Korokke

Do you have heaps of potatoes in the kitchen?  Do you fancy of crispy fried snack?  Then look no further!  Korokke (croquette) is the dish you are after.  They can be your afternoon snack, light lunch, or even a side dish to accompany steamed rice and miso soup with special Korokke sauce. 🙂

Korokke are deep-fried potato cake coated with panko (bread crumbs). All the coatings are same as katsu – plain flour, egg wash, and Japanese bread crumbs.

Here are the recipe :

<makes about 10)

• 3~4 large potatoes
• 1/2 large brown onion
• 200g beef mince

• plain flour to coat
• 1 or 2 egg
• panko (Japanese bread crumbs) to coat

• oil to fry
• sauce to serve (see below)

1.

First, peel the potatoes and cut into pieces so they cook quickly.  Place in a large pot with water to cover, then cook over high heat until the potatoes are soft.

Meanwhile, chop the onion, and sauté in a frying pan with 1 table spoon of oil.   Add beef and cook.  Season with salt and pepper.

Drain the water from the pan of potatoes, and place the potatoes back into the pot.  Mash the potatoes and add the onion and beef.  Mix well.  Season to taste.

2.

Once the potato mixture is cool enough to handle, shape them into balls then flatten the centre.

Place flour and panko in a separate shallow plate.  Beat egg, and place in another shallow plate.

Coat the potato cakes with flour, shake the excess off, then dip in the egg wash.  Quickly place into the plate of panko to coat.  Repeat with the remaining.

3.

Heat oil in a deep pan or a frying pan.  Deep-fry the korokke until golden.

Korokke snowman ….  Just wanted to get a feeling of snow/cold as it’s 41 degrees today here in Perth!!!!

To serve:

Korokke are usually served with tonkatsu sauce, Worcester sauce, or tomato sauce.  Or just as is.  You can make a imitated tonkatsu sauce by just mixing tomato sauce & Worcester sauce (1:1).  Add Japanese mayonaise if you are mayo-lover!

Beef Teriyaki Niku-Dango

When I had leftover beef mince after cooking Japanese curry  , I quickly made this niku-dango (meatball) in another frying pan.  It’s a super quick recipe (done in 10 minutes!) and I thought I should show the recipe here 🙂

All you need is beef mince, minced garlic, and usual sauces for Japanese cuisine : sake (cooking wine), mirin (cooking sweet wine), and soy sauce.

<Teriyaki Niku-Dango>  makes around 10 balls

• 500g Beef mince
• 1 teaspoon Minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon Sake
• 2 tablespoons Mirin
• 2 tablespoons Soy sauce

1. Mix garlic mince with beef.
2. Heat a frying pan and spray oil.  Shape beef mince into balls, and grill both side.
3. Pour over the sauces, and simmer until the sauce thickens.
4. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, and serve with steamed rice & steamed vegetables.

Rolled Cabbage

Japanese calle it “roll cabbage”, but this dish is basically a ball of hamburg wrapped with cabbage leaves.  This is usually cooked in soup until the cabbage is really soft and almost melts. Sometimes served with variety of sauces such as tomato sauce, teriyaki sauce, and savoury bechamel sauce.

One of the reason I don’t cook this roll-cabbage too often is that it’s bit troublesome to make.  First you need to sautee vegetables then mix with meat.  Cabbage leaves need to be blanched in boiling water first so that it doesn’t rip when wrapping the meat mixture inside.  After all the preparation you will need to then cook the rolled-cabbage in a pot for 2 hours.  (or you can use slow-cooker instead)

But I made them anyway.  I felt like eating rolled cabbage, and I thought Hiro could also eat one.  It takes time, so if you want to make this chose the day you have time to spend in the kitchen.

<Rolled Cabbage>  makes around 20

• cabbage 1 whole
• pork & beef mixed mince (or you can use just pork/beef mince) 400g
• onion 1, medium
• carrot 1/2, medium
• celery stalk 1/3
• unsalted butter 2 tbs
• tomato sauce 1 tbs
• salt 2/3 tsp
• pepper to taste

1. Chop up onion, carrot and celery.
2. Melt butter in a frying pan, and sautee the vegetables with a pinch of salt for 5 minutes over low-medium heat.  Remove from the pan and spread on a flat plate.  Let it cool. (or you can keep them in the fridge until you are ready to cook rolled-cabbage)
3. Remove the core from a whole cabbage.  Boil water in a large, deep pan.  Add a pinch of salt into the water, and place a cabbage.  Cook until the cabbage is well-cooked and soft.  Cabbage leaves should be easily come off.  Place the cabbage leaves into a bowl of iced water.  Repeat with the remaining leaves.  Pat it dry.
4. Place mince meat in a bowl.  Add salt, and mix well.  Add pepper, tomato sauce, and sauteed vegetables.  Mix well.
5. Place a cabbage leaf on a kitchen bench or on a chopping board. Place 1 tablespoon of meat mixture on the cabbage leaf.  Roll up tightly.  You can push the one end towards inside to close up.

Chose a pot that is wide.  Place rolled-cabbage into the pan, ensuring that all of them are nicely and tightly fit inside the pan.  (photo above)  Make sure the end of cabbage leaves are facing bottom.  Pour water to just cover the rolls, and place a lid.  Cook over high-medium heat.

Once it starts to boil, turn down the heat, and simmer for 2 hours over low heat.

*Add more water if needed.

Beef & Tofu Donburi

This is one of my favorite donburi dish – beef and tofu.  It is just like beef donburi (gyu-don), with tofu.  Normally, firm tofu is used in cooking as it’s more likely to hold its shape than soft silken tofu, but I love the silky smooth texture of silken tofu and I used it in this recipe.

Donburi is like Japanese version of fast food.  Make it in one pot, and eat it all together with rice.

Mix them up and eat it like a man!

<Recipe> serves 2

• 200g beef, thinly sliced
• 1/4 brown onion, small
• 100g silken tofu (Japanese)
• 1/4 tsp dashi stock powder
• 1 cup water
• 1.5 tbs sake (cooking wine)
• 1 tbs sugar
• 1.5 tbs soy sauce
• red ginger, chopped spring onion, steamed rice to serve

a

1. Slice onion.  Place beef, onion, water and dashi stock in a sauce pan, and bring to gentle simmer.
2. Place tofu on your left palm, and drop into the pan as you slice.  Add sake, sugar and soy sauce.  Turn the heat to low, and simmer for about 5 minutes.
3. Pour the beef mixture over steamed rice.  Garnish with red ginger and spring onion.

a

Oroshi Steak

When I go grocery shopping in winter and find a good daikon radish, this is one of the dishes it comes to my head – steak with daikon oroshi (grated daikon radish).  I love daikon – normally I cook it in soup or stew, but also love when it’s grated and accompanied with something such as karaage, tempura or steak.  The freshness, coldness and a bit of hotness milds the oily dishes.

When I cook steak with daikon oroshi I normally eat it with steamed rice, so I cut the steak into cubes because it’s easy to pick with chopsticks.

This is best when eaten freshly made – fresh grilled steak with cold daikon oroshi and crispy garlic chips – you can go lots of rice with it.

<Recipe>  serves 2

• 2 fillets beef (steak cut)
• 10cm daikon radish
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tbs sake (cooking wine)
• 2 tbs soy sauce
• 1/2 lemon
• olive oil to cook a

1. Cut steak into cubes.  Slice garlic.  Grate daikon radish, and chill in the fridge.
2. Place 1 tbs of olive oil in a frying pan.  Turn on the heat, and cook garlic chips until golden and crispy.  Take them out from the pan and set aside.
3. Sear the steaks in the pan.  Pour soy sauce and sake over the steak and sizzle.  Squeeze lemon juice into the sauce, and turn off the heat.
4. Arrange steak cubes on a serving plate.  Take out daikon oroshi from the fridge, and drain the liquid.  Scatter over the steak.  Top with garlic chips then drizzle sauce over the dish.

Serve immediately!

a

Basil Meatball Pasta

The basil we sow about few months ago is growing big now!

I had a pack of beef mince in the freezer, so I decided to make meatballs using the basil leaves.

I chopped up the leaves finely and added to the meatballs along with onions.  Although I like meatballs with half pork half beef, this time it’s 100% beef.  It was still good, the delicious sizzling smell hit my nose as soon as I started grilling the meatballs.

Fresh basil is so great for tomato based sauce.

I added about 15 leaves to the mince, but I could add more, actually. I was bit stingy!

<Basil Meatballs>

• 300g beef mince
• 15 (or more) basil leaves
• 1 onion (large)
• 1/2 celery stalk
• 1 tbs tomato paste
• 450g chopped tomato (tin)
• 3 garlic cloves

a

1. Chop up the onion and celery finely.  Place half of the onion into a mixing bowl with beef mince.
2. Chop up basil leaves.  Add to the bowl.  Season with salt and pepper, and mix well.
3. Slice garlic thinly.  Heat 1 table spoon of olive oil in a sauce pan, and fry garlic until fragrant.  Add the rest of the onion and the celery to the pan, and saute for about 3 minutes.
4. Add tomato paste, and fry for few minutes, then add chopped tomatoes.  Simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, heat 1 table spoon of olive oil in a frying pan.  Shape the mince mixture into little balls, and place onto the frying pan.  Grill over medium-high heat until the bottom is coloured, then flip it around.  Turn down the heat and cook further 3 minutes.
6. Pour the tomato sauce into the frying pan over the meatballs.  Simmer for few minutes.
7. Enjoy with pasta or bread!  

Quick Beef Bowl

Beef donburi, gyu-don, is one of Japanese popular donburi dish.  I’m sure you sometimes order this  at Japanese restaurants (if you like beef).

Normally, gyu-don is simmered beef and onion dish in sweet soy sauce flavoured dashi broth. This recipe, however, doesn’t require dashi broth and simmering process. It’s more like a stir-fried dish (with plenty of sauce/broth/juice from the beef and onions).  It’s a quick meal, and taste great 🙂

<Quick Beef Bowl>  serves 4~8

• 500g beef, thinly sliced
• 2 onions (medium size)
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 tbs sesame oil
• 2 tbs sugar
• 1 tbs sake (cooking wine)
• 2 tbs mirin
• 2 tbs soy sauce

a

1. Slice the onions and garlic thinly.
2. Heat the sesame oil in a sauce pan.  Add garlic and onion, and stir-fry until the onions are almost transparent.
3. Add beef, and cook for 2~3 minutes.  Add sugar, sake, mirin and soy sauce.
4. Turn down the heat to low, and cook further 5 minutes.

a

Enjoy with steamed rice and some vegetables!

Yakiniku

I need red meat!! Great source of protein and iron.  Craving for chunks of meat sometimes happen to me, especially on Friday/Saturday evenings when I smell BBQ from neighbors houses.

I went to out to a restaurant the other day and ordered steak.  I told waitstaff to make sure the meat is cooked well-done.  But, when I cut the steak the meat inside was slightly pink.  It may be just because of the lighting at the restaurant (the lights were red-ish color which made everything look red).  I wasn’t sure if I should eat it – it maybe ok, but it maybe not.  In the end I asked waitstaff to cook the meat more.  I should have ordered chicken or pork instead of beef, so that I know the meat is fully cooked at least.  From the experience, I only eat steak at home now.

Last night I made yakiniku at home.  It’s one of the easiest meal because what I need to do is prepare meat (and some vegetables, rice and soup to accompany).  This time I marinated the beef with grated pear to give additional fruity taste.  It also softened the meat.

Cook meat in front of you while watching tv, and enjoy the freshly cooked meat with sauce and rice!  Yum.

In Japan, beef and port for yakiniku is normally sliced into about 5mm thick.  You can buy a bulk of meat and slice by yourself too.  It is more economical.  After slicing the meat, marinate in the home-made sauce, and keep in the fridge until you  start your feast.  Don’t forget to cook rice too!

<Yakiniku>  for 2 people

• 500g beef
• 40ml soy sauce
• 10ml sake (cooking wine)
• 40g pear, grated
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp minced ginger

• cabbage, capsicum, pumpkin, onion etc 
• steamed rice / soup
• sauce (ponzu, yuzu juice with salt, or try making this sauce ↓↓)

Miso Hamburg Steak

One day I was thinking about hamburg family restaurants in Japan – Big Boy, Bikkuri Donkey, etc…  Although I’m not really a meat person, I sometime got a craving for a juicy delicious hamburg steak.  Besides, family restaurant was like my nest when I was a teen. 😀

If you want to try Japanese hamburg steak restaurant, try Bikkuri Donkey!  I love the food, and also the atmosphere there.

The other day, I wanted to eat like the hamburg steak plate that you can get from family restaurants.  Hamburg steak, rice, salad, all in one plate.

I mixed miso paste to the mince mixture to add extra flavor.  The patty was soft and fluffy, and it smelled delicious.

With fried egg and special sauce.  Add a cup of soup to make it a perfect “hamburg steak lunch plate”!

<Miso Hamburg Steak> serves 2

• 300g mince (I used 50% beef and 50% pork)
• 1 onion, medium
• 1 egg
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• 2tbs breadcrumb
• 1 tbs miso
• 1 tbs milk

• 100cc white wine

• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup water
• 1tbs tomato sauce
• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

a

1. Chop onion finely.  In a mixing bowl, mix the mince, onion, egg, nutmeg, breadcrumb, miso and milk together until well combined.
2. Divide the meat mixture into an uniformed-size balls, and flatten the centre to make them into patties.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan.  Place the patties and cook over medium-high heat until the bottom side is nicely colored.  Sprinkle salt and pepper on the meat, and pour the white wine around.  Flip the patties, and place a lid.  Cook until the patties are cooked.
4. Mix the ingredients from “sauce”.
5. Serve the hamburg on a plate along with the sauce.

Camem-burg Pasta

Meatball pasta!!  Everyone’s favorite 🙂  Add Mozzarella cheese to the big size meatballs and enjoy the mild, melty texture on delicious juicy hamburg.

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<Camem-burg Pasta> serves 4

• 300g beef mince
• 200g pork mince
• 10g breadcrumb
• 50g onion, chopped

aa

1. Mix the mince, onion, breadcrumb and a pinch of salt in a bowl until well combined.  Divide into 8 and shape them into balls.  Stand-by in the fridge.
2. Chop onion, celery and carrot.  Slice mushrooms.
3. Heat 1 tbs of olive oil in a medium sauce pan, and saute onion, celery, carrot and garlic until fragrant.  Add tomato paste and saute, then add tomato tin. Bring to the gentle boil, then reduce the heat to simmer for about 10 minutes.
4. Place margarin in a frying pan, and heat over medium-high heat.  As the butter start to sizzle, add mushrooms and saute.  Sprinkle a pinch of salt, and remove from the heat.  Add the mushroom into the tomato sauce.
5. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil, and cook pasta.
6. Meanwhile, heat the same pan with 1 tbs of oil.  Flatten the centre of the meatballs, and sear one side.  Flip the meatball around, reduce the heat, and place a lid.  Grill until cooked through.
7. Slice Camembert cheese into 8.  Remove the lid, and place the Camembert slices on each meatball.  Place back the lid, and turn off the heat.  leave it for 1~2 minutes.
8. Arrange pasta in each serving plate.  Pour tomato sauce, and top with 2 pieces of hamburgs.

Japanese Style Hamburg Steak

Try this wafu hamburg steak!  It’s easy to make, low in calorie, and simply delicious ♪

<serves 4>

• 500g beef mince
• 1 onion, small
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• 1 pinch salt
• 200g daikon radish
• 4 shiso leaves  (*)
• 4 tbs soy sauce
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 2 tbs water
• 1 tbs butter  

Korean Marinated BBQ Beef (Bul Kogi)

BBQ beef marinated in Korean style sauce.  Cooking the beef lightly is the key for juicy and tender Bul Kogi 🙂

• 300g beef, thinly sliced
• 5 tbs soy sauce
• 2 tbs sake
• 2 tbs sesame oil
• 2 tbs honey
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tbs tobanjan
• 1 tbs roasted white sesame seeds

1. Combine all the ingredient in a bowl except for the sesame seeds.  Marinate the beef for 5 minutes.
2. Heat a frying pan without oil.  Remove the beef from the marinade, reserving the sauce, and cook the beef for 2~3 minutes or until just cooked through.  Remove from the pan and set aside.
3. Place the remaining marinade in the same pan and bring to the boil, stirring well, and simmer for 1 minutes.
4. Arrange beef on a plate.  Spoon on the sauce and garnish with sesame seeds.  Serve with steamed rice.

Grilled Beef with Japanese BBQ Sauce (Yakiniku)

• 200g thinly sliced beef
• steamed rice

• 1 clove garlic – minced
• 2.5 tbs soy sauce
• 1.5 tbs sugar
• 1 tbs sake (cooking wine)
• 1 tbs sesame oil

Baked Scotch Egg

I don’t eat meat so often.  It’s not that I don’t like or can not eat, I just don’t feel like eating them.  For me, hearty vegetable soup or grilled seafood make me more excited than bacon or saucy steak. … lots of people must be thinking that i’m so weird :p

However, my partner can’t survive without meat, so I need to cook meat often at home.  Now, thanks to him, I eat steak quite often.  I actually like Australian beef than Japanese beef.  Japanese beef usually is fat marbled, which means that it contains various amounts of intramuscular fat and has an appearance similar to a marble pattern.  This marbled meat gives tender texture and it melts on the tongue, and it is considered as high quality meat in Japan and usually expensive.  But, I like tough red meat here.  Australian beef is called “oz beef” in Japan and quite well-known there too.

When I was a kid I liked eating hamburg, and my mum sometimes put boiled egg in the middle.  (or cheese)  This is kind of my childhood food, and I make it here too for myself (and partner :p)

Using a pound cake mold…

• 600g beef mince
• 1/2 onion
• 1 egg
• 2 tbs breadcrumbs
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tbs tomato sauce
• 4 boiled eggs

* Preheat oven to 200

1. Mix all the ingredients, except boiled eggs, in a bowl until the mixture become sticky.  Season well.
2. Cove the bottom and sides of a pound cake mold with mince mixture, and place boiled eggs.  Top up the mold with the rest of mince.  Pad the top lightly to make sure there is no gap or hollow inside.
3. Spread another 1 tbs of tomato sauce on the top, and cook in the oven.

Any left over can be used to make a gourmet beef burger.  Toast 2 slices of bread (or a roll) and sandwich sliced scotch egg, cheese, lettuce, tomato and any sauce.  Easy meal, no waste of food!

Japanese Beef Curry

You don’t need to go out for a delicious Japanese curry.  You can simply cook it at home.

•   1 pack Japanese curry roux
• 500g casserole beef 
• 1 onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 potato
• steamed rice to serve

Finger Size Meatballs

Great items for luch, and tapas party!  They are small enough for kids to grab and eat too.

• 500g beef mince
• 1/2 onion
• 1 tbs bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• chopped herbs
• salt & pepper

1. Chop onion fine.
2. Place mince, chopped onion, bread crumbs, egg and chopped herbs in a bowl.  Season.  Using a hand, mix it through until the mixture become little sticky.  Move hand as if you are squeezing a wet sponge.
3. Shape the mixture into little balls.
4. Heat little amount of oil in a frying pan, and grill meatballs.
5. Enjoy with your favorite dipping.

You can simply use pasta sauce for dipping sauce, or make home made tomato sauce for your guests ♪

Japanese Style Garlic Steak

I try to eat red meat often as I have very law blood pressure and need to eat iron rich food.  I seldom ate beef when I was in Japan, but now I eat them a lot as they are pretty cheap in Australia (oz beef) and healthy.  (Japanese beef got marbled fat, so they are high in calorie and fat)  Some people say that red meat is very dry and tough, but I actually like it.  When you eat tough food, you need to chew and it strengthen your jaw.  You can cook meat medium or medium-rare if you like it moist.

If you go to Japanese restaurant here you might find a menu “teriyaki beef”.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, there is no such food “teriyaki beef” in Japan.  In Japan we’d call it “steak” or “yakiniku”, maybe.  Japanese steak is often eaten with steamed rice.  The sauce is soy sauce based, and most of the time it’s flavored with garlic.

It’s very easy to cook.  Well, it’s a steak: you basically just need to grill the meat.  What you can do to make it Japanese style (wafu) is the sauce.  It’s also easy to make too.

<Garlic Steak>

• 2 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs sake (cooking wine)
• 1 clove garlic