Super Easy Rice Cooker Recipe: Kakuni (Japanese braised pork belly)

Sawadee cup! It’s Mr. Wada back on duty. How is your autumn going so far? We’ve been…rather lazy. I don’t feel like cooking sometimes but we have to right? I will share an easy recipe for slackers like me (I believe I’m not the only one). That’s Kakuni!

In Japan, (almost) every family has a rice cooker. It is of course for cooking rice but don’t you think we can try to cook something else with it? I will show you how I do!

About Kakuni

It’s a Japanese braised pork belly. There seems to be similar cuisine in Asian countries.

(from Wikipedia)

Cooking it normally takes long but by this recipe it can be short. Probably duration of stay in kitchen would be like 10 minutes (and leave the rice cooker to cook for 40 minutes). How cool is that? Hehe. OK, let’s get started.

Easy Recipe for Kakuni

Ingredients

– pork belly (400 grams)
– “sake” for cooking (100 ml)
– water (400 ml)
– soy sauce (２ tbsp)
– ginger (1 tbsp), I used paste
– sugar (4 tbsp)

Grill Pork Belly

Grill it for 5-10 minutes to get rid of unnecessary fat.

Topping (Boiled Eggs)

Boiled eggs would be a nice option together with Kakuni. Check this post how to make.

How To Make Perfect Hard-Boiled Eggs With 2 Tbsps. of Water

Hmm… Quite easy indeed…

Cook in Rice Cooker

Put all the ingredients into the rice cooker (including pork and eggs).

Press “START” to cook.

Done!

After 38 minutes…

Well done!

Option (Less Fat Version)

For those who don’t like too much fat (indeed it is quite fatty), I also tried another version without fat (I cut fat before grilling). Lesser fat. Perhaps this could be an option.

Lastly

I’ve found the rice cooker recipes useful especially when we are freaking tired after work. You can substitute pork with beef, tuna or something else. Try with whatever you got in fridge. Hope it helps.

See you around!

Our Kakuni lunch on the other day