Braised Pork Belly
Braised pork belly, or "kakuni" in Japanese, is a savory and tender dish that involves slowly cooking the pork belly until it melts in your mouth. Here’s a traditional, but made easy recipe to make delicious kakuni at home!
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Japanese
Keyword: authentic
Servings: 4
- 800 grams pork belly
- 8 cups water
- 135 ml mentsutyu (3x strength)
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 30 grams miso
- 100 grams gobou
Brown the pork belly
Heat a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Place the pork belly, skin side down and sear until browned. Turn and repeat on all sides.
Remove pork belly from the heat and place on a cutting board. Let it cool for a couple of minutes
Simmer the pork belly
Cut the pork belly into 1.5cm pieces. Cut the gobou in bite sized pieces.
Remove excess oil from the pan (Tip: save this oil to use for cooking!)
Add sugar, mentsuyu, miso and mix while adding water into the pot.
Add the pork belly pieces. Make sure that the pork belly is fully covered. If not, transfer to a smaller pot.
Add the gobou and eggs into the pot. Place a piece of parchment paper (cut into shape of pot) or paper towel on the top. This helps cook the pork slower by keeping the moisture. Let it simmer for about 1 hour.
Check how much liquid is left in the pot. If there is still more than about half, then keep on simmering. If the sauce has significantly thickened so its no longer watery, then lower the temperature. We don't want to cook the pork too quickly. Cook for another 30 minutes or until the desired thickness has been reached.
Serve and enjoy!