Shibui in Okinawan, tougan in Japanese, winter melon has a long storage life. It is harvested in summer and you can actually store it until winter. The vegetable itself doesn’t have a strong flavor and that is why it’s a perfect vegetable to cook with meat or fish as winter melon can soak up the good flavor of the sauce. You can find huge winter melons at farmers markets at a reasonable price but a lot of people are not sure how to use it. So this is one example!

Ingredients

• 10 oz winter melon, peeled, seeded and sliced
• 7 oz sliced pork belly, cut into one-inch pieces
• ½ thumb-size ginger, grounded
• 1 packet bonito fish flakes
• 2 tbs sesame oil
• ½ tsp salt
• Black pepper
• Red chili (if you like spicy)
• White sesame for garnish

 

Directions

1. Take out any excessive water from the winter melon by sprinkling salt on it and mixing well in a bowl. Leave it for 5 minutes. Squeeze out the water when you use it.

2. Heat sesame oil in a pan. Cook the pork belly, ginger and red chili until the pork is lightly cooked.

3. Add the winter melon, salt and black pepper and mix well.

4. Add bonito fish flakes and mix well.

5. Place on a plate and sprinkle white sesame for garnish.

 

Coming up!

Quick 30-minute meal cooking class – Oyakodon class

Saturday September 26th, ¥4,500

This is the class to show you how to cook tasty Japanese food really quick. In their busy daily lives, Japanese people don’t spend hours to prepare a meal. I’d say Japanese food is actually the perfect cuisine if you want to cook something quick. But you need to know how it’s done.

Oyakodon, 親子丼 ‘parents-and-child donburi’ ‘Don’ means one-bowl rice dish. In this class, we will cook oyakodon and hashi yasume, a small side dish using local vegetables.

 

Website: okinawa-cooking.com

Facebook: facebook.com/cooking.school.with.nao Tel: 098-955-5311 Address: 1414-61 Sobe, Yomitan Village, Okinawa 904-0304. Closed on Sunday.

 

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