Shougayaki (Ginger pork)

Shougayaki (Ginger pork)

Published on 14/01/2016 | In By
    • Prep Time
    • Minutes
    • Cook Time
    • Minutes

[google-translator]

I remember the first time I heard of “ginger cake”. Ginger in a cake?! It was a culture shock! It isn’t any more, but it was a long time ago, when I was a still a child. We always used ginger for cooking, but not for cakes! I couldn’t imagine what the flavour would be like.

My mother always used fresh ginger for cooking, never the new powdered stuff. We also use other spices for cooking nowadays, but not at that time. So do I like ginger cake and ginger biscuits? Yes, I do! And I love to learn more about spices. My taste for highly spiced food has not yet been developed enough.

Here in Switzerland, we get pain d’epices, a kind of gingerbread. They look like cake, but are not. I think it’s very French. I’m always happy to find new recipes for it.

Ok, now for Shougayaki.

Shouga : ginger

Yaki : sauté (the cooking method used)

This is a very easy recipe! It’s often served with raw, fresh, thin sliced cabbage. The sauce has a strong flavour, which works very well with the raw cabbage as long as it’s sliced thinly. Also, it works incredibly well with white rice. I could easily eat two bowls of rice (although I should not).

Because there is no thin-sliced pork here, I have to prepare it this way myself. This is the hardest part of the recipe. Otherwise you can prepare it all in advance, and cook it just before serving.

[google-translator]

Ingredients

  • 500g thin-sliced pork (I use neck in Switzerland, not a very lean cut of pork)
  • 1 tbsp fresh squeezed ginger juice
  • 3 tbsp soy sauce
  • 3 tbsp mirin (sweet cooking sake)
  • 2 tbsp sake
  • 1 tsp honey (the liquid kind)
  • Spring cabbage to accompany - thinly sliced
  • Oil for cooking

Instructions

  1. Prepare the ginger sauce. Grate ginger and squeeze. Mix Ginger juice, soy-sauce, Mirin, Sake, and honey.
  2. Marinate thin sliced pork with 1/3 of ginger sauce in a bowl. Meanwhile, heat the fry-pan. When it becomes hot, pour oil. Spread each piece of meat into the fry-pan, and when the edges start to change colour, turn them over and cook the other side. When finished cooking, put aside. Cook all the meat.
  3. When all the meat is cooked, wipe the fry-pan with kitchen paper, and pour in a little oil. Pour all the ginger sauce into the fry-pan with medium high heat. When it starts to bubble, put all the meat into the sauce and stir quickly.
  4. Put some cabbage on the plate, and put the meat beside or on the cabbage, pour the sauce on the top.