Editor’s note: The theme of Gohan Lab is to help people make simple, tasty “gohan” (meals).

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A Chinese-style simmered dish where pork and Chinese cabbage come together in a thick “an” sauce caps the series featuring thick sauces that warm our body and soul.

People tend to stay away from the fatty pork belly, but it is recommended because it remains moist after stir-frying and turns out tender.

The umami melts out while the pork belly is simmered in water after being briefly pan-fried.

Chinese cabbage, which becomes sweeter as it gets colder, offers a gentler flavor when heated. The leaves sliced at an angle will be cooked around the same time that the meat is done.

The water-katakuriko mixture is added when the flavors of the meat and vegetables have blended and the dish is ready.

A key is to rub the vegetables with salt beforehand to drain some of their water. If they are used as is, the water that emerges while being cooked will thin the katakuriko, and the sauce will not thicken nicely.

If this dish is placed on browned fried noodles, we have “ankake yakisoba,” literally fried noodles with thick sauce.

You will not be able to suppress a smile when mixing the crispy noodles with the smooth sauce.

BASIC COOKING METHOD

(Supervised by Katsuhiko Yoshida in the cooking aspect and Midori Kasai in the cookery science aspect)

* Ingredients (Serves two)

100 grams pork belly (buta-baraniku) slices, 2 leaves (140 grams) Chinese cabbage, 40 grams shimeji mushroom (with hard tip removed), 1/3 green onion (naganegi), 1/2 tsp black pepper, sake, soy sauce, 1 Tbsp sugar, katakuriko starch, 1 Tbsp cooking oil, 1/2 tsp salt

1. Cut pork belly slices into width of 3 centimeters. Place them in bowl with black pepper, 1 tsp sake, 1 tsp soy sauce and mix with hand. Add 1/2 tsp katakuriko starch and mix so it coats all pork slices (PHOTO A).

2. Slice white thick part of Chinese cabbage leaves at an angle into width of 1 cm. Cut leafy part into width of 3 to 4 cm. Finely slice green onion at an angle. Separate shimeji mushroom into clusters.

Place Chinese cabbage, green onion and shimeji mushroom in bowl, add salt and rub in (PHOTO B). Leave for about 10 minutes.

3. Pour cooking oil in frying pan, place on high heat and spread pork slices. When color changes, add 250 milliliters of water. Once water boils, add vegetables whose water has been squeezed out lightly. Add 2 Tbsp sake, 2 and 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce and sugar. Let it simmer over high heat.

4. When the white thick part of Chinese cabbage becomes transparent, turn off heat. Pour 2 tsp katakuriko starch mixed with 4 tsp water in circular motion (PHOTO C). Keep mixing over high heat until content thickens.

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Katsuhiko Yoshida is the owner chef of Jeeten, a restaurant in Tokyo’s Yoyogi-Uehara district offering Chinese home cooking.

Midori Kasai is a professor at Ochanomizu University and chairwoman of the Japan Society of Cookery Science.

ARRANGED VERSION

Heat 3 Tbsp cooking oil in frying pan, cook over medium heat two bags of steamed noodles for “yakisoba” that have been loosened by hand. Do not move the noodles too much while cooking.

Once a side browns, turn and cook the other side in the same way. Lay a sheet of kitchen paper on a plate, place fried noodles so that excess oil is absorbed. Pull out paper, pour “Chinese cabbage and pork in thick Chinese-style sauce,” and it is ready to be enjoyed.

COOKERY SCIENCE

Warm soup served in a bowl cools gradually. The heat transfer between the bowl and the surrounding air occurs from high to low heat, and when the surface temperature of the content falls, the heat inside moves toward the surface. When the soup is thickened with katakuriko, the heat transfer slows down and the dish stays warm longer.

Q&A

Question: When dishes thickened with water-katakuriko mixture cools, the thick texture disappears. Why does this happen?

Answer: According to Midori Kasai, who supervised the cookery science aspect of the recipe, this may be due to insufficient heating after the water-katakuriko mixture is added. Although it thickens when the temperature is high, the thick texture seems to disappear when the dish cools due to the low viscosity.

Additionally, while the dish cools, the water separates from the starch, and the network of starch is said to weaken.

Katsuhiko Yoshida, who oversaw the cooking aspect, also stresses the need to “boil the ingredients well after adding the katakuriko.”

Perhaps it is better to eat the freshly made dish while still hot instead of cooking ahead.

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This column, translated from The Asahi Shimbun’s Gohan Lab column, will next appear on Jan. 8.