← Nouns Cooking · Japanese

Ingredients

• 750 g skin-on pork belly in one block
• ½ tbsp Vegetable oil
• 2 spring onions (green parts) or 1 leek top
• 4 cm piece Ginger, sliced
• 500 ml dashi or water
• 60 ml Sake
• 60 ml Mirin
• 4 tbsp Sugar
• 60 ml Soy sauce
• 4 eggs, boiled for 8 min and peeled (optional)
• 8 Green beans, blanched, to serve (optional)
• hot mustard (karashi), to serve (optional)

Method

1. Cut the pork into 5 cm cubes. Heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat and sear the cubes on all sides for 8–10 min, until well browned. Pour off the fat.
2. Cover the pork with fresh water, add the spring onion and ginger, and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer very gently, partly covered, for 2 hours, topping up with water so the meat stays submerged.
3. Drain the pork and rinse each piece gently under warm water to wash off the fat and scum. Clean the pot.
4. Put the pork back in the pot with the dashi, sake, mirin and sugar. Lay a drop lid (a circle of baking paper) on the surface and simmer over low heat for 30 min.
5. Add the soy sauce and the peeled eggs, then simmer for 30 min more, turning the eggs now and then so they colour evenly.
6. Remove the drop lid and let the sauce bubble for 5–10 min, spooning it over the pork, until glossy and slightly thick. The pork should be soft enough to cut with chopsticks.
7. Serve the pork and halved eggs with green beans, a dab of mustard and a spoonful of sauce, with rice on the side.

Tips

• Cook it a day ahead and chill: the fat sets on top and lifts off easily, and the flavour deepens.
• A pressure cooker cuts the first simmer to about 30 min.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Just One Cookbook RecipeTin Japan Japanese Cooking 101