Ingredients

The following ingredients have 7 Servings
  • dark Jamaican rum
  • olive oil
  • 2 kg higher-welfare pork belly skin removed
  • 10 fresh bay leaves
  • 2 medium onions
  • 1.4 kg yellow yams
  • 1 large knob of unsalted butter
  • 250 g self-raising flour plus extra for dusting
  • 50 g cornmeal
  • 8 spring onions
  • 8 cloves of garlic peeled
  • 2 fresh Scotch bonnet chillies
  • ½ a bunch of fresh thyme (15g)
  • 3 fresh bay leaves
  • ½ teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 6 tablespoons white wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons runny honey

Instruction

  • To make the jerk sauce, trim and roughly chop the spring onions, peel the garlic, deseed the chillies and place it all in a blender. Strip in the thyme leaves, then tear in the bay leaves, discarding the stalks. Add the remaining sauce ingredients and a splash of rum. Blitz until smooth, loosening with a little oil, if needed.
  • Massage half the jerk sauce into the pork belly, then cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
  • When you’re ready to cook, preheat the oven to 150ºC/300ºF/gas 2.
  • Place a large, wide, ovenproof pan on a medium-high heat with 1 tablespoon of oil. Chop the pork into 5cm chunks and add to the pan with 3 bay leaves. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the pork is golden all over and any liquid has bubbled and boiled away.
  • Peel, finely slice and add the onions, then cook on a low heat for 10 minutes, or until soft and sticky. Turn the heat up to high, add a good splash of rum and allow to bubble away, then stir in the remaining jerk sauce and 250ml of water.
  • Bring to the boil, then cover and cook in the oven for 3 to 4 hours, or until sticky and reduced and the meat is tender, adding a splash of water if it’s too dry. You want it nice and juicy, but it’s not a stew!
  • With around 25 minutes to go, peel the yams and chop into rough 2cm chunks. Parboil in a pan of boiling salted water for 10 minutes, then drain and allow to steam dry. Place in a large ovenproof frying pan on a medium-high heat with the butter, a good drizzle of oil and the remaining bay leaves. Fry for 10 minutes, or until golden.
  • Meanwhile, remove the pork from the oven, cover and put aside, then turn the temperature up to 200ºC/400ºF/ gas 6.
  • Transfer the yams to the oven for 15 minutes, or until crisp and cooked through.
  • Make the dumplings by mixing the flour, cornmeal, a good pinch of sea salt and 250ml of cold water to form a sticky dough. Knead well on a flour dusted surface, then roll into a sausage shape and tear off golfball-sized pieces.
  • Roll into balls, flatten slightly with your hands, then place in a pan of boiling salted water for 15 minutes, or until puffed up and cooked through, turning occasionally. Drain and serve with the jerk pork and crispy yams.