Easy Kakuni (Japanese Braised Pork Belly) Recipe — must try for meat lovers Cooking

Watch video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYa8vWCW_o4

Kakuni, the Japanese version of braised pork belly that originated from China, has a simple sweet and savory flavor. Use Berkshire pork belly for the best silky meat texture and buttery fat.

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Ingredients:

• 800g-1kg pork belly
• 45g ginger (half for initial boil, half for final braising)
• 3 green onions or 1 Tokyo negi (large green onion)
• 1/3 cup sake
• 1/3 cup mirin
• 1/3 cup soy sauce (replace 1-2 tbsp with Chinese dark soy sauce for a deeper color)
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 600-800 ml dashi stock

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Steps:

1. Sear pork belly until browned on all sides.
2. Discard fat and put pork belly in pressure cooker.
3. Add green onions, half of ginger, and water to cover.
4. Close pressure cooker, turn stove on high.
5. Cook at pressure for 10 minutes, then turn off stove and let pressure release naturally.
6. Remove pork belly and slice into cubes or larger pieces as desired.
7. Put pork belly into a clean pot.
8. Add rest of ingredients.
9. Bring to a boil.
10. Add otoshibuta (drop lid)* and lower heat to simmer.
11. Simmer for 1 hour. Check meat and taste the sauce halfway through. If necessary, adjust the saltiness with soy sauce or water.
12. After 1 hour, the sauce should be reduced, and the pork should be tender and darker in color.
13. Put in the refrigerator to cool down.
14. After 4-5 hours, the fat should be solidified. Remove the fat.
15. Re-warm before serving.

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If you want extra flavor, top off your pork belly with Japanese mayonnaise, green onions, aonori, and kimchi! You can also put them in some steamed buns with various toppings and make your own Momofuku-style pork buns at home.

Tip: With the leftover sauce, you can braise eggs, daikon radish, potatoes, carrots, lotus root, and pretty much any other hard vegetable!

Submitted May 25, 2015 at 10:59PM by pynzrz http://ift.tt/1SyTyLL Cooking