You may have seen the word ‘don’ pop up occasionally when you are checking out Japanese food. Not the favourite meal of Don Corleone, but simply short for ‘donburi’, a type of Japanese dish made with a bowl of rice topped with meat, egg or vegetables. There are all types of donburi dishes in Japanese cuisine such as oyakodon, katsudon and gyudon.
Making your own donburi meal is simple if you have some rice and a big bowl. At Japan Centre, we like to mix various flavours and decided to use some Korean chilli paste called gochujang to create our Spicy Pork Don. This delicious meal is also one of the most popular donburi dishes at our umai sushi and deli so we would like to share the secret with you!
• Cooked Rice – 300 g
• Korean Chilli Paste – 2 Tablespoons
• Soy Sauce – 2 Tablespoons
• Cooking Sake- 1 Tablespoon
• Sesame Oil – 1 Tablespoon
• Pork Loin – Approximately 100g
• Beansprouts – Approximately 30g
• Sugar – 2 Teaspoons
• Onion – 1/2
• Carrot – 1
• Spring Onion – 1/2
• Garlic – Pinch
Before cooking the pork and vegetables, we need to prepare the rice for our donburi. You can follow our online rice recipe to find out how to make perfect sticky Japanese rice. If you really don’t want to spend too much time with rice preparation, you can try our microwavable rice, convenient and tasty!
While the rice is cooking, you can cut your pork meat and vegetables into slices. To get your pork sliced really thin, freeze it first and then slice, either with a meat slicer, or a very sharp knife.
Grab your frying pan, add a little cooking oil and start cooking the vegetables over a medium heat. Once they are almost done, add the pork, sugar, soy sauce and cooking sake. Mix everything together in the pan and continue cooking before finally adding the gochujang spicy miso paste. A quick drizzle of sesame oil added just after you remove the heat will add a delicious aroma to your spicy pork don.
The only thing left now is to serve your spicy pork on a bowl of rice and enjoy!
To balance the taste of gochujang miso, try a glass of shochu, a delicious Japanese type of alcohol that is a somewhat like a cross between sake and umeshu plum liqueur. If you prefer non alcoholic drinks, try an oolong tea instead.
• You may find it easier to add a little water to the gochujang paste so that it is easier to mix in with your other ingredients in the pan.
• 2 Tablespoons of mirin sweet cooking sake work well as a replacement for sugar if you prefer.