[Friday Dinners] Pork Belly and Oyster Pot with Shio-koji, Amazake, and Sake Lees

After getting through the weekday, Friday night brings calmness and delight. Here is a recipe perfect for a relaxing night, reflecting back on the week and thinking ahead to the weekend that's about to begin.
Pork Belly and Oyster Pot with Shio-koji, Amazake, and Sake Lees
This hot pot dish is quick to make but tastes very rich, which makes the perfect menu for a Friday dinner. The synergistic effect of fermentation created by the mixture of shio-koji (salted rice malt), amazake (Japanese sweet sake), and sake lees maximizes the natural flavors of ingredients. Therefore, it's best to use a konbu-dashi (dried kelp soup) that produces a light flavor. The pork belly, which goes well with this pot, should be added before the heat is turned on because the ingredients that make the broth should be added in unheated water. The oysters, which get stiff when cooked, should be added at the end, along with the spinach and green onions. If possible, dry the Chinese cabbage and mushrooms under the sun for condensed flavor and prolonged shelf life. The gentle taste of the soup allows you to enjoy it until the very end.​ ​
Ingredients (For 2-3 people)
1L Mineral water (soft water) / 15g Konbu or dried kelp / 5 tablespoons Shio-koji (salted rice malt) / 50ml Amazake (Japanese sweet sake), concentrated type / 50g Sake lees (soft type) / 300g Thinly sliced pork belly / 1 pack Oyster / 1/8 head Chinese cabbage / 1 pack Your favorite mushroom / 1 pack Spinach / 2 bunches Green onion / 2 servings Ramen noodle

<For flavoring>
Sesame oil, as needed / Fish sauce, as needed / Sansho (Japanese peppercorn powder), as needed / Citron peel, as needed / Chili oil, as needed

Instructions
1. Soak the konbu kelp in a clay pot with mineral water on Friday morning. Cut pork belly into easy-to-eat pieces and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of shio-koji for seasoning and softening. If it's sunny, spread the Chinese vegetable and mushrooms out in a colander under the sun to dry to get the concentrated flavors.
2. Soak the spinach in water to crisp it up and cut it into bite-size lengths. Remove the hard tip of the mushrooms and loosen them. Cut the Chinese cabbage into long sticks about 5 mm wide. Cut the white part of the green onion into thin diagonal slices and put them in cold water to remove the pungent taste. When they get crispy, put them in a colander and drain well.
3. Gently wash the folds of the oysters with saltwater and put them into a colander to drain. Repeat this process 3 times.
4. Mix 3 tablespoons of shio-koji, amazake, and sake lees, and dissolve it well in the pot from step 1. Add the pork belly slices while loosening, and heat them. Take out the kelp just before the broth boils, and add Chinese cabbage and mushrooms. Add oysters, spinach and green onion just before eating. When cooked, serve in a bowl with the soup. Enjoy it with the flavoring of your choice.
5. To finish it off deliciously, add hard-boiled ramen noodles, simmer it lightly, and pour some chili oil.​ ​

*A salad spinner is not needed to drain the green onion if you place the rims of the colander and the bowl facing each other and shake it well.
*Adjust the amount of shio-koji by checking the taste because the salt content varies depending on the product.

[CHEF PROFILE]
​Hisae Daikokuya(Chef, chief of Kotobukiya)

Born in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture. Hisae entered the cooking world after graduating from university. She became director and chef of kurkku cafe in 2006 after serving as a chef at several restaurants. She later began teaching, catering, cooking as private chef, and developing recipes independently. In 2009, her cooking class “Shouya” opened in Kamakura. She specializes in dishes that use vegetables and traditional Japanese ingredients. Her website “Nihon no Gohan (Meals of Japan)” launched in 2015. In “Will Conscious Marunouchi”, a food project by Mitsubishi Estate aimed at working women, she worked in collaboration with Marunouchi restaurants to produce dishes. Author of “Japanese Salads/Japanese Marinades” (Ei Publishing).
http://nihonnogohan.com/

Photos: Mizuho Takamura


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