Chashu Pork!

Recipe back story: We were watching a new Dragonball Movie when one of the characters (Goku) steals another character's (Vegeta) Sushi off his plate. In murderous retaliation, Vegeta then steals the last few slices of something called Chashu Pork from Goku, thus the brawl ensues. (Never take food from a Saiyan!) After laughing for a few minutes at the scene, it got me thinking...What's Chashu Pork? I hopped online and after a lot of searching, I found a recipe! I tweaked it a bit, but kept it as authentic as possible. SO yummy and fairly inexpensive! (Especially compared to take-out Chinese!) Now I know why Goku was so mad! (Although he deserved it!) Don't let the Sake scare you! All the alcohol cooks out during the long simmering. And it's relatively gluten free, KIM!

Chashu Pork

3-4 lb pork roast (any style of cut)
1 cup Shoyu (Soy Sauce)
1/2 cup of Sake
1/2 cup of Mirin or substitute (3 tbsp added to 1/2 cup of Sake, stir to dissolve)
1/2 cup chopped green onion
4-6 slices of fresh ginger
1/4 cup sliced menma (marinaded bamboo or can use canned bamboo shoots in water)

Drizzle abit of olive oil in a pot large enough for the size of pork. Brown the pork on all sides. Add in the Shoyu, Sake, Mirin, Onion, Ginger and Menma. Stir to combine ingredients and turn down heat to a simmer. Cover and let simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, turning over occationally. Remove and slice when cool enough to touch.

To thicken the leftover liquid to form a sauce: In a glass measuring cup, mix together 4 tbsp cornstarch into 1/2 cup water. Add to juice in pot, turn up the heat to boil and stir contantly. Let liquid boil until reduced to desired consistency (no longer than 5 minutes.) Serve spoon over warm pork slices and rice.

This is the picture from the orginal recipe that caught my attention! My picture didn't do the meal justice!

All that yumminess simmerin' away...
I used a 4 lb "picnic" roast, but cut it in half to allow more even cooking. If anyone tries my recipe, let me know what you think!