BABI RICA - RICA | SPICY CHILI PORK

One of Manado's classic. Rica literally means chili, or spicy (hot). This dish focuses only on the hotness. It will be also slightly acidic, from the lemongrass and the kaffir lime leaves.

It takes a while to cook it (about 2 hours) so I make it only once in a while. Normally I would make this for a special occasion, birthday party or christmas dinner or fancy things where a lot of people would enjoy it because it is such a crowd favorite! If you make this, a lot of people will be impressed ;) 

Doesn't it look tasty? My mouth is salivating as I am typing this! In the recipe, I already adjusted the spice so that it's not too hot for you. Hope you enjoy the recipe.. PS. Indonesian, adjust the chili as you like (more more!).. ;) 

Tools

• 1 dutch oven pan
• Food processor

Ingredients A

• 1.5 juice of lime
• 2 tablespoon of salt
• 700 gr pork shoulder chop, diced
• 300 gr pork belly, diced

Ingredients B

• 4 tablespoon oil
• 3 bird's eye chili
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 large shallot
• 3 cm ginger

Ingredients C

• 1 root of lemongrass,  bruised 
• 3 kaffir lime leaves

• 1 litre of water
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 spring onion, chopped

Method

• Marinate the pork with the lime juice and salt. Let sit for 20 minutes.
• Put all ingredients B in food processor and process until it's a smooth paste.
• Sauté the chili paste in the pan on a medium heat, add ingredients C. Cook for 5 minutes until aromatic.
• Add the marinated pork to the pan, mix and coat the the pork with the chili sauce. Let cook for 10 minutes with a lid on and low heat to extract the juices from the pork.
• The cooking process will take about 1hr to 1hr45, in the meantime add the water 250 ml at a time over medium low heat with a lid on. When you're on your last bit of water,  take the lid off and let cook until the sauce reduces and thickens. At this time you should start to see the nice red color coating on the spicy pork. 
• Add the diced tomato and cook further for 5 minutes. Garnish with spring onions. And you are done!
• Best serve, always with warm rice! :)

Notes

• This recipe makes for a lot of food, so I recommend to store the leftover in the freezer. When reheating, use medium heat, put it in a pan with a lid on, enough water and leave it until the water and sauce reduce.