← Nouns Cooking · Japanese

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp Sugar
• 1 tbsp Water
• 4 tbsp boiling water
• 3 tbsp Soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Sake
• 250 g pork loin or belly, sliced 3–5 mm thick
• 1 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 2 bowls of hot cooked Japanese short-grain rice
• 10 cm piece Japanese long onion or spring onion, finely sliced
• freshly ground black pepper
• pickled red ginger, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Make the sauce: put the sugar and 1 tbsp water in a small pan over medium heat. Without stirring, cook for 4–5 min, swirling the pan, until it turns a deep amber caramel.
2. Take the pan off the heat and carefully pour in the boiling water (it will spit). Stir in the soy sauce and sake, then simmer for 2 min until slightly syrupy.
3. Snip the fat along the edge of each pork slice in a few places so it stays flat as it cooks.
4. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Fry the pork in a single layer for 1–2 min per side until browned and cooked through.
5. Pour in about half the sauce and toss the pork for 30 seconds until glazed and sticky.
6. Spoon a little sauce over the rice, overlap the pork on top and drizzle with more. Finish with leek, black pepper and pickled ginger.

Tips

• In Obihiro the pork is grilled over charcoal; a griddle pan or barbecue gives that smoky edge.
• The caramel sauce keeps for a week in the fridge and is great on grilled chicken too.

Sources

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

Just One Cookbook Japanese Cooking 101