Beef Pepper Rice

 

Ingredients

• 3 cups cooked rice, warm
• 4 tbsp maple syrup, or honey
• 4 tbsp soy sauce, low sodium
• 2 tbsp mirin
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp black pepper, or more, to taste
• ½ tsp onion powder
• 1-1½ lb shabu shabu beef, or sliced beef
• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 tbsp butter, divided in half
• ¼ cup sweet corn
• ¼ cup scallions, sliced
• 1/4 cup shiitake or enoki mushrooms

Instructions

• Cook jasmine rice in your method of choice. I use a rice cooker.
• Make the sauce by combining maple syrup, soy sauce, mirin, water, garlic powder, pepper, and onion powder and set aside.
• In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add a splash of oil and add the beef to it. Cook until 80-90% browned and drain any excessive liquid in the pan.
• Push the beef to the side of the pan, making a large enough space in the middle of the pan for a bowl of rice. Add 1 tbsp butter to the middle of the pan and let it melt for a few seconds. Add mushrooms and cook down for a few minutes. 
• Tightly pack around 3 cups of rice into a bowl and invert it into the middle of the pan, over the butter.
• Remove the bowl, drizzle the sauce over the rice and beef, and then top with the corn. Let everything cook together, untouched for 2 to 3 minutes. The bottom of the rice will get nice and crispy while the sauce cooks with the beef.
• Top off with the rest of the butter and green onions before serving.

Mushroom Hot Pot

From Japanese Hot Pots by Tadashi Ono & Harris Salat

Serves 4

4 c dashi
1 c sake
1/2 c mirin
1/2 c soy sauce
1/2 lb napa cabbage, sliced
1/2 package firm tofu, cut into 4 pieces
1/2 lb shiitake mushrooms, stemmed
1/2 lb oyster mushrooms, trimmed and pulled apart
3 1/2 oz shimeji mushrooms, trimmed and pulled apart
7 oz enoki mushrooms, trimmed and pulled apart
1/2 lb spinach, stemmed
Shichimi togarashi, for accent

Prepare broth by combining the dashi, sake, mirin, and soy sauce in a bowl, reserve.

Add the cabbage and tofu to a hot pot and pour in the broth. Cover teh pot and bring it to a boiil over high heat. Decrease the heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes more.

Uncover the hot pot and add the mushrooms. Cover the pot and simmer for 5 minutes more. Uncover the pot, add the spinach, and simmer for 1 minute more.

Transfer the hot pot to the dining table. Serve the ingredients together with the broth, accenting with shichimi togarashi.

Suggeseted shime: soba (or rice)

Tonkatsu Sosu

From The Japanese Kitchen by Hiroko Shimbo

1/2 c Worcestershire
1/4 c sugar
1/4 c shoyu (soy sauce)
1/4 c ketchup
1 Tb smooth French mustard (check that it's gluten free)
1/3 tea ground allspice

In a small saucepan, combine the first 4 ingredients. Cook over low heat, stirring, until the volume is reduced by 20 percent. Add the mustard and allspice, stirring. Remove the pan from the heat, and let the sauce cool to room temp. Will keep for one week refrigerated in a bottle with a tight fitting lid.

Potato and Beef Croquettes

From The Japanese Kitchen by Hiroko Shimbo

5-8 servings

3 lbs potatoes
2-3 Tb veg oil or butter
14 oz (2 med) onions, chopped
1/2 lb ground beef
2 Tb minced parsley
salt and pepper
1/2 tea ground nutmeg
1 tea Worcestershire
1/2 c all-purpose flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2-3 c panko
veg oil for deep frying
mixed salad greens
Tonkatsu sauce

In a large pot of water, simmer the whole potatoes, with their skins, until the potatoes are soft. Drain the potatoes, discarding water. Peel and cut into quarters. Return potatoes to teh empty pot, and dry-cook them over med heat, shaking the pot back and forth, 1-2 min. Transfer to a bowl and mash. Set aside.

Heat a skillet and add the veg oil or butter. Add the onions and cook them over med-low heat, stirring, until they are soft, 3-4 min. Add the beef to teh skillet and cook over high heat until the liquid has evaporated, stirring continually to break the lumps into crumbles. Add the parsley, and give several stirs.

In a bowl, combine the potatoes with the onions and beef. Add the salt and pepper, nutmet, and Worcestershire. Let the mixture cool, and then refrigerate, covered, for 20 minutes.

Divide teh mixture into quarters adn form each quarter into a thick log. Cut each log into five pieces. Shape each piece into an oblong, flat patty, about 3 inches by 4 inches. make the remaining 19 patties.

Put the flour, beaten eggs, and panko into 3 separate bowls. Dredge each patty with flour. You can prepare the patties to this point one day in advance, and store them in the refrigerator, covered. Dip each patty in egg. Pat the patty well with the breadcrumbs to cover every surface. At this point you can freeze the croquettes, well wrapped, for later use.

Heat 2 inches veg oil in a deep skillet to 370 degrees. Cook several patties at a time until they are golden, about 2 minutes. Serve hot croquettes over salad greens, with the tonkatsu sauce poured over or served in a saucer on the side.

Clay-Pot Miso Chicken

From www.epicurious.com

Makes 4 generous (main course) servings

2 1/2 lbs chicken thighs, with skin and bone
½ c wood ear mushrooms
5cups water, divided
About 2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1stalk burdock root (sometimes called gobo)
1/2 teaspoon distilled white vinegar or fresh lemon juice
1 and one 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 lb fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded, large caps quartered
1 and one ½ tablespoons finely chopped peeled ginger
1 and one ½ tablespoons finely chopped garlic
1/2 cup mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)
1/2 cup white miso (also called shiro miso)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 lb mustard greens, tough stems and ribs discarded and leaves coarsely chopped (8 cups)

Accompaniment: steamed rice
Garnish: chopped scallions

Preheat oven to 500°F with rack in middle. Pat chicken dry, then roast, skin side up, in 1 layer in a shallow baking pan until skin is golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. While chicken roasts, soak wood ear mushrooms in 2 cups water until softened, about 15 minutes. Drain in a sieve, then rinse well and discard any hard pieces. Drain well, squeezing out excess water.

Transfer roasted chicken to a bowl and pour pan juices through a fine-mesh sieve into a glass measure. Let stand until fat rises to top, 1 to 2 minutes, then skim off and discard fat. Add enough stock to bring total to 2 cups liquid. Reduce oven to 300°F and move rack to lower third. Peel burdock root, and, if more than 1-inch-thick, halve lengthwise. Cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces. Transfer burdock root to a bowl, then add vinegar and 1 cup water.

Heat oil in a 7- to 8-quart heavy pot over medium-high heat until it shimmers, then sauté onions until softened and beginning to brown. Add shiitakes, ginger, and garlic and sauté until garlic is golden, 3 to 5 minutes. Add mirin and boil, stirring and scraping up any brown bits, 1 minute. Stir in miso and soy sauce, then stir in chicken, wood ear mushrooms, burdock (drained), stock mixture, and remaining 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, skimming off any froth. Cover pot and braise in oven until chicken is tender, about 1 hour.

Stir in mustard greens and continue to braise, covered, 5 minutes. Serve in shallow bowls over rice.

Springtime Hot Pot

Ingredients: (Include as few or as many as you desire)

konbu (dried kelp)
negi (Japanese leek)
shungiku (chrysanthemum leaves)
hakusai (Napa cabbage)
fresh shiitake mushrooms
fresh shimeji mushrooms
fresh enoki mushrooms kuzukiri (arrowroot starch noodles) or thin rice noodles
medium tofu daikon radish (for grating)
ponzu (citrus, soy sauce and vinegar based condiment) beef or pork sliced paper thin (Uwajimaya sells it already sliced and labeled “for sukiyaki” or “for hotpot”) garlic chili sauce, if desired

Preparation:

About two hours before dinner, soak two 2-inch pieces of konbu in a stockpot-full of cold water. About an hour before dinner, soak the kuzukiri noodles in a bowl of cold water. Now grate the daikon radish and cut all the other ingredients into bite-size pieces and artfully arrange on serving plates. Just before dinner, bring the stockpot with the konbu to a simmer -- but don't boil.

To serve:

Place the donabe on a portable burner on the dining table, surrounded by plates of ingredients. Gather your guests around. Arrange the first round of ingredients in the donabe, fill with the konbu broth, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, serve in bowls, topped with grated daikon and a hit of ponzu and garlic chili sauce. Eat. Repeat.

(This is a fairly traditional Japanese recipe, but I found it on www.japanesefoodreport.com)