It’s inspired by gyudon and shigureni. As you can imagine, the flavor of the dish is more Japanese than Chinese. Unlike gyudon and shigureni, an uncut slab of beef short plate went into the pot and simmered until tender. Then, the meat was sliced and served over rice.
Those were the inspiration. As to why I cooked the beef this way is due to something else. Ginger. We harvested so much ginger in November that, for the next two weeks or so, I cooked so many dishes that required ginger.
While braising is the main cooking method employed here, I did brown the meat on all sides before dropping it into a pot and adding the rest of the ingredients. Browning prevented the formation of scum in the broth. As a result, by the time the beef was tender, the braising liquid was clear and free from impurities.
That meant I could drizzle the braising liquid around the rice after the dish had been assembled. The rice and beef were tossed together before digging in.
Soy ginger braised beef rice bowl
Ingredients
- 600 to 700 grams stewing beef - uncut
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 1 three-inch knob ginger - sliced
- 4 cups bone broth - you may need more
- ⅓ cup Japanese soy sauce
- ⅓ cup sake
- ⅓ cup mirin
- cooked rice - to serve
- sliced scallions - to garnish
- toasted sesame seeds - to garnish
Instructions
- Pat the beef dry with a kitchen towel.
- Heat the cooking oil in a shallow pan and brown the beef on all sides.
- Scoop out the beef, transfer to a thick-bottomed pot, add the ginger, and pour in the broth, soy sauce, sake and mirin.
- Bring to the boil, set the heat to low, cover the pot and braised the beef until tender.
- Ladle rice into bowls.
- Scoop out the beef, lay on a cutting board and slice.
- Arrange beef slices over the rice, and sprinkle in scallions and sesame seeds.
- Optionally, drizzle some of the braising liquid around the rice before serving.
