It is the home version of roasted lechon: pork belly first boiled until tender — often with bay leaves and salt — then dried and deep-fried whole in hot oil until the skin blisters into a crunchy shell, hence "kawali", the Filipino wok. It is chopped into pieces with a firm whack of the knife and served with Mang Tomas (liver sauce) or vinegar with chili and onion that cuts through the fat. A classic of carinderias and canteens across Luzon.
Ingredients
600 g pork belly, skin-on, in one slab
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp coarse salt
1 liter water for boiling
500 ml oil for deep-frying
cane vinegar with chili and onion, or liver sauce (Mang Tomas)
500–700 kcal per typical serving.
Per ~150 g serving of fried belly, no rice or sauce. (estimated from the typical recipe)
