Brussel Sprouts, Cauliflower, and Pork Belly in a Sweet and Spicy Sauce

    Brussel Sprouts, Cauliflower, and Pork Belly are browned up nicely and tossed in a sticky sweet and sour Indian-Chinese sauce.

    Ingredients

    • 2 Pounds Pork Belly (skinless)
    • 1/4 Cup Rice Vinegar
    • 1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
    • 1 Cup Water
    • 2 Cloves Garlic
    • 1 Tablespoon Grated Ginger
    • Salt and Pepper
    • 20 Brussel Sprouts trimmed and halved
    • 1/2 Head Cauliflower cut to the same size as the sprouts
    • 2 Cloves Garlic minced
    • 1 Tablespoon Grated Ginger
    • 1/4 Cup Honey
    • 1/4 Cup Rice Vinegar
    • 1 Tablespoon Chile Flake
    • 1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
    • 1 Teaspoon Garam Masala

    Instructions

    1. Put the pork in a baking dish only a little bigger than the pork itself. Season with salt and pepper. Add in the water, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, and ginger. Bake at 300 for 3 hours, making sure the liquid doesn't evaporate and burn.
    2. Remove from the oven and refrigerate until cooled.
    3. Dice the pork into about 3/4 inch cubes. Make sure all your ingredients are prepped before starting to cook. Mix the honey, vinegar, soy sauce, chile flake, and garam masala in a measuring cup.
    4. With a generous amount of oil in a very large frying pan, cook the brussel sprouts, cauliflower, and pork belly on very high heat to brown nicely on all sides.
    5. Once you have some nice color on everything, turn the heat down a notch and add the garlic and ginger. Cook 1 minute. Add in the sauce and simmer for about 5 minutes allowing the sauce to tighten up a bit. Pour into a serving dish and serve immediately!

    Notes

    Looking to upgrade the classic Thanksgiving side of brussel sprouts and bacon, I decided to add some cauliflower and swap out the bacon for pork belly. While prepping the veggies, the cauliflower and pork suddenly inspired me to add a little Asian flair with a sticky sweet and sour glaze. The sauce is actually a play on an Indian-chineese dish called Gobi Manchurian.

    The final dish came out great. Nicely browned cauliflower and brussel sprouts will always be delicious, but the super tender and fatty pork belly really gave it a new dimension. The sweet and tangy sauce has a hint of curry and a nice spicy kick that takes these brussel sprouts off your grandmother’s Thanksgiving table and onto your friendsgiving buffet.


    Cauliflower and brussel sprouts prepped and ready to go.

    You need to cook the pork for a few hours first to tenderize it. Then chill it and chop it into these nice cubes.

    Saute everything on super high heat to give all the veggies some nice color.

    Getting there.

    Then once you have reached the right level of caramelization on everything, first add the garlic and ginger, followed shortly by the sauce.

    Let this simmer a few minutes just to tighten up and let the veggies finish cooking.

    This is a great modern twist on a Thanksgiving side dish, but would also be excellent as a meal of it’s own served over rice. The light hint of curry in that tangy sweet sauce is such a great flavor combination.