Smoky Wok

This is another recipe I took from Practical Japanese Cooking. I absolutely adore this book!

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This dish calls for pork belly and the pork has to be simmered twice; once for about half an hour in milk or a stock of tofu pulp to remove the stronger flavours and then next in a bonito stock. I used a claypot for the simmering which worked perfectly. According to the authors, this dish is a famous example of Shippoku cuisine, the unique "Chinese style" culinary art developed in Nagasaki between the 17th and 19th centuries. This dish is effectively an adaptation of Chinese Dongpo Pork - the familiar dish named after the famed poet. This is by no means a quick meal - there are precise, numerous steps involved but I actually enjoyed the process. I eschewed the green peas and mustard as I preferred the pork on its own.



Ingredients:

2 pounds of boneless pork belly
2 tbsps vegetable oil
1 cup unpacked okara (tofu pulp) or milk
3 ox fresh ginger, thinly sliced
8 pearl onions
1 cup shelled green peas (optional)
hot yellow mustard (karashi)

For simmering:

1 1/2 cups bonito stock (dashi)
3/4 cups sake
4 1/2 tbsps sugar
4 tbsps dark soy sauce
2 tsps tamari soy sauce

Method:

Cut the pork into 1 1/2 inch cubes. Heat the oil in a pan over high heat and stir fy the pork briefly until the surface turns brown. Transfer to a colander and pour boiling water over it to remove oil.

Place the pork, okara plus ample water (or half milk and half water or just water) to cover, and half the sliced gigner in a claypot over high heat and cover with a drop-lid. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and let simmer for 30-40 minutes.

Remove from heat and, leaving the drop lid in place, gradually add cold water to cool. Let stand 15 minutes under a thin stream of cold running water. Remove all the okara if you opted to use it.

Drain the pork. Combine in a clay pot with the bonito stock, sake and remaining ginger, then cover with a drop-lid and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the sugar and simmer for 5 more minutes. Add the soy suace and simmer for an additional 5 minutes. Add the tamari soy sauce, onions (previously boiled in lightly salted water) and simmer for a final 2 minutes. Serve with mustard.