Ginger Hot Pot with Pork

Unlike other hot pot dishes, Ginger Hot Pot with Pork uses only three ingredients and the amount of ginger included in this hot pot is almost ridiculous. It is a flavoursome dish, and it also has health benefits.

I know it’s not the right season to post a hot pot dish in Australia. I was going to publish today’s recipe, Ginger Hot Pot with Pork, next year because of that. But it’s almost winter in the northern hemisphere and it’s been pretty cool in Sydney lately, so I thought it wouldn’t be a bad timing to post it now.

Among the many hot pot dishes, which are mainly served in winter, Ginger Hot Pot is probably the dish that is most suitable for winter because it really warms you up from the core of your body.

A Little bit About Ginger

I have used ginger in many recipes that I have already posted. Until today, I used ginger in four ways:

• Use grated ginger to add flavour to the food and dressing, e.g., Pork Shōgayaki and Wagyū Steak Don (Wagyū Steak on Rice).
• Add ginger juice from grated ginger to the meat/fish mixture to give flavour as well as to eliminate the meat/fish smell, e.g., Japanese Fried Fish Cakes (Satsuma Age).
• Sliced/julienned/finely chopped ginger to add flavour to the oil/broth/pickles, e.g., Simmered Sardines with Pickled Plum (Ume-ni) and Tataki Kyuri (Smashed Cucumber Salad).
• Use finely julienned ginger as a garnish or to add flavour to the sauce, e.g., Steamed Pumpkin with Beef Mince Sauce (Pumpkin Soboro-an).

Up until today, ginger was used to give a subtle flavour to the dish as well as to remove the meat/fish smell. But in today’s dish, I use a large amount of ginger as one of the main ingredients.

Ginger and AGEs

Ginger contains an element that suppresses advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which are harmful compounds formed when protein or fat is combined with sugar in your bloodstream. A high level of AGEs is not good for your wellbeing, and it is linked to diabetes, heart disease, kidney failure, Alzheimer’s disease, etc. It also contributes to the signs of ageing on your skin such as loss of elasticity and darkened skin (I can relate to this…).

Here is a list of habits to watch for that contributes to an increase of AGEs (in no particular order):

1. Love sweets/snacks and eat them often.
2. Eat fast or you are a big eater.
3. Eat bread/noodles often.
4. Drink a lot.
5. Don’t eat vegetables very much.
6. Live a stressful life.

In addition to reducing AGEs, there are many other health benefits of ginger, as you find in traditional Chinese herbal medicine for example. But even just the benefit of reducing AGEs seems good enough to me.

What’s in My Ginger Hot Pot with Pork

There are only three main ingredients and four ingredients for the broth.

• Thinly sliced pork belly or pork loin
• Garlic chives cut into short pieces
• Finely julienned ginger

I prefer pork belly as it contains more fat and is tastier (even if it is counteractive when you eat a massive amount of ginger trying to reduce AGEs!). Instead of pork, you can use thinly sliced chicken, beef, or even lamb.

If you can, get one large round piece of ginger instead of an irregular shape with branched-out pieces, so that you can make long fine ginger strips (about 4-5cm / 1½-2”). As per the photos below, slice it very thinly, then julienne the slices (several slices at once) very finely.

Broth

• Dashi stock
• Shiro dashi
• Soy sauce
• Salt

I used shiro dashi to make my life easier but if you don’t have shiro dashi, you can substitute it with a combination of cooking sake, mirin, soy sauce and salt. I added the exact quantity to replace shiro dashi in the note section of the recipe card.

How to make Ginger Hot Pot with Pork

Probably the most time-consuming thing to do in this recipe is making finely julienned ginger.

Some recipes use grated ginger or finely chopped ginger, but I like my way because it is visually more attractive, and you get to experience a solid taste of ginger.

1. Leave the julienned ginger in water for 15 minutes, then drain.
2. Cut pork belly slices into 10cm / 4” long pieces (so that they are easier to eat).
3. Bring the broth in a pot to a boil, then add the pork slices.
4. When the pork is cooked, spread garlic chives over, followed by ginger on top of the garlic chives.
5. Cook until the vegetables are cooked through.

Leaving the ginger pieces in water for a while reduces the sharp spiciness of the ginger.

Ginger Hot Pot with Pork is very easy to make and so tasty. It really warms you up. Just like other hot pot dishes, I always finish with Zōsui using the remaining broth after eating the meat and vegetables. I can’t help having it even if I am full!

Yumiko

5 from 1 vote

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Ginger Hot Pot with Pork

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

10 mins

Total Time

15 mins

 

Ginger Hot Pot with Pork is not just a flavoursome dish but also has health benefits. Unlike other hot pot dishes, it uses only three ingredients and there is quite a lot of ginger included in this Hot Pot. But it warms your body up from the inside.

Don't forget to see the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and this recipe that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.

Recipe Type: Main

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: garlic chives recipe, ginger recipe, Japanese hot pot, pork belly recipe

Serves: 1

Author: Yumiko

Ingredients (tbsp=15ml, cup=250ml)

• 120-150g / 4.2-5.3oz pork belly thinly sliced (or pork loin, note 1)
• 50g / 1.8oz garlic chives cut into 8cm / 3” long pieces.
• 50g / 1.8oz ginger peeled and very finely julienned (note 2)

Broth

• 300ml / 10 fl oz dashi stock
• 1 tbsp shiro dashi (note 3)
• 2 tsp light soy sauce (note 4)
• ⅛ tsp salt

Instructions

1. Put the julienned ginger in a medium-size bowl filled with water (this reduces the sharp spiciness of the ginger). Leave it for 15 minutes, then drain.

2. If your pork belly slices are very long, cut them into about 10cm / 4” long pieces.

3. Put all the Broth ingredients into a single-serving clay pot or a small shallow pot and bring it to a boil.

4. Add the pork to the pot/pan. Reduce the heat to medium when it starts boiling and cook until the surface of the pork just changes colour to light brown. Remove scum as it surfaces.

5. Spread garlic chives over the pork, then scatter the ginger to cover the surface.

6. Cook for a couple of minutes until the garlic chives are cooked through and are wilted. You may want to push the vegetables down using chopsticks or a spatula so that they submerge in the broth.

7. Turn the heat off and serve with a small serving bowl.

Recipe Notes

1. The pork needs to be very thinly sliced, like the slices used for Sukiyaki or Shabu Shabu. I bought a pack of thinly sliced pork belly (frozen) from an Asian grocery store.

Instead of pork, you can use thinly sliced chicken, beef or lamb. If you are using chicken, I recommend using the sogi-giri technique (slanting cut) to slice chicken.

2. Try to get a large round ginger of 4-5cm / ½-2” long instead of an irregular shaped ginger with branched out pieces. Slice very thinly, then julienne the slices finely so that you get many long ginger pieces.

3. If you don't have shiro dashi, replace it with 1 tablespoon cooking sake, ½ tablespoon mirin, 2 teaspoon light soy sauce (or normal soy sauce), and ¼ teaspoon of salt.

4. You can use normal soy sauce if you don't have light soy sauce. It just makes the broth much darker.

5. Nutrition per serving. It assumes you drink all the broth in the pot.

serving: 538g calories: 470kcal fat: 30g (46%%) saturated fat: 10g (52%) trans fat: 0.4g polyunsaturated fat: 5g monounsaturated fat: 12g cholesterol: 110mg (37%) sodium: 2019mg (82%%) potassium: 1153mg (32%%) carbohydrates: 20g (6%) dietary fibre: 6.7g (28%%) sugar: 32g protein: 39.2g vitamin a: 44% vitamin c: 53% calcium: 8% iron: 35%