From the Kitchen : Pork Kakuni (Japanese Braised Pork Belly)

Kakuni (角煮,) , which literally translates to "square simmered" is a simple yet deep Japanese dish that is very easy to execute. However, pays great dividends. As the concept is relatively simple, many variants of the recipe can be found around the internet. But being a no fuss guy, here is a no fuss recipe for you to try.

How no fuss is it? Try it out for yourself!

Pork kakuni

1 streak of pork belly ( I had 300 gm)

1/2 cup cooking sake

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup of sugar

4 cloves of garlic, slightly crushed and peeled

ginger (amount to your preference) 

Steps:

Searing in the process

1. Cut the pork belly into sizeable chunks and pat dry. Sear it in a hot pan and season it with salt and pepper before hand.

2. Once all sides are seared, place it in a pot with all the other ingredients and leave it to simmer for about 30 mins on medium low heat. You do not have to close the lid completely. Do tip it slightly so that the sauce can reduce. 

It already looks so good at this stage already. 

3. Once the 30 mins are up, turn up the temperature to make the cooking more aggressive but not to a rolling boil for a about 1-2 minutes. This will give you a very savoury and flavourful syrup in the end.

And then you are done! How simple is that? 

Some recipes do ask for longer cooking times (approx 2 hours) so that the fat can really render down and the meat gets super tender, which I agree. However, if you are for a rush for time I think this shorter and quicker process would suffice. And it was delicious! For this variant, I had it with a bowl of rice and a side of edamame. A decent meal for one if you ask me. 

Now to chow down!

Note: cooking sake is relatively easy to find, and is much cheaper than the nihonshu that is meant as a drink. However, if you cannot find it, shaoxing wine, which is much easier to find can be used as a replacement. Sake is generally lighter than shaoxing wine so a bit more water needs to be used to thin the alcohol out. 

I used this brand if you guys are curious.