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Japanese Beef and Rice Bowl
5 from 6 votes

Japanese Beef and Rice Bowl

This Japanese Beef and Rice Bowl has just become my favourite! Sure it's easy but it can be changed so easily to be so many other bowls too. Want to know how?

Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
15 mins
Servings: 4 serves
Course: Main Course, Dinner
Cuisine: Asian, Asian-American Fusion

Ingredients

Steamed Rice
  • 300 gm jasmine rice 1.5 cups
  • 750 ml water 3 cups
  • 2 gm salt 1/2 teaspoon
Pickled Spanish Onions
  • 200 gm red onion 2 small to medium, or Spanish onion
  • 60 ml rice wine vinegar 1/4 cup
  • 30 gm white sugar 2 tablespoons, caster
  • 5 gm salt 1 teaspoon, cooking
  • 15 ml water 1 tablespoon
Japanese inspired sauce
  • 60 ml oyster sauce 4 Tablespoons
  • 60 ml soy sauce 4 Tablespoons, light
  • 60 ml sesame oil 4 Tablespoons
  • 60 gm brown sugar 4 Tablespoons
Japanese dressing
  • 15 ml soy sauce 1 Tablespoon, light, gluten free if required
  • 30 ml sesame oil 2 tablespoons
  • 30 ml lemon juice 2 Tablespoons
  • 30 ml mirin 2 Tablespoons
  • 75 gm mayonnaise 5 Tablespoons, Kewpie brand
Beef and Vegetables
  • sesame seeds white and black
  • 30 ml oil 2 Tablespoons, or olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 50 gm ginger 3- 4 tablsp, grated
  • 150 gm carrot 1 large carrot
  • 1 bunch bok choy about 3 cups, Asian greens
  • 500 gm ground beef 1 lb

Instructions

Pickled Spanish Onion
    Cup of Yum
  1. Peel and thinly slice the red onion. Sprinkle with a 1 teaspoon of salt and set aside for 10 minutes. Put into a colander and rinse well to remove the salt and all the onion acid and drain. Put the rice wine vinegar and sugar into a bowl and microwave for a minute to melt the sugar. Pour over the onions along with the extra water and stir well. Come back and stir intermittently. These will be ready when you need them.
Steamed rice
  1. In a medium saucepan, bring the water to the boil. Add the jasmine rice, stir, cover with a lid and reduce the heat to low. Cook for 12 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat and keep covered until the rice is tender and all the water is absorbed, 10-15 minutes.TIP: The rice will finish cooking in its own steam. Don't open the lid. Set aside until needed 
Delicious Japanese flavoured sauce
  1. Mix the ingredients together and set aside
Japanese dressing
  1. Mix all the ingredients into the kewpie mayonnaise. This is so good you might want to double the recipe. Add extra lemon to taste
Finishing the Rice Bowl
  1. Finely grate the ginger and the garlic. Roughly chop the Asian greens. Thinly slice the cucumber into half-moons. Grate the carrot ( no need to peel).
  2. Heat a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the mixed sesame seeds and toast, tossing, until golden, 3-4 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
  3. Return the frying pan to a medium-high heat with a drizzle of olive oil. Add the ginger and garlic and cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Add the beef mince, to the pan, breaking up with a spoon, until browned, 3-4 minutes. Add the Japanese flavoured sauce, the carrot, the green vegetables and stir until combined. Turn off the heat. There is no need to cook the beef mixture any further. This way the vegetables stay beautiful and crisp and colourful.
  4. Divide the jasmine rice between 4 bowls and top with the Japanese beef, pickled onion and cucumber. Garnish with the toasted sesame seeds and top with the Japanese mayonnaise sauce.

Notes

  • Why use rice wine vinegar?
  • Rice vinegar is mild and makes delicious pickles. Standard white vinegar is very strong and requires you to use a very large amount of sugar to counteract the sourness. Rice wine vinegar is available in all supermarkets
  • What's mirin?
  • Mirin is also a rice vinegar but it tastes a lot sweeter due to the way it is fermented. In fact, it almost tastes like a mix of sake with added sugar. If you can't find mirin you can substitute sake, rice vinegar with a bit of added sugar or sherry at a push.  Sherry tends to be on the sweet side. Mirin can be found in most supermarkets or Asian stores
  • The sauce:
  • Actually requires no cooking. There is nothing in it that can't be eaten straight from the bottle. The heat is simply to melt the sugar and combine with the other ingredients once just warm
  • Sesame seeds
  • If you can't find black sesame seeds you can use all white. The combination of black and white not only looks good but also adds flavour. Toasting sesame seeds brings out their flavour