Saturday, October 17, 2009

Tonight's Donabe dish...Healthy Kurobuta Pork Belly and Daikon Hot Pot


After coming back from Cannes, I'm so happy that I'm back on donabe cooking this week.

I made this easy, yet very delicious and healthy one pot dish by using the classic-style donabe.
You can basically cook everything (except for pre-cooking the meat) in one pot and serve it at the table.


I made a broth with about 1 liter of dashi stock, 5 tablespoons of each mirin and light soy sauce in the donabe.

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Once the broth is hot, I added the hakusai (Napa cabbage), tofu and shiitake mushrooms and cooked for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a separate pot, I boiled the water and blanched the pork belly slices. The meat was lightly marinated with salt and sake, then dredged with katakuriko (potato starch). Blanching the meat in a separate pot is an extra work and you could omit, if you prefer. But, by doing so, this will not only remove the excess fat of the pork but also the meat will taste very tender.

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The blanched pork and enoki mushrooms were added to the pot, followed by the grated daikon. To finish, in order to thicken the broth slightly, I drizzeled in 1 tablespoon of kuzuko (dissolved with the same amount of water) to the broth.

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That's it! With all the vegetables and juicy pork belly, you can enjoy the complex deep flavors. It's great with the donabe rice, cooked with Kamado-san.


The recipe for this dish will be available on toiro's website very soon. So, please check back frequently.