Simmered Daikon Radish and Pork Belly
- 2/3 Daikon radish
- 1 10 x 10 cm square Kombu for dashi stock
- 1 Pork belly block
- 5 thin slices Ginger
- 4 tbsp Sake
- 3 tbsp Mirin
- 3 tbsp Sugar
- 2 tbsp Soy sauce
- 1 Mentsuyu
- Peel the daikon radish thickly, and then shave the edges of the slices off.
- Parboil the daikon radish in the rinsing water from washing rice, or with 1 tablespoon of rice added to plain water.
- Parboil for about 20 minutes.
- When the daikon radish is translucent, drain and rinse.
- Line the pan with kombu, add fresh water and simmer the daikon radish again.
- If you don't have kombu, you can add some mentsuyu to the water and simmer the daikon radish.
- I didn't have a lot of kombu, so I added both.
- Slice the pork belly in to 1 cm thick pieces.
- Brown the pork well in a frying pan without adding oil.
- Wipe away any excess grease or fat that runs out of the meat.
- Bring a pan of water to a boil and boil the browned pork to remove more oil (about 5 minutes).
- Put the parboiled daikon radish and pork in a deep pot, and add enough water to cover.
- Then add the sake, mirin, and sugar.
- Bring to a boil.
- When it comes to a boil, turn the heat down to low, add the soy sauce and simmer.
- I put the pot over a portable stove/heater in the winter to simmer this.
- After simmering for about 15 minutes, taste.
- It's OK if the taste is rather light, but you can adjust by adding mentsuyu if you prefer.
- Simmer for as long as you like.
- You can decide when to stop by looking at the color of the daikon radish.
- The liquid in the pot should be reduced to about half its original volume.
- Bonus: If you cut each 4 cm thick piece of daikon radish into about 6 pieces, it will cook a lot faster.
- If you do this, reduce the seasoning ingredients to 2 tablespoons each.
- Bonus 2: If you don't mind the flavors blending in, use chicken, bacon, fish, atsuage... anything you like.
radish, stock, block, thin slices ginger, sake, mirin, sugar, soy sauce, mentsuyu
Taken from cookpad.com/us/recipes/168628-simmered-daikon-radish-and-pork-belly (may not work)