I had some extra pork belly in my freezer, and it was time to try something new. There is one recipe I’ve always loved eating a restaurants but never tried to cook at home, I actually thought this would be impossible to reproduce, mostly due to my own ignorance about japanese cooking, it is very foreign to me but at the same time it isn’t, living in LA, I’ve been exposed to Japanese food for over a decade, but one thing is eating it, another completely different thing is cooking it but I had to give it a shot. I have to say that tonight’s experience making Kakuni, was’t disappointing, and the familiar taste of this delicious dish was pretty much there, the sweetness, the umami, the ginger, all there, I had to adjust things a bit as I was going, but in the end I had a pretty awesome dinner and leftovers. Here’s what I did to get this melt-in-your-mouth pork belly dish: 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb. pork belly
1/4 cup mirin
2 cups dashi
1 leek
3 Tbsp soys sauce (more to taste)
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp ground dry ginger
2 Tbsp peanut oil

Gear:

knife and cutting board
pressure cooker
small sauce pan
medium sauce pan
roasting pan
aluminum foil
oven
measuring spoons and cups

Method:

01: line roasting pan with aluminum foil
02: place pork belly in it, coat with some peanut oil
03: roast at 500f for about an hour or until golden *
04: remove from oven and let rest
05: cut leek in half, reserve white part
06: green part, cut in half lengthwise
07: place pork belly in pressure cooker
08: add green leek part to pressure cooker
09: add ginger to pressure cooker
10: add water to just cover pork
11: pressure cook at 15psi for 45 minutes
12: remove pork belly from vessel
13: reserve stock for something else (this is a great stock btw)
14: discard leeks in pressure cooker
15: reserve pork, set aside
16: add 2 cups of dashi to a medium sauce pan  (kombu, bonito flakes broth)
17: add sugar, soy sauce, mirin
18: in separate small pot, hard boil a couple of eggs
19: after 5 minutes, remove from boiling water
20: chuck in cold water and peel
21: place eggs along with pork in the medium sauce pan
22: simmer for about 5 minutes ( eggs should turn a nice brown color on the outside)
23: serve some of the broth on a bowl, along with eggs and pork chunks
24: garnish with juliened leeks (white part) and finely chopped green onion

I believe this is my first Japanese recipe on my blog, hope to get better at this, also hope you enjoy if you try making this!

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