Gaeng Hang Le — แกงฮังเล — Chotika's Thai Pork Belly Curry

Gaeng hang le — แกงฮังเล — is a Northern Thai pork belly curry with deep Burmese roots. This recipe comes from Chotika, my brother's ex-wife, who lives in Thailand. She learned it from a friend from the north. That's how recipes like this survive: quietly, from kitchen to kitchen, carried by people who know them rather than printed in books.

Chotika cooked it in Thailand and sent me the details — the same way my son Danny sends fish recipes from Grimsby market and Chris sends wood-fired dishes from his Gozney in Ramsbottom. The recipe travels. I adapt it, cook it, and write it up.

Gaeng hang le is one of the great curries of Northern Thailand — dark, slow-cooked pork belly in a spiced paste with julienned ginger, shallots, tamarind, and peanuts. You'll sometimes see it spelled Gaeng Hung Lay or Kaeng Hang Le. However you spell it, the principle is the same: low heat, a lot of patience, and pork belly.

The dish has Burmese roots. This is border country cooking, where ingredients and techniques crossed the mountains long before anyone was mapping them. In Northern Thailand it's a fixture at ceremonial meals and community gatherings. Chotika's version is less grand and more domestic — which is exactly what I want.

Thai Pork Belly Curry — Low, Slow, and Dark

In Northern Thailand, phong hang le comes as a packet. At Casa Adora, it does not.

This is not a problem. I grind my own spice blends as a matter of course, and the Casa Adora version is built from whole spices toasted dry, cooled, then ground together. It makes more than you need for one batch. That's a good thing.

A few substitutions worth noting: no galangal in Jaén, so fresh ginger does the work throughout — sharper, less floral, but it works. Cubeb pepper is replaced by Sichuan pepper; camphor seeds by green cardamom (seeds only, pods discarded); santol by tamarind paste. The flavour principle behind each substitution holds. This is a Casa Adora version — honest about what it is and what it isn't.

Here is the full thai pork belly curry, adapted for the Casa Adora larder. Serves 2 — one to eat, one to freeze.

Ingredients — phong hang le:

• ½ tsp long pepper
• ½ tsp black pepper
• ¼ tsp Sichuan pepper (for cubeb)
• ¼ tsp green cardamom seeds, pods discarded (for camphor seeds)
• ½ tsp coriander seed
• ½ tsp cumin
• ¼ tsp fennel seed
• ¼ tsp fenugreek
• ¼ tsp mustard seed
• ¼ tsp white sesame seeds
• 1 small dried chilli
• ¼ tsp dried ginger
• ¼ tsp turmeric
• ¼ tsp dried garlic
• 1 small piece mace
• ¼ tsp nutmeg, freshly grated
• 1 small piece cinnamon
• 1 bay leaf, crumbled dry
• 1 clove

Toast all spices dry in a pan over a medium heat, shaking regularly, until fragrant — 2 to 3 minutes. Leave to cool completely, then grind to a fine powder. Store in a sealed jar. One tablespoon goes into the gaeng hang le recipe below; the rest keeps well.

The Curry Paste

Pound in a mortar, hardest ingredients first.

Ingredients — curry paste:

• 2 stalks lemongrass, tough outer removed, finely sliced
• 3cm fresh ginger, roughly chopped
• 4 cloves garlic
• 3 shallots, roughly chopped
• 2–3 dried red chillies, soaked 15 minutes
• 1 tsp fermented garlic and ginger paste
• 1 tsp homemade shrimp paste (or a splash of fish sauce if paste not ready)
• Pinch of salt

Start with the lemongrass and ginger — they need the most work. Add each ingredient in turn, pounding until you have a rough, aromatic paste. A food processor will do it faster and the result won't be quite the same, but it will still be a thai pork belly curry worth making.

The fermented garlic and ginger paste is a Casa Adora staple — the recipe is here if you haven't made a batch yet.

If you haven't made a batch of homemade shrimp paste yet, a splash of fish sauce will do the job here.

Gaeng Hang Le Recipe — Pork Belly, Low and Slow

Here is the full recipe, adapted for the Casa Adora larder. Serves 2 — one to eat, one to freeze.

Ingredients:

• 400g pork belly, cut into 3–4cm chunks
• All of the curry paste (above)
• 1 tbsp phong hang le spice mix (above)
• 2 tbsp black soy sauce
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp tamarind paste
• 4cm fresh ginger, julienned
• 3 shallots, halved
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced
• 50g peanuts, lightly toasted
• Water to cover — approximately 200ml
• Steamed jasmine rice, to serve

Steamed jasmine rice is the only accompaniment this needs — find more rice ideas in my Rice Recipes collection.

Method:

1 — Marinate. Combine the pork with the curry paste, phong hang le, black soy sauce and fish sauce. Mix well and leave for at least 1 hour — overnight if possible.

2 — Brown. In a heavy pan or Le Creuset, fry the marinated pork in a little oil over a high heat until coloured on all sides.

3 — Build. Add the julienned ginger, shallots, garlic and peanuts. Stir and fry for 2–3 minutes.

4 — Simmer. Add the tamarind paste and enough water to just cover. Bring to a gentle simmer, then cook low and slow for 1.5 to 2 hours, until the pork is tender.

5 — Watch the oil. When a layer of oil rises to the surface, the curry is ready. This is the sign Chotika gave me, and it is a good one. The fat renders out of the pork belly and separates from the braising liquid — the curry beneath will be thick, dark, and deeply aromatic.

6 — Taste and adjust. Balance sweet (a pinch of sugar if needed), sour (more tamarind), salt (more fish sauce). The finished curry should be glossy, dark, and warming — not thin, not bright.

Serve with steamed jasmine rice. Finish with a small pile of fresh julienned ginger laid on top.

FOOTNOTE:

This thai pork belly curry — gaeng hang le (แกงฮังเล) — is part of my Pork Recipes collection, my Curry Recipes collection, and From the Family Kitchen — the family recipe strand of The Flexible Chef. Find the full collection at Recipe Hubs.

If you've enjoyed the recipes, you can buy me a coffee ☕ — it helps keep the site going.

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