Pork Shabu-Shabu Salad, Heirloom Tomatoes, Onion & Black Sesame
Greg Dunmore
I first came up with this dish for a private party I was cooking, and it was a smash hit! The recipe concept came from an idea of making a dressing resembling the sesame dipping sauce when you eat shabu-shabu, and then I was like what if I tried a cold version? This dressing really pulls the dish together. If you love shabu-shabu, you are sure to love this cold salad rendition.
Note: *For this recipe, you will need thinly sliced pork loin. You can usually find it in Asian grocery stores. If you do not have an Asian grocer near you, ask your butcher to thinly slice some pork loin for you. But if they cannot, simply buy a piece of pork loin and freeze it. Then remove from the freezer and carefully slice (with a sharp knife) thin slices.
**Also, the recipe calls for dashi and konbu dashi. You can use water to substitute for the konbu dashi, but since you are already making dashi, you should just make a little extra konbu dashi and set aside 2 or 3 tablespoons for the black sesame dressing. It is a small detail, but I recommend this for sure.
Ingredients
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2 cups Dashi
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1 tablespoon sake
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2 teaspoons mirin
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2 teaspoons Nitto Jozo White Tamari
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1 tablespoon Suehiro Usukuchi Soy Sauce
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8 ounces pork loin, boneless, sliced very thin*
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1 cup of thinly sliced onions
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1 tablespoon Yamaki Jozo Organic Soy Sauce
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2 teaspoons Iio Jozo Pure Rice Vinegar
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1 teaspoon Murakami Syouten Okinawan Brown Sugar
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1 tablespoon Yamaki Jozo Barley Miso, Organic
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2 tablespoons Wadaman Organic Black Sesame Paste
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2 to 3 tablespoons Konbu Dashi** (or water)
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1 teaspoon Wadaman Dark Roasted Golden Sesame Oil
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1 pound heirloom tomatoes
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Wadaman Salty Black Sesame Seeds (ground)
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Daikon sprouts or chopped chives to garnish
Directions
In a sauce pot, bring the dashi to a simmer and then add the sake, mirin, white tamari and Suehiro Usukuchi Soy Sauce and return it to simmer. Now add one third of the pork. Cook just until the pork is no longer pink (30 to 45 seconds), then remove onto a sheet tray. Repeat twice more until all the pork is cooked and then let to cool at room temp. Now strain the dashi into a medium bowl and cool in an ice bath. When is has cooled, add the pork to the dashi. Later, save the seasoned dashi for something else like noodles…
Take thinly the sliced onion and place it in ice water for at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours. When ready to use, strain. This helps remove that harsh burn a raw onion can give you.
To make the black sesame dressing, combine the Yamaki Jozo Soy Sauce, vinegar and sugar in bowl and whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Then add the miso and black paste, continue to whisk until smooth, then add the konbu dashi (or water) to adjust thickness to a dressing-like consistency. Once you have the right thickness (should coat the back on a spoon), stir in the sesame oil and set aside.
Cut the tomatoes into wedges to the size that is easy to eat with chopsticks and divide among four plates. Also separate the sliced onion onto the plates. Now sprinkle a light dusting of the gomashio or ground salty black sesame seeds over the tomatoes and the onion, being generous as this is the seasoning. Now top with cooked slices of pork.
Once you have the pork plated on top of the tomatoes, drizzle with the black sesame dressing, but make sure to show some of the tomato and pork so you see the colors. Sprinkle with salty black sesame seeds and garnish with chopped chives or daikon sprouts and enjoy.