Shogayaki - Ginger pork

In celebration of St Patrick's Day, Sugar Plum has organised a St Paddy's Day Pub Crawl Event, inviting foodies to cook or bake with any form of alcohol.



Rather than using Guinness or wine, I thought I would add a Japanese element to this Irish event by cooking a Japanese dish using sake (rice wine) and mirin (sweet sake). Shogayaki is a ginger pork dish that is marinated in fresh ginger, soy sauce, sake and mirin and stir fried over high until the meat is nicely browned. A quick dish to cook and delicious to boot. Some recipes say to marinate the meat for 10 minutes, 30 minutes or an hour but there's certainly no harm in doing this overnight for all the flavours to be absorbed.




Ingredients (serves 2):

200g pork, thinly sliced
1 tbsp grated ginger
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sake (or dry sherry)
1 tbsp mirin (or dry sherry plus 1 tsp sugar)
2 tsp sugar
Toasted sesame seeds to garnish (optional)

Method:

1. Place the pork, ginger, soy sauce, sake and mirin and sugar in a dish and allow to marinate for an hour or overnight.



2. If using, toast some sesame seeds on a dry pan over medium heat until just turning brown. (Don't turn up the heat otherwise they will pop.) Set aside.

3. Heat some oil in a wok or large pan and cook the pork over high heat. Stirring it around quickly to prevent the pork or marinade from burning. Cook until the edges of the pork are just turning nicely brown or crisp. Dish out, garnish with sesame seeds and serve. Perfect with steamed rice and a vegetable stir fry. And some warmed sake if you wish!