Instant Pot Lechon Kawali

     I'm so happy I've finally made the attempt to make on of my favorite Filipino comfort foods in the Instant Pot which was Lechon  Kawali. I've made this several times in the oven but with its high fat content and with the high oven temperature, it would smoke out my kitchen. Plus it took a while for it to cook too. So since I've been slowly trying to convert nearly everything I cook via stove top or oven,   I knew there had to be a way to at least prep cook the pork belly and finish off with broiling the top layer of fat.

     My local Costco sells pork belly cut into about 2-inch or so thick slices. I normally use his cut of meat to marinate in a char siu sauce and layer grill on the BBQ. I finally had a very late epiphany to try to make Lechon Kawali with it and finally did so a few days ago. I just seasoned each pork slice with black pepper and garlic salt, added 1 cup of water to the IP liner, and set the cooking time for 20 minutes. Once done I sliced each pork piece and baked for 10 minutes. Set oven to broil and broiled each side for about 7 minutes each time. Everything worked in my favor and it turned out SO delicious! 

     I maybe could have broiled it a little more longer but I got impatience and hungry 😝. Next time I make this though, I'm going to try the baking and broiling without slicing up the pork beforehand. I'll just leave it in whole slices so I can get the top layer of fat more crispier. 

     After the Lechon was done cooking, I turned it into a specialty dish well known at a local Filipino restaurant in Hawaii (Thelma's of Waipahu) called the Thelma's Special. Which is pretty much lechon with chipped yellow onions, chopped tomatoes, and seasoned with shoyu and apple cider vinegar. I got my Waipahu raised hubby's seal of approval and said it's nearly like the real thing 😄. So for your eating pleasure here is the recipe.

INSTANT POT LECHON KAWALI & "THELMA'S SPECIAL"

INGREDIENTS:

4 lbs boneless pork belly 

Black pepper 

Garlic salt

1 cup water

DIRECTIONS:

Season all sides of pork belly with black pepper and garlic salt. Add water to instant pot liner. Add pork slices to liner. Cover with lid and set timer to manual for 20 minutes. Be sure valve is at sealing. When timer is done, let NPR 10 minutes and then QPR. Heat oven to bake at 400 degrees. Remove pork from IP. Slice pork into 1-inch pieces and place onto wire rack on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. When done, change oven temperature to broil. Broil one side of pork for about 7 minutes or until you see it crisping over enough...just keep your eye on it. Remove from oven and flip pork pieces to opposite side and broil the other side to repeat process. Once done remove from oven and let cool. Serve with lechon sauce or use pork to make your very own "Thelma's Special".


"THELMA'S SPECIAL"

INGREDIENTS:

2-3 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1/2 cup shoyu
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

DIRECTIONS:

Place cooked lechon in bowl. Add tomatoes and onions. Mix shoyu and vinegar. Pour about half of mixture over pork and vegetables. Add more to taste. Then ENJOY!

Portuguese Bean Soup

Portuguese Bean Soup isn't something I make too often. One of the key ingredients for this soup calls for some Portuguese sausage which can be found here in Oregon but is very expensive.

We have a stash of frozen Portuguese sausage in our freezer that we brought home from Hawaii on one of last trips and some from when our in laws visited. Although we have a stash we only bring it out to eat on occasion since we try to make that stash last until the next trip home.

I was craving for some Portuguese Bean Soup and what perfect time to have it since it started getting cold and rainy again. I don't follow an actual recipe since this is something I believe my mom taught me when I was a teenager. So this "recipe" below is basically what I normally use and how I make it. There are other recipes that call for macaroni and/or cabbage, but I never put any of that in my soup. 

For those that don't have access to local Hawaii Portuguese sausage you could possibly use smoked sausage or I've seen Mexican linguica in the grocery store as a substitute. Also, to those new to following me I tend to overcook a lot since I grew up learning to cook for a big family. I never make a small batch and it's always in a big stockpot. So you might have to adjust the recipe a bit unless you want to being this as leftovers for a few days ;p. 

PORTUGUESE BEAN SOUP

Ingredients: 

4-6 smoked ham hocks (I used smoked pork shanks this last time since it was actually cheaper and has a lot more meat)

1 stick Portuguese sausage, diced 

2 pkgs. diced ham

2-3 large potatoes cut into small cubes

2-3 large carrots peeled and sliced 

3-4 celery stalks sliced 

1 medium onion diced

4 small cans tomato sauce 

1-2 cans red kidney beans, undrained

Salt & pepper to taste 

Directions:

Boil ham hocks in a stock pot with enough water to cover it. Keep boiling hock meat and adding water until you're able to pierce a fork through the meaty part with ease. Let cool. 

*DO NOT DRAIN OR GET RID OF THE WATER USED FOR BOILING, THAT IS WHERE MAJORITY OF THE SOUP FLAVOR IS. IT'S YOUR SOUP STOCK!*

Remove meat from hock bone and chop up into smaller pieces. Heat up soup stock, add hock meat & bones and remaining ingredients. Boil over medium heat till veggies are cooked through. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Hope you like this as much as my family and I do. Enjoy!

xoxo,

Adriana