Tea Braised Pork (Kocha buta)
This is a very simple main dish braised in tea and has no seasoning on the pork block itself. It will take time but you don’t really need to do anything about it. By braising pork with tea, the meat becomes flavored, and tender and makes it less heavy. There are some varieties of pork block meat that you have options for, that’s your choice, and you can use whatever you feel like. People usually use shoulder block which is not too fatty and not tough either. You can eat it by itself with dressing or you can put it on salad as a topping, or you can add it to fried rice as one of the ingredients. I personally eat it with salad, and this is great. The dressing tastes a bit sour and this also matches tea braised pork.
This recipe is actually what I learned from my mother-in-law. One day she invited us to her dinner and served us tea braised pork. It was on the salad and looked gorgeous. The pork was just a perfectly nice tender. It was my first time to see the dish so I asked her how to cook. And this is it, it is a simple cooking. All you need to do is put a tea pack and pork block in a pot and braise for one and a half hours. However, you want to make sure the pork block always stays in tea. Just check a couple of times during braising. It is one good dish when you are too lazy to cook or when multitasking some other chores. It has a certain volume, it will meet your appetite. In this recipe, you need just 2 ingredients below, any kind of tea pack whose flavor you like and pork block. I used leg ham this time, and I share below one additional recipe sesame dressing goes with pork.
- 500 g pork block (Your preference)
- 1 Tea pack (Your preference)
- 3 tbsp Vinegar
- 1.5 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 tbsp Grated sesame
- 1 tbsp Sauteed sesame
- As needed Krazy Mixed-Up Salt
- As needed Black pepper
- 1. Preparation
Get all the ingredients and condiments.
- Boil tea
First, put a tea pack pour water into a pot, and turn on the stove to make it boil. You need water that covers the entire pork block, but you don’t have to worry about it too much at this point.
- Add pork
When boiling tea, put the pork block. Make sure the whole pork is soaked in tea. If not, add some hot water. Put a lid on the pot and slide it a little bit so as not to close completely.
- Braise for 90 min
Make the heat low and braise it for 90 minutes. You want to check it a couple of times if the pork is under the water, and if not, pour some hot water to add. After 90 minutes turn off the heat, slide the lid back to close completely, and wait until it gets cold.
-Resting time is the key, as the pork gets cold, it gets tenderer and smells well. Don’t rush, wait until it gets cold enough, and it will get better. I don’t recommend but if you want a shortcut keep the lid open. - Make dressing
Put everything together and mix well.
