Natto is a traditional Japanese fermented soybean food and it has been part of my daily diet since I was very little. One of the things I love about natto is how versatile it is. While it’s traditionally enjoyed over rice in Japan, I also love adding it to a wide variety of savory dishes.
Here’s my comforting one-pot noodle dish with savory ground pork, garlic, and natto, and it’s so good! I love using green tea soba because of its subtle aroma and beautiful green color, but any variety of soba will be delicious.
This dish comes together in less than 15 minutes and is packed with rich, savory flavor. The ground pork and natto mixture is also delicious served over rice for an easy rice bowl. The key is adding natto at the very end, so the authentic flavor of natto can be enjoyed. But, if you are not too “tolerant” with the strong natto aroma, you can cook it longer so the aroma will dissipate.
I use fresh natto in this recipe, but the dry natto works great, too!
Equipment
Classic-style DonabeIn this recipe, I used Bistro Donabe. Any donabe with enough depth can work with this recipe.
Servings
2 - 3Ingredients
- 120 g fresh natto or 1/2 bottle of freeze-dried natto
- 7 oz (200 g) dry soba (I used matcha soba)
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 8 oz (220 g) ground pork
- 1 Tbsp mirin
- 1 1/2 to 2 Tbsps soy sauce
- 2 – 3 green onions, minced
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
- Shichimi tougarashi (Japanese seven spice powder), to taste
Procedure
- Stir the natto well and set aside.
- Boil water in a large pot and cook the soba 1 – 2 minutes shorter than the package’s instructions. *Cook the soba right before the soba is ready to mix with the cooked pork.
- Combine the sesame oil and garlic in a donabe and set over medium heat. Sauté the garlic until aromatic, about 1 minute.
- Add the pork and increase the heat to medium-high. Break and stir the pork until it’s mostly cooked and crumbly.
- Add the mirin and soy sauce. Cover and simmer the pork over medium-heat for 5 – 7 minutes or until the liquid is mostly reduced.
- Turn off the heat and add the natto mixture. Stir gently.
- Add the cooked soba and stir again.
- Garnish with the green onions, sesame seeds and shichimi tougarashi and serve.
With a generous amount of minced green onion and shichimi tougarashi on top, the dish is so satisfying.
