Pirikara Shogayaki (spicy ginger fried pork)

Here’s another Japanese classic that I’ve had my way with. In this case I’ve added a healthy dose of capsasin with a dollop of spicy Korean gochujang. Pirikara means spicy in Japanese (piri-piri is the name of a chili pepper in Portugal… the people who introduced chili peppers to Japan way back in the day), shoga means ginger and yaki means grilled/fried.

I went to Mitsuwa this past weekend thinking I’d just pick up a bag of rice and some other essentials since I’d only just been 2 weeks ago. I should have known better though because as I made my way past the meat section I was greeted by this pork!

It’s kurobuta (black pig) pork and this particular specimen was just too tantelizing to pass up. There wasn’t much in the pack, but it’s so rich you don’t need a lot.

This is a simple weeknight dish that you might see resurface the next day in your bento box for lunch if you lived in Japan. While most shogayaki recipes call for using soy sauce, I like the way the nuttiness in the miso plays with the pork. When you fry it, the sauce caramelizes releasing an irresistible aroma of sweet miso, ginger and garlic.

You could of course go the more traditional route and replace the miso with soy sauce and the omit the gochujang, but what’s the fun in that? This marinade is also great on chicken or beef, but pork is my meat of choice for this dish.

1 tsp grated ginger
1 clove garlic minced
1 Tbs miso
1 Tbs mirin
2 tsp gochujang (other other sweet hot sauce)
1/4 lbs thinly sliced pork (should be no thicker than 1/8″)

Mix the ginger, garlic, miso, mirin, and gochujang together in a small bowl to make a thin paste. spread the paste on both sides of a piece of meat and set it down on a plate. Cover with another piece of meat and spread some more sauce on top. Continue stacking and saucing until you run out of pork.

Get a heavy bottomed pan or cast iron skillet very hot over medium heat. If the pork you’re using has a lot of fat you shouldn’t need any oil, but if it’s leaner go ahead and add some to the pan and swirl it around. Scrape off any excess sauce and fry each piece of pork until brown on one side, flip then fry on the other. The pork will have a tendency to curl up, so use a spatula to press it down.

When the pork is cooked, transfer to a plate and serve immediately with white rice.

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