Served with fluffy ginger rice, pickled shiitake mushrooms and crunchy snake beans, this mirin-glazed pork belly recipe is a Japanese pork recipe worth having on rotation. The pork belly is tender and sweet thanks to the glaze, and you can swap in your favourite vegetables to make this recipe a flexible midweek dinner.
Ingredients
Shiitake mushrooms
Crisp garlic and ginger rice
Method
1.Preheat oven to 220ËšC (fan-forced). Combine dashi, mirin, soy, and 80ml water in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Place pork in a high-sided flameproof roasting pan and pour over marinade. Place over high heat and bring to a simmer (2 minutes). Roast until starting to colour and caramelise (20 minutes). Turn pork and cook until sauce is slightly reduced, pork is caramelised and golden (20 minutes).
2.Meanwhile, drain shiitake mushrooms, place in a small saucepan with remaining ingredients, 1 tsp fine cooking salt and 80ml water. Place over medium heat, bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low and cook until reduced slightly and mushrooms are pickled (10 minutes). Set aside in pickling liquid to cool.
3.Place rice in a large saucepan, cover with 3 cups cold water and grated ginger. Bring to the boil over high heat, reduce heat to low, cover and cook (12-14 minutes). Remove from heat and stand, covered to steam (5 minutes).
4.Heat oil in a small saucepan over high heat. Add garlic and cook, until golden and crisp (1 minute). Drain, pour over rice, and gently toss to combine. Divide rice and pork between bowls. Serve with mushrooms, snake beans, and spoon over pan juices.
Dashi powder is a seaweed powdered stock. If you don’t have this, use vegetable stock.