Japanese pork stew

This nourishing stew is inspired by the flavours of nabe, a traditional Japanese hotpot eaten in winter. Caramelising the pork before stewing it gives the brew a deliciously rich depth.

Japanese Pork Stew Credit: Justine's Flavours of Fuji

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  2:30 hours

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 300 g pork shoulder, cut into large chunks
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• salt
• 1 onion, roughly chopped into chunks
• 1 carrot, roughly chopped into chunks
• 1 x 4 cm piece ginger, cut into thin rounds
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 60 ml (¼ cup)-80 ml (⅓ cup) sake
• 2 turnips, cut into sixths
• about 10 shiitake mushrooms, halved
• 1 tsp honey
• 60 ml (¼ cup)-80 ml (⅓ cup) soy sauce
• 60 ml (¼ cup) mirin
• 1 litre (4 cups) dashi broth
• 3 strips orange peel
• 1 cup Chinese cabbage, roughly chopped
• sliced spring onions, to garnish
• steamed rice, to serve

Instructions

1. Toss and coat the pork in the cornflour.
2. Heat the oil in a sauté pan then season the pork with a pinch of salt, and sear, in batches, for a few minutes until golden brown on each side. Remove from pan and set aside.
3. Add the onion, carrot, ginger and garlic to the pan with the oil used to cook the pork. Deglaze the pan with the sake, and allow the alcohol to cook off before returning the pork to the pan. Add the turnips, mushrooms, honey, soy sauce and mirin, and stir to coat.
4. Pour in enough broth to cover everything, add the orange peel, then cover the pot with some baking paper and place a lid on top. Cook, covered, on low heat for about 2 hours until the meat is falling apart. Add the Chinese cabbage about 10 minutes before the end of cooking.
5. Garnish the stew with spring onions and serve with steamed rice.

 

Justine's Flavours of Fuji premieres on Monday 19 November at 8.30pm. The series airs Mondays at 8.30pm on SBS Food (Channel 33). After they air, episodes will stream at SBS On Demand. 

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.