Pork Bowl

もこみちの豚丼/Pork Bowl by Mokomichi

This dish is perhaps not for everyone…especially those who don’t care for slimy textured (Japanese word for slimy is never, never…I mean neva,neva)food, like fermented soy beans AKA natto (納豆). Do not be afraid, it does not contain natto and doesn’t smell as offensive as that. And quite…what should I say, unique?…different!

Mokomichi Hayami (速水もこみち), the Japanese actor, appears weekly on a short cooking segment of a popular morning news show called Zip! His second cookbook ‘Moko  Meshi’ (roughly translated, Moko Dish) has a cheesy subtitle ‘ Cooking that makes you smile’ …right. He is so beautiful I’m sure it will be delicious, if I eat with you …oops, that is the title of his first cookbook.

I star marked* ingredients as the culprit of sliminess for warning.

Ingredients and modified Instruction for 2 servings (Print Recipe Here)

• 5-6 inch cucumber, small or no seed variety preferred. I used English cucumber, minced
• 2 myogas (Japanese ginger, see pic below), you may substitute with ginger, minced
• 1/2 pack of white radish sprout (カイワレ大根), remove roots and mince the rest
• 3-4 okra, remove top and mince the rest *
• 2 Tablespoons white dashi stock, I used bottled dashi stock because I needed so little. For a homemade recipe check my past blog here (step#1,#2) and keep the rest in refrigerator for later use. Also there are many YouTube videos to learn from. Search ‘How to make dashi’
• 1/2 pound thin pork belly meat, cut in about 5 inch strips
• Salt and pepper to season the meat. I used white pepper.
• 1 Tablespoon sesame oil
• 1/2 cup Chinese yam, 長芋 remove skin and grated *
• egg yolk
• Seaweed strips (刻みのり)
• Cooked rice

1. Mix cucumber, myoga, radish sprout and okra in a medium bowl. Add white dashi stock. Set aside.
2. Salt and pepper the meat on both sides. Heat sesame oil in large skillet on medium heat. Brown meat well till near crisp. Note: I think this pork belly is too thin.
3. Put cooked rice in an individual rice bowl. Top with some cucumber mix then grated Chinese yam, meat, egg yolk, finally seaweeds. Serve with soy sauce (or tamari sauce), hot sauce or La-Yu on the side.

With the temperature in low 90’s, I have to get relief from the heat. This healthy popsicle recipe uses fresh strawberry and kiwi, the sweetness comes from agave syrup instead of sugar. I posted this photo on Instagram (#todaystapas).The recipe is from cookpad.com.

My husband and I enjoyed Lake Oswego Saturday Market…last Saturday. Quickly blanched (and chilled) Sea Beans and breakfast radish we bought there, to make salad with sesame oil and soy sauce dressing…simple yet effective wafu salad, 

Microsoft and Google fixed my blogging tool finally!…I’m so happy, I want to do a happy dance…yeah! Let’s!