This week we continue on this mini journey of Hawaii-adapted Okinawan recipes. This braised pork belly recipe is a slightly modified version of Okinawan Shoyu Pork found on Onolicious Hawaii. It is a Hawaii version of Okinawan Rafute and Japanese Kakuni and is often simply called shoyu pork.

What is rafute and kakuni?

Both rafute and kakuni are braised pork belly dishes. The main differences between them are two key ingredients – rafute uses Okinawan black sugar and Awamori sake, kakuni uses white sugar and sake.

How is this recipe different?

As with many dishes found in Hawaii, rafute was brought to the islands by Okinawan contracted laborers. As different ethnic groups lived and worked together on the plantations, their dishes began to merge, keeping the spirit of the original dish but taking advantage of what could be found in their new home and adjusting to local tastes.

One key difference of this recipe is the preparation of the pork. In both rafute and kakuni, the pork is first cooked in water (sometimes with aromatics like scallions and ginger) before it is slowly simmered in a soy sauce-based braise. This recipe skips the initial cook and goes straight to braising.

Sometimes you will see pork shoulder/pork butt used instead of pork belly. This recipe embraces pork belly in all its fatty goodness.

Finally, Okinawan black sugar is difficult to find. This recipe uses brown sugar instead (light or dark works fine).

To serve

A dish this rich needs both a starch and a simple steamed or sautéed vegetable. Serve the pork with rice (or edamame rice) and spinach, baby bok choy, or choi sum.

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