Okinawa Salted Pork

Submitted by Pearl Ishizaki

"This is a recipe for Okinawan salted pork and how it is cooked. In Okinawa, the southernmost region of Japan, you can find pork which has already been salted but sometimes it is too much salty. You can make salted pork at home easily. Making it yourself means you can control how much salty you want your pork to be. Learn how to do it yourself by checking this recipe."

 

• Ready In: 74hrs
• Ingredients: 8
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 800 g pork belly
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1 tablespoon ginger
• 5 garlic cloves
• 1⁄4 cup awamori
• 100 g green lettuce (saladana)
• 50 g cabbage
• 1 lime

directions

1. Wash and pat dry the pork belly using paper towels. Spread 2 tablespoons of salt all over the pork belly then gently rub it with your hands.
2. Seal the pork or put in an air-tight container then refrigerate for 2-3 days.
3. After 2-3 days, take out the pork from the fridge then leave it at room temperature for about 20 minutes before starting to cook.
4. Heat a pan using high heat. Add a small amount of vegetable oil then let it heat. Add the salted pork with the skin side facing down. Fry until the surface of the skin turns brown.
5. Pour about 4 cups of water in a pot then bring it to a boil. Put the salted pork in the pot with the skin side facing up then let the water boil again. Reduce the heat to low then simmer for 30 minutes.
6. Turn off the heat then take the pork from the pot. The broth can be discarded as it is very salty.
7. While waiting for the pork to cool, slice the ginger then crush the garlic cloves.
8. Put back the salted pork in a clean pot with the skin side facing up. Add the ginger and crushed garlic cloves. Add awamori then pour 4 cups of water.
9. Turn on the fire then bring the water to a boil. Once it boils, reduce the heat to low then simmer the pork for about an hour or until it is very soft.
10. Remove the pork from pot then let it cool. This time, the liquid used to boil the pork makes a delicious pork broth so it can be reserved and used for other purposes such as soup base when making Okinawa soba.
11. While waiting for the pork to cool, prepare the salad vegetables. Tear the green lettuce and shred the cabbage. You can add other salad vegetables such as cucumbers or tomatoes. Arrange the vegetables on a serving plate.
12. Slice the salted pork thinly then put it on top of the vegetables. If not using everything, keep the rest of the cooked salted pork in the fridge for a few days or on the freezer for several months.
13. Serve the sliced salted pork with vegetables with a slice of lime.