Light enough to keep going back for more, like buta-shabu with ponzu — a gentle, Japanese-leaning plate 🍛🐖.
SPICE CURRY SPICE PACK (Spice Curry Spice Pack Symphony No.1 / SN1) — a pork and ponzu spice curry.
Buta-shabu is a fine thing. Thin slices of pork passed briefly through water at about 76°C, dipped in ponzu (citrus-soy sauce), and eaten with condiments.
We wondered whether that flavour could be brought into harmony with a spiced broth, and this recipe is the result. If you love a fresh, sharp note, it is well worth making.
Ingredients (serves 4)
- SN1 / starter spices (the whole-spice sachet): 1 sachet
- SN1 / powder spices (the ground-spice sachet): 1 sachet
- Onion: 1
- Naganegi (Japanese long onion): as needed
- Tinned tomatoes: 1 tin (400g)
- Garlic: 2 tsp (about 1–2 cloves)
- Ginger: 2 tsp
- Thin-cut pork offcuts 🐖: 200g
- Ponzu (citrus-soy sauce): 1 tbsp
- Soy sauce: 1 tsp
- Mirin (sweet rice seasoning): 2 tsp
- Sugar: 2 tsp
- Salt: 1 tsp
- Black sesame oil: 3 tbsp
- Water: 200ml
Preparation
- Chop the garlic finely.
- Work the grated ginger and a little salt into the pork.
- Chop the onion finely.
- Cut the naganegi however you like, to serve.
Method
- Put the “black sesame oil: 3 tbsp” into a pan over a low heat, and once the oil is warm, add the “starter spices (the whole-spice sachet)”.
- When you hear the “mustard seeds (the small black ones)” start to crackle, add the “garlic” and fry for about 30 seconds, stirring it through the spices.
- Add the “onion”, stir it thoroughly through the spices, then turn the heat to high and cook properly for about 12 minutes, adding a splash of water as you go, until it is deep golden brown.
- Once the onion is deep golden brown, add the “pork” and fry it in.
- When the meat is cooked through, add all of the “powder spices” and stir them in.
- Turn the heat down low, push the ingredients to one side, add the “tinned tomatoes: 1 tin (400g)” into the space, crush the whole tomatoes down to a paste, then stir everything together.
- Add the “ponzu: 1 tbsp”, mirin: 2 tsp, soy sauce: 1 tsp, sugar: 2 tsp and water: 200ml, stir it together, turn the heat to medium and bring it to the boil.
- Once it comes to the boil, turn the heat to low and simmer for about 3 minutes.
- Adjust the salt, plate it up with the cut naganegi and it is done.
It has a Japanese character to it, so it goes well with Japanese condiments and side dishes. And in this recipe the naganegi is the quiet lead — pile it on.
What was served with it here
- Chopped naganegi (there is only a modest amount in the photograph, but a great deal more went on afterwards, for the crunch)
- Boiled egg
- Takana (pickled mustard greens) — I am rather taken with takana and spice curry at the moment, and it suits this Japanese-leaning plate perfectly
| Inspice spice curry spice sets contain none of the usual sources of heat — chilli, cayenne pepper or chilli powder — so please add heat to your own taste. |
