This is a very healthy way of cooking pork apart from the crackling which is optional, and it makes no difference to the flavour of the dish if you choose to serve with crackling or not. We served the pork and crackling with our “Best Healthy Roast Potatoes“, which meant the crackling was cooked in the oven for the same time and at the same temperature as the potatoes – making economic use of the oven for 30 minutes.
Because the liquid which the pork is cooked in ends up being the sauce, it is important to remove as much of the fat as possible before cooking.
I only marinated it for a couple of hours, but it could be prepared the day before and left to marinate in the crockpot.
I used blanched peanuts and roasted them the same way I did sesame seeds for the “Ginger Beef” recipe.
Mirin is used in this dish – it is a sweet Japanese cooking sauce available from most supermarkets and Asian food stores. It is a type of rice wine similar to sake, but with a lower alcohol content and higher sugar content. The sugar content is a complex carbohydrate formed naturally via the fermentation process; it is not refined sugar.
If you don’t have a stick blender, you will need to put all the sauce ingredients into a food processor and blend then put into a saucepan to cook.
The soy sauce should add enough saltiness to the dish, but check the sauce before serving and add salt if you think it needs it.
I used the time the sauce was cooking to cook the potatoes and crackling, so it was all ready to serve at once.
The cut of pork used provides only a small taste of crackling each for 8 people, but health-wise this is possibly a good thing!
Crockpot Pulled Satay Pork (with Pork Crackling)
(Serves 8)
2.7 kg pork leg roast
Olive oil spray
2 large onions (sliced)
3 cloves garlic (crushed)
3 cm piece ginger (crushed)
1 lime (grated zest and juice)
2 teaspoons dried chilli flakes
½ cup light soy sauce
2 tablespoons mirin
⅓ cup smooth peanut butter
⅓ cup toasted peanuts
Handful chopped coriander leaves
Using a sharp knife remove the skin from the pork and reserve to make crackling which can be served with this dish (recipe follows). Also remove as much fat as you can from the meat.
Spray crockpot with olive oil, then put onions, garlic, ginger, lime zest and juice, chilli flakes, soy sauce and mirin into the crockpot bowl and mix together. Add pork and marinate for at least 2 hours, turning a couple of times. Cover tightly and cook on low heat for 8 – 10 hours until falling from the bone.
Remove meat from the crockpot and pull it roughly into a serving casserole. (The picture below shows the pork as it comes out of the crockpot on the right and the pulled pork on the left). Cover so it doesn’t dry out and keep warm until the sauce is made.
Strain the liquid into a large pot (reserving the onion mixture) and skim any fat from the top (there shouldn’t be much if you did a good job of removing it all before cooking). Add onion mixture to the pan together with the peanut butter.
Use a stick blender to process until it is completely blended, then simmer for at least half an hour until it is a lovely thick, reduced sauce.
Pour some of the sauce over the pork and put the rest in a gravy jug for serving on the table. Scatter with the coriander and peanuts and serve immediately.
Serve with potatoes or rice together with a salad or cooked vegetables.
Pork Crackling
Make deep slices in the reserved pork skin, but be careful not to cut all the way through.
Spread liberally with olive oil, freshly ground salt and pepper and place on a tray lined with baking paper.
Bake at 210°C in the top of the oven for 30 minutes or until nicely browned and crispy.
Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.