Tater tots are totally popping up in high-brow restaurants and hipster haunts. I guess it’s not that new, but I am digging it anyway. Tots are always good. I even made some from-scratch sweet potato tots back in the day. Wow, that was more than a year ago. Time flies when you’re chowing on tots.

With this particular monstrosity of a party food/appetizer/meal just for me (jk), I chose one of my favorite ingredients: pork belly. Not familiar? It’s like a heftier version of delicious bacon. I took some pre-made frozen tots (shortcut city, baby!) and smothered them with crispy pork belly, chili powder, green onions, sesame seeds, and a homemade sweet Asian-inspired glaze.

Oh yes, these are Asian pork belly loaded tater tots. Let’s get to making them.

Green onions (aka scallions) are on deck. I have been getting seriously into these things lately. They’re cheap as hell and always so pretty sprinkled on everything. Except cereal. Don’t try that at home.

Oh, but you need to know about the main event here. You can snag pork belly in your local grocery store’s meat section or local butcher, but I snag mine pre-cooked from Trader Joe’s usually. It just lets me skip a step without skipping flavor.

Like bacon, it’s a boneless fatty cut of pork. you can slice it and cook it like bacon, braise it, cook it as a big slab, smother it in almost anything… it’s so good.

The sauce for these pork belly loaded tater tots is a pretty versatile Asian-inspired brown sugar glaze, easy to make ahead and use elsewhere. Feel free to double or triple the batch to use with soba noodles, tofu, shirataki noodles… anything you like.

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Yum

Asian pork belly loaded tater tots

Ingredients

• 2 lbs frozen tater tots
• 6 oz pork belly, pre-cooked and sliced to about 1/2 inch thick
• 1 tsp chili powder, or to taste
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 Tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 oz green onions or scallions, chopped
Brown sugar glaze:
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• pinch of salt and pepper
• 1/2 tsp ginger powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 Tbsp Honey
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar (I used brown sugar stevia blend)
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce

Instructions

1. Prepare the brown sugar glaze: Mix all glaze ingredients together in a medium bowl and let sit in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to let the flavors meld.
2. Preheat oven to 400F. Spread frozen tater tots in one layer on a large cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, turning at the halfway mark to brown all sides.
3. Meanwhile, preheat a large dry skillet or frying pan to medium. Layer the pork belly in the pan and brown both sides for about 4 minutes each until light brown and not too crispy. Remove from pan onto a plate lined with a paper towel. Let cool slightly and then dice into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.
4. When the tater tots are done and browned, spread them onto a large plate. Sprinkle the tots with chili powder, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Add on the diced pork belly and then swirl on a generous helping of the brown sugar glaze.
5. Garnish with lots of green onions and sesame seeds and serve alongside an extra small bowl of the glaze for dipping. Enjoy!

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https://www.bijouxandbits.com/2016/08/asian-pork-belly-loaded-tater-tots/

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