with shredded red cabbage, mashed avocado, the grapefruit salsa and lime and red grapefruit wedges alongside.
Imka Webb is a freelance digital marketing expert and the digital editor of Food & Home Entertaining magazine. www.imkawebb.com
