Trim excess fat from roast; cut lengthwise into two long pieces. If desired, truss the pieces with cotton kitchen string so they retain a compact, cylindrical shape. Prepare vegetables: Slice cabbage roughly. Trim root ends from green onions and cut into 1-inch pieces. Peel garlic and smash. Peel ginger.

Heat vegetable oil in dutch oven or large, heavy-bottomed saucepan or wok. Brown pork roast pieces on all sides. Add water, cabbage, onions, garlic, ginger and star anise and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer; simmer gently until pork juices run clear when pierced with a fork, about 1 hour.

Remove pork to a plate and reserve. Drain broth through a colander and reserve broth, if desired, discarding vegetable solids. Wipe out pot and return pork to pot. In a bowl or large measuring cup, combine mirin, sake, sugar, shoyu and stir to combine. Pour over pork. Bring to a boil; turn down heat and simmer, turning pork from time to time, for about 30 minutes. Turn off heat and allow pork to cool to warm in the liquid; reserve the liquid, if desired, for later use. Transfer pork to cutting board; remove string.

Slice into thin, crosswise pieces right before serving. Use the broth to make noodle soup or nishime.

Makes 6-8 servings of 3-4 slices each.

Note: The reserved broth can be used to make noodle soup. The reserved shoyu mixture can be reduced to concentrate flavors; then place slices of pork over hot rice and drizzle concentrated sauce over all. Pork also can be served at room temperature as pupu.

Variation: In the last 10 minutes of simmering the pork in the shoyu mixture, add several peeled, hard-boiled eggs. Gently turn them so they color evenly. Slice and use to garnish noodle soup.

SIMMERED PORK

Here's Harumi Kurihara's simmered pork recipe from her book, "Harumi's Japanese Cooking" (Home/Berkley, hardback, $27.95). It's much more delicate and less sweet than the Hawai'i-style version above and was preferred by some of our in-house tasters.

Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Sear pork evenly on all sides.

Push pork to side and wipe excess oil from pan (throw in some paper towels and move them around with a chopstick to avoid burning yourself).

Place green onion, ginger, shoyu, sake and sugar in pan and pour in enough water to almost cover the pork. Increase the heat to a boil, then turn down to medium, skim the surface and simmer 40 minutes, turning the pork a couple of times.

When the broth has reduced to about 1/2 cup, turn off heat and cool, then slice the pork.

Makes 4 servings.

You can use the shoyu stock to make ramen broth: Combine with 4 1/2 cups chicken stock, 4 tablespoons shoyu and 2 teaspoons konbu cha powder (konbu tea, optional), plus salt to taste; boil, then reduce heat to low. Boil noodles separately; add to broth in bowls; garnish as desired.

Reach Wanda A. Adams at wadams@honoluluadvertiser.com.