Pork Roll with Plum Sauce and Kinnikuman (Butaniku no Umeshiso Maki to Kinnikuman)

As you probably know by now, "butaniku" is the Japanese word for pork. "Buta" means pig and "niku" is our word for meat. The kanji for meat is 肉. A wildly popular comic and cartoon series in the early 80's called "Kinnikuman" featured a superhero with the same name who had a 肉 character tattooed on his head (because he was very muscular). Look for the link below and enjoy this dish while you're watching Japanese anime!

Yield: 4 servings
Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb sliced pork
• 5 chopped shiso
• 5 plums, de-seeded, crushed
• 1 tsp sesame seeds
• 1 1/2 cup panko
• 1 egg (beaten)

Spices

• 1 tsp Japanese sake
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1/4 cup flour

Preparation

1. Mix spices (shiso, plums, soy sauce, sake, sesame seeds)
2. Put about 1/2 tsp of the mixture in the middle of a length of pork and roll.
   
3. Sprinkle flour on each pork roll, dredge in egg, and cover in Panko.
4. Heat oil to 375 degrees and fry pork rolls until golden brown (about 2 mins on each side)
5. Serve with salt, soy sauce, or mayonnaise.
6. Enjoy with Kinnikuman! http://bit.ly/2XBENI