Gonjuu (Pork Belly and Fried Tofu Rice Ball)

Name: Gonjuu (Pork Belly and Fried Tofu Rice Ball)
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 80 min
Yield: 20 servings
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: rice 5 cup; pork belly 400 g; fried tofu sheets 5 sheet; bonito flakes 50 g; sugar 3 tbsp; soy sauce 150 ml; mirin 50 ml; sake 100 ml; water 250 ml

Quick answer

Total time: 80 min
Level: Medium
Servings: 20 servings
Ingredients: 9

About this dish

These rice balls were handed out to mikoshi carriers at the autumn Yawatanmachi festival in Tateyama, Chiba Prefecture, which is why they are big and shaped to hold in one hand.

Inside is pork belly and fried tofu simmered sweet and salty with bonito flakes. The simmering liquid is cooked down until little remains, since it gets mixed into the rice too. One batch makes twenty.

Ingredients

servings

IngredientAmount

fried tofu sheets5 sheet

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Instructions

6 steps

1

Rinse the rice and cook it with the usual amount of water until tender but distinct.

Keep the cooked rice warm until the filling is ready to be mixed in.
2

Lightly dry-toast the bonito flakes in a pan over low heat, then rub them into small pieces.

Reserve one-third of the flakes to mix in at the end.
3

Quickly pour hot water over the fried tofu sheets to remove surface oil, trim the edges, and chop them.

Cut the pork belly into cubes about 1 cm wide.
4

Put the pork, fried tofu, two-thirds of the bonito flakes, sugar, soy sauce, sake, and 250 ml water in a pot.

Simmer over medium heat, stirring, until the pork is fully cooked and the liquid has reduced around the pieces. Add the mirin and bring it back to a brief simmer.
5

Transfer the warm rice to a wide mixing tub or large bowl.

Add the cooked filling and its remaining reduced liquid, then fold with a rice paddle until the pieces are evenly distributed without crushing the grains.
6

Add the reserved bonito flakes and fold once more.

When the rice is cool enough to handle, divide it into twenty portions and shape each into a generous, firm rice ball that can be held in one hand.