Grilled Pork Belly

Marinate the pork belly. In a container with lid, mix the pineapple juice, soy sauce, garlic, banana ketchup, ground black pepper, and the kalamansi. Include the kalamansi peel into the marinade. Mix it until the marinade is well-blended. Using a fork, poke the pork (I just made a cooking tongue twister, didn’t I? Haha!) multiple times. This will help in the absorption of the marinade into the meat. Once all the pork bellies have been poked, put them into the marinade together with the lemongrass, and massage the marinade into the pork belly. It’s best to put it into a Ziplock and let it marinate there for at least 6 hours, or if you have time, marinate for 12 hours.

Grill the pork belly. Start the griller and charcoal. Make sure it’s nice and hot, and 80% of the charcoal are already burnt. You don’t need a strong fire for this. Grill the pork belly according to its thickness. The usual cut at the supermarket should only take 3 to 5 minutes each side to cook. Give enough space on the griller for each pork belly. They should be at least an inch apart.

Serve! If you have the banana leaf, run it a few seconds on the griller, until you see that shine and gloss on the leaf. Place the cooked Inihaw na Liempo on the banana leaves, and let it rest for 3 minutes before chopping. Enjoy this juicy, tender, and flavorful Inihaw na Liempo with your favorite dip!