Scud's video: Superb Japanese Chashu Tsukemen - Recipe

Chashu Ingredients, Pork Belly (or any fatty part) : 400g - 500g Salt : 1 tsp Sugar : 3 tbsp Soy Sauce : 1/3 cup or 75ml Rice Wine, Mirin or Sake : 1/3 cup or 75ml Water : 2/3 cup or 150ml Ginger : a knob or two in slices Green Onions : 3 stalks Cooking Oil : 1 tbsp (measurement is per 400g - 500g meat used) To make Japanese Chashu (Braised Pork), Remove the rind from pork belly and rub some salt all over. Heat a pan with some oil and sear the meat fats side down and cover with a lid. Sear for 4 - 5 mins till the fat side turn brown or meat turn a bit white. Flip side, cover the lid and sear for another 4 - 5 mins. On a cooking pot, put in sugar, soy sauce, rice wine, water, ginger and green onions and bring this mixture to a boil. Move the seared pork into the mixture and simmer on medium heat for 1 - 2 hours or until the mixture has thicken. Always cover the cooking pot with the 'drop lid', not with your regular cooking pot cover. Remember to turn the meat every 15 - 20 mins to avoid getting the meat burnt. After an hour or so, if you find that the mixture has darken so is the meat you may turn up the heat to high to quickly reduce the sauce to a dark, thick and sticky consistency. The key is to leave wet, dark and sticky, but not dry and let it cool down completely. Once cooled, you can cut and eat immediately. Or you can pour it all out into a container and store it in a fridge for later use. It will also be easier to cut once chilled but either way, this Chashu is just awesome! It is quite hard to believe that making this Chashu or Charsiu isn't quite as hard as I thought, this can easily be done by anyone who's interested. Yes, you can! The only thing that is tiring is the long waiting time to watch the heat and flipping it every so often. The result is worth it all. I still can't believe it is a homemade. Hahaha. You'll have to try this tasty, sweet, smoky (or maybe slightly burnt), salty, juicy chashu for yourself! P/S : Forgot to mention that the leaner the meat the less soy sauce (bout 20ml lesser per 500g meat) you will want to put into braising because it will become quite salty to the taste. ---------- Tsukemen Ingredients, Udon, Ramen or Spaghetti as noodle : As much as you like ;) Dashi powder : 1/2 sachet or 2g Mushroom soup base (or any meat soup base) : 1/2 sachet or 2g White Miso paste : 1/2 tbsp Water : 2 cups or 450ml Green Onions : slices (this amount is enough to make 2 bowls of Tsukemen soup) To prepare Tsukemen, This time I got all three types of noodle but I'll just show one, maybe leave the rest for next time. It is as simple as just cook your noodle per recommendation or until soft enough and leave it aside for awhile. Pour in water and soup base powders into cooking pot and bring it to a boil. To make the 'soup stock', I used a mix or two different powder because I have them, but any soup base can do. Once it's boiled you can stir in the miso paste. Pour the hot soup on top of the Chashu (especially if the Chashu is cold) in a bowl and top it with green onions. Dip away! I'll have to admit the Chashu does give the soup a little more edge, a little more smokiness, sweet and different saltiness. But if you do not have Chashu, the soup alone still taste just fine. This soup is very good for dipping noodle however it is quite salty to drink on its own. It is best to add hot water if you wish to drink the soup. By adding more water to dilute the soup also gives you a ramen soup!