Soy Pork Rice Bowl with Cucumber
Savory pork mince browned with garlic and ginger, spooned over hot rice with crisp cucumber and spring onion. A fast, high-protein bowl with a soy glaze that soaks into every grain.
- Total
- 18 min
- Prep 6 · Cook 12
- Serves
- 1
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Searing · Absorption rice
- Savory
- Quick
- Asian
- Stovetop
- Oven
Instructions
-
Rinse the 70 g rice under cold running water until it runs clear, then drain. Put it in the small saucepan with 120 ml water and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, then cover, drop to the lowest heat and cook until the water is absorbed and the grains are tender, about 10 minutes.
~10 min
Rinsing removes surface starch so the grains stay separate rather than turning gluey; covering traps steam so the rice cooks evenly.
If the rice still tastes firm when the water is gone, add 2 tbsp hot water, cover and steam off the heat for 3 minutes.
Absorption rice Use the right water ratio, bring to a boil, then cover and cook on the lowest heat without stirring. Listen for a faint sizzle to know the water is gone.
-
While step 1 cooks
While the rice cooks, peel and finely chop the 2 garlic cloves and the 10 g ginger. Trim and thinly slice the 2 spring onions, keeping the white and green parts separate. Cut the 80 g cucumber into thin half-moon slices.
~5 min
-
Heat the 1 tsp vegetable oil in the frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the 120 g pork mince in one even layer and leave it undisturbed for 2 minutes so it browns, then break it up and cook until no pink remains, about 3 minutes more.
~5 min
Leaving the pork undisturbed lets the surface dry and brown via the Maillard reaction, building the savory crust.
Let the pork sit untouched for the first two minutes in the hot pan: that contact is what builds the browned crust and the savory base of the sauce.
Searing Pat the meat dry, use a hot pan, and don't move it until a brown crust releases on its own. Crowding or stirring early steams the meat grey instead of browning it.
-
Add the garlic, ginger and spring onion whites to the pork and stir for 45 seconds until fragrant. Pour in the 2 tbsp soy sauce and 1 tbsp water, scrape up the browned bits and simmer until the sauce glazes the pork, about 1 minute. Season with a pinch of black pepper.
~1 min
Simmering evaporates water and concentrates the soy sauce so it thickens into a glaze that clings to the pork.
-
Fluff the cooked rice with a fork and spoon it into a bowl. Top with the glazed pork, the cucumber slices and the spring onion greens, then spoon over any sauce left in the pan.
~1 min