One time, I found my kid nephew browsing through my food blog. We love to laugh seeing old photos of ourselves here at YedyLicious so I thought it was just one of those days. Then I realized, he was intently looking at the food photos and reading description of food I blogged before. I knew then what was coming next.
Minutes after, his effort to work his charm into making me cook something for him was so palpable I can’t help but laugh so hard at the cuteness of the situation. It was the same charm he uses to me or his mom right after realizing that he wants to have what Youtuber Ben Deen was having in one of his mukbangs.
The effect of social media, right there. But I don’t mind. My nephew’s fervent love for food, he got from me, you see.
He may have read some Japanese food I wrote here before because that was what he asked of me. I obviously cannot feed him sushi because for one, he’s still a kid. Second, fresh fish isn’t one of those things that you can usually find in a pantry of someone who lives in the highlands. So, I decided to turn to my ever-reliable recipes for various Japanese Donburi (Rice Bowl) dishes.
He loves pork so I figured Butadon (Japanese Pork Rice Bowl) may be a good choice. After all, it is very easy to make and the ingredients aren’t all that hard to come by in an Asian pantry such as ours. I rarely eat meat these days but our fridge is never without pork because my nephew loves it. So, Butadon it is.
Thinly sliced pork belly, yellow onion, garlic, ginger, oil, mirin, sake, soy sauce, sugar, water and of course, rice are the core ingredients to make a decent Butadon. If you have these ingredients on hand, you are well on your way to having a hearty meal popularized by the Japanese. Toppings may also vary. I am usually satisfied with spring onion and roasted sesame seed. Poched egg is sometimes a welcome addition too.
Now, if you want to incorporate more veggies to the dish, feel free to do so. Sometimes, as the dish simmer, I love adding slices of bell peppers or julienne carrots if ever I got some on hand. Extra slices of white onion is always a good idea for me, simply because I love combination of onion and soy sauce in general. Otherwise, no matter if my ingredients are bare minimum, as long as it is of good quality, I know I can expect a good Butadon in no time.
Easy version of this recipe is to combine all of the ingredients in a pot or pan save for the rice and your intended garnishing, bring it to a boil then simmer the hell out of it until the pork reached your desired texture and tenderness. It’s easy and fast.
But if you got little bit of extra time and if you want more depth in flavor, my method might be the one for you. It takes couple more steps but it wouldn’t be a wasted effort, I tell you.
First, you make the sauce. Mix mirin, sake, soy sauce, water, and sugar in a bowl then set aside. If you are concern about the alcohol on sake and you don’t really believe that alcohol will evaporate in the cooking process, then skip it.
Next, saute garlic, ginger, and pork. When the garlic is slightly brown, push it at the edge of the pan together with the ginger. Continue sauteing the pork until slightly brown, then take it out of the pan and set aside. Add the sliced onion and the sauce along with the onion and ginger to the pan and simmer for about 5 minutes. Back to the pan goes the pork then simmer until tender.
When pork is already tender and all good to your liking, serve it on top of cooked rice then garnish with spring onions and roasted sesame seeds. Then enjoy.
This method is equally easy and yields a more flavorful Japanese Pork Rice Bowl because of added extra steps. Here is the detailed recipe you can follow.
豚丼 Butadon Recipe [How To Cook Japanese Pork Rice Bowl]
This recipe for 豚丼 Butadon Japanese Pork Rice Bowl is one of my favorites among the donburi recipes I learned from a Japanese friend. It is very easy to make which makes it perfect for those moments when I need something delicious pronto.
Prep time: 00:10
Cook time: 00:20
Total time: 00:30
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients:
- 250 grams Pork belly, thinly sliced and cut innto bite size pieces
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp. grated ginger
- 1 medium onion, sliced
- 3 Tbsp. mirin
- 3 Tbsp. sake
- 4 Tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp. sugar
- 2 Tbsp. water
- 1 Tbsp chopped spring onion for garnishing
- 1 tsp. sesame seeds for garnishing
- 2 servings cooked rice
Cooking Directions:
- Prepare the sauce: combine mirin, sake, soy sauce, water, and sugar in a bowl. Set aside.
- Saute pork, minced onion and garlic in a pan with vegetable oil over medium until fragrant. Set aside the ginger and onion around the edge of the pan and continue frying the pork until slightly brown. Take out the pork and set aside.
- Add the onion and the sauce to the pan and simmer for about 5 minutes along with the ginger and onion.
- Add back in the pork and simmer until pork is tender.
- Serve on top of cooked rice then garnish with spring onions and sesame seed.
Now, I am not sure about you but more often than not, when cooking something with sauce, it bothers me to think that the leftover sauce on the pan would just go to waste. It really bothers me because that is where all the flavors were lurking.
My solution to this is to make a fried rice out of it.
Buta Fried Rice - totally optional, but highly recommended!
Depending on the amount of the leftover Butadon sauce on your pan, add in serving or two of cold rice. Crank up the heat to medium low. Throw in a bit of salt and pepper – just teeny bit because the sauce was already flavorful to begin with. Mix it all up until every grain of rice is coated with the remains of the leftover sauce, then finish up with teeny bit of sesame oil. Yep, sesame oil – trust me on this.
Serve it with the remains of your Butadon garnishing and voila! You my friend, will get to enjoy a very flavorful umami bomb that is the fried rice made out of the leftover sauce on the pan you were about to throw minutes ago. Enjoy and thank this fat kid later.
If anybody attempts this recipe, please do give me a shout out in the comments section below as to how your Butadon turned out. If ever you post a photo of your creation on social media, do tag me (@YedyLicious) and use the hashtag #YedyLicious for it would be lovely to see what you made.
どうもありがとうございます Doumo arigatou gozaimasu!
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