Sesame Beef Bowl
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Look.
I totes impressed myself with this one. Usually, when I want a quick dinner I’ll grab something like sesame beef, veggies and rice from the Japanese market or some combo of meat+veggies+rice from Panda Express.
BUT.
Now that I know I can make the same exact thing at home and have it actually be tastier than what I can purchase, there’s no lookin’ back. If you’re not in the mood for beef, use chicken or pork. The seasoning and sauce part of this is super versatile to use on any protein. Even tofu! I was craving a beef bowl, so I used thinly sliced beef. My local Japanese market (Mitsuwa) sells a variety of beef in different cuts for different purposes. I bought “komagire”, which is basically thinly sliced beef scraps. Scraps sounds bad, but it’s not. If you’re not fortunate enough to have an Asian market near you with a variety of thinly sliced meat options, you can ask your butcher to slice some up for ya, or if you’re feeling brave and your knife is sharp, get instructions for thinly sliced meat here.
Now that we’ve gotten thinly sliced meat out of the way…
You can make this entire meal in 30 minutes (I refuse to call it a “30 minute meal”. bye, rachael ray).
Throw the rice in the rice cooker (25 minutes)
While rice cooks, make the beef and set aside. (15 minutes)
Saute the veggies (10 minutes).
Fry an egg (optional, tasty step). (3 minutes)
See? Easy peasy. This recipe is for the beef portion of the beef bowl. I trust you can make your own rice. For the veggies, use whatever your favorite greens are. I used bok choy sauteed in a bit of sesame oil with soy sauce and garlic. You could use spinach, arugala, cabbage… whatever you like! I love a bag of pre-washed baby spinach quick sauteed with some garlic, soy and sesame.
What you’ll need: toasted sesame seeds, cornstarch, sugar, thinly sliced beef, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger and garlic (not pictured: sake). Please ignore Big Booty Martha Bourdain (my stand mixer) in the background. She always tryna photobomb something.
Tiny Kitchen Hint: Whenever I buy an exotic spice for another recipe, I always end up racking my brain trying to figure out where else I could use those spices. One of my favorite things to do is to throw a few fragrant spices into my rice cooker! A few crushed cardamom pods, one star anise (don’t overdo star anise, she’s skrong), and a bayleaf. It adds just a hint of flavor and the smell is phenomenal!
Combine the beef, grated ginger and garlic, sake and cornstarch. Mix well.
In another bowl, mix the soy sauce, water, chili flake and sugar.
Add the sesame oil to a pan and begin to saute the beef until there are no more pink bits.
Add in the sauce.
Bring the sauce to a boil and continue to stir until the sauce thickens and coats the beef.
Serve with hot steaming sticky rice, sauteed veggies of your choice (I made bok choy), top with beef and sprinkle the toasted sesame seeds!
I had to. YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT EGGS.
Sesame Beef Bowl
adapted from no recipes
makes 4 servings in 30 minutes
Ingredients
1 lb tender cut of beef thinly sliced
1 1/2 tablespoon dry sake (or dry white wine, dry sherry, apple juice if you’re in a pinch)
1 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
1 1/2 teaspoon grated garlic
1/4 tsp chili flakes (go up to 1 full tsp, depending on how spicy you like things)
2 teaspoon cornstarch
4 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
1 tbsp sesame oil
Directions
In a bowl, combine the beef, sake, ginger and garlic and thoroughly mix together. Add the cornstarch and mix to combine.
In a separate small bowl, combine the water, soy sauce and sugar and stir to combine.
Add the sesame oil to the pan along with the beef. Stir-fry the beef until there are no red bits left, and then add the soy sauce mixture. Bring this mixture to a boil, stirring constantly until it’s turned into a thick sauce that coats the meat.
Add the toasted sesame seeds, and then serve the beef over sauteed greens on rice.
Tasty option: top with an over easy egg. You know how I feel about eggs.
yasssss
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