Monday, May 19, 2008

ume pork

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a foodie party we had and a dish that one of the wives brought.

She didn't have a recipe, so I tried re-creating the dish for dinner.

You need thinly sliced pork. I bought the kind for shabu-shabu (the hot pot where you wave your slices of meat in hot broth a couple of times then eat it). Try to buy meat that is a little bigger than the width of your shiso leaf.

Try to buy the same amount of shiso (perilla leaves/beefsteak leaves) as slices of meat. Luckily, in Japan, they sell it in packages of 10.

You need some ume paste, if you don't have any, just de-seed the ume and chop it up. I didn't have any, but did have a paste made with chopped up shibazuke (veggies that are pickled with red shiso), shiso, black sesame and ume.

Lay your piece of pork flat, put a leaf of shiso, then put some ume paste, then roll tightly.

Put a half tablespoon of oil in a pan and heat.

Cook until the pork is browned and cooked through. Some ume paste may leak and the red from it may be hard to tell if your meat is cooked through, just try to cook it for at least until the outside is dark brown in color.

This dish is easy and tasty. I think you could use thinly sliced beef or even flattened out chicken too.


With the leftovers, I put some into our breakfast bento on Sunday.
With breakfast and some coffee in tow, we went to our favorite park during this time of year--Aramaki Rose Garden. The roses are in full bloom.

There were many people there and the soft fragrance of the different roses was so nice and relaxing.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

That pork dish looks so great. It reminds me of one of my favorite dishes at an izakaya restaurant that we go to. It uses a little thicker pork rolled with the shiso. Then they slice cross sections of it and serve it skewered on sticks. It ends up looking like those swirly lollipops. Pork and shiso swirly lollipops, I'd take that over candy any day! :)

KirkK said...

Hi Kat- That pork looks wonderful, like something I'd see at a Yakiniku place!

K and S said...

Thanks Lori, my friend used thicker pork and held it together with toothpicks, but I chose thinner slices so I would have to use the toothpick. :)

Thanks Kirkk, we ended up going to yakiniku on Sunday :)

Take care you two.
Kat

Rowena said...

What a great idea for using shiso leaves. And how lucky to live nearby to a rose garden -- whichever type that rose is, it looked even better when I clicked to enlarge. Kinda reminded me of a cross with camelia or something.

K and S said...

thanks Rowena, can you get shiso where you are? Maybe you could do it with basil? hmmm...

We were so happy to find the rose garden because it is no admission fees! :)

Take care.
Kat

Rowena said...

A fellow blogger had sent me seeds for both red and green shiso...but I planted only the green ones because they're the ones I'm familiar with. I checked them today...I see sprouts!

K and S said...

Rowena,

you know the shiso you find in the bottle of ume? that is the red one :) I think it is so cool that you are growing shiso.

Take care.
Kat

Anonymous said...

Great job recreating the dish and what a nice setting to enjoy a meal -- the park. I love the last photo of the flower. As always, your photos are beautiful.

Paz

K and S said...

Thank you Paz!

Take care.
Kat

nordwolke said...

Great rose blossom! I have never seen something like this around here ... However, I have seen wisterias blooming everywhere. Unfortunately, I have not taken a picture yet ...

K and S said...

Take a photo, Beadexplorer! I'd love to see Spring on your side of the world :)

Take care.
Kat

Anonymous said...

I agree with you about these. Well someday Ill create a blog to compete you! lolz.

K and S said...

Good luck with your blog, Number.

Take care.
Kat