Okinawa Soba

Name: Okinawa Soba
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 1 h 45 min
Yield: 1 serving
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: 130 g fresh Okinawa soba noodles; 120 g pork belly; 10 g fresh ginger; 1 tbsp awamori or sake; 1.5 tbsp soy sauce; 1 tbsp mirin; 1 tsp kokutō (Okinawan brown sugar) or dark brown sugar; 5 g kombu; 6 g katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes); 0.5 tsp salt; 20 g kamaboko fish cake; 1 spring onion; 10 g beni shoga (red pickled ginger); 700 ml water; kōrēgusu (chilli awamori)

The Ryukyuan noodle bowl: chewy flat wheat noodles in a clear pork-and-katsuobushi broth, topped with soy-braised pork belly, kamaboko, spring onion and a pinch of red pickled ginger.

Lunch & dinner 25g+ protein

105 min15 prep · 90 cookMedium1167 kcalper serving

Method

Put the 120 g of skin-on pork belly in a small saucepan, cover with cold water, bring to the boil and blanch for 3 minutes to remove the scum. Drain and rinse the pork under warm water, and wash out the pan.
Return the pork to the clean pan with 300 ml of water, the 10 g of sliced ginger, 1 tbsp of awamori, 1 tbsp of soy sauce, 1 tbsp of mirin and 1 tsp of kokutō. Bring to the boil, skim, then cover and simmer on the lowest heat for 70 minutes, turning the meat once, until a skewer passes through the belly with no resistance and the liquid has reduced to a glaze-like broth.
While the pork braises, make the dashi: soak the 5 g of kombu in 400 ml of cold water in a second pan for 20 minutes, then bring slowly to just below boiling over medium-low heat. Lift out the kombu before it boils, take the pan off the heat, scatter in the 6 g of katsuobushi and leave 3 minutes until the flakes sink. Strain through a fine sieve without pressing.