An Easy Weeknight Family Dinner: Japanese Ground Pork & Rice (or noodle) Bowl (Soboro Donburi)
Today, we have a fantastic, quick, and family-friendly weeknight dinner for you that I discovered on i am a food blog: Soboro Donburi. A classic Japanese dish, Soboro is ground meat (this recipe uses ground pork, but usually its chicken and any ground meat will do) broken up and cooked with seasonings such as soy sauce, mirin, and sake. Donburi just means that something is served over rice as a rice bowl. This version is both sweet and savory and can be prepared from start to finish in less than 30 minutes. Each time we have made this recipe, I have replaced rice with fresh yakisoba noodles and added a bunch of stir-fried vegetables to make this a complete, well-rounded meal.
And while we are on the topic of family dinner, can we talk about children’s eating habits? Sam and Emma’s eating habits are one of my largest sources of mom-guilt (please notice I said “sources” – plural). Up until 18 months ago, Sam and Emma would not eat pizza or hamburgers. They still won’t eat sauce on anything (including ketchup), eggs, and turn up their nose on food being mixed together. Spices and seasoning are often problems. Soup is dangerous. Emma would be a vegetarian if given the option, except for bacon. Up until quarantine, our nanny would prepare Sam and Emma’s dinner before I got home, and the kids would be eating when I walked in the door after work. When I have asked our pediatrician how to improve my children’s eating habits, the response has been “eat more family dinners”. This phrase is a stab to my heart. How do you eat more family dinners when I don’t walk into the house until 6pm after work and Ryan doesn’t arrive until 6:30pm at the earliest? Sam and Emma cannot eat dinner at 7pm on school nights.
The preceding paragraph is a very long-winded way of explaining that yes, Sam and Emma really like this Soboro (ground pork); however, we serve it to them on a divided plate so that the entire meal is deconstructed. Yakisoba noodles in one compartment; pork in another; chopped vegetables in a third (for some odd reason, Sam and Emma prefer raw veggies, so typically I just set aside a handful of chopped vegetables from the wok and serve them these); and then I add a fruit of some sort to the last spot. Is this just us, or are any of you able to relate?
Admittedly, we have eaten more family dinners during quarantine than in the last two years combined. For those people reading this post who are thinking, “my children would never eat that”, I hear you! Despite family dinners, I still deconstruct 90% of these meals and Sam and Emma still complain about what I put on their plates. But each time I have served this recipe, the kids’ plates have been cleaned and Ryan and I have still enjoyed the meal. That’s a win in my book. I will fight about sauce another night….
PORK SOBORO DONBURI
Ingredients
Soboro
- 1 lb ground pork (but any ground meat will do)
- 1/4 cup soy sauce low sodium
- 2 tbsp mirin
- 2 tbsp sake
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp fresh minced ginger (optional)
Eggs
- 4 large eggs
- 1-2 tsp sugar (optional)
- 1/4 tsp salt or to taste
To Serve
- Fresh yakisoba noodles or rice
- Chopped vegetables (we like to use broccoli, snap peas, shredded carrot, and baby bok choy)
- Sliced green onions
Directions
- In a large bowl, mix together the ground pork, soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar until thoroughly combined. Let marinate while you cook your rice.
- Add the pork mixture to a large non-stick frying pan (we use a wok) and heat up over medium heat, breaking up any chunks with a wooden spoon or spatula. You want the pieces of pork to be small and uniform. At first the liquid will make everything look soupy. Continue to cook until almost all the liquid evaporates, the pork starts to brown, and the sauce starts to caramelize, stirring as needed. When done, remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
- In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar (if using) and salt. Heat a non-stick pan over medium high heat and add a touch of oil. Add the whisked eggs and cook, using a pair of chopsticks to vigorously scramble so that the scrambled eggs form small and uniform curds about the same size as the pieces of meat in the soboro. When cooked, remove from the pan.
- Throw your chopped vegetables into the pan for a minute or two, add prepared yakisoba noodles. Stir until noodles are warmed (if using) and vegetables have softened but remain crisp.
- Assemble the donburi by scooping some yakisoba noodles or rice into a bowl. Top with the soboro, scrambled eggs, and sliced green onions. Enjoy!
Recipe Credit: i am a food blog
