My sister’s visiting and had us watching this quirky Japanese show on netflix last night called Samurai Gourmet. The show is full of slowly panning close up shots of food (basically food porn) and made me want to go back to Japan sooo bad. And it made Rock want to eat everything sooo bad. Anyway, hashed beef rice was featured in one of the episodes and Rock and my sister immediately said they wanted to eat that. So of course, we decided we’d have to do so. Since none of us had even heard of this dish, let alone eaten it, I had to do a bit of research. What it is is a popular western-style Japanese dish that’s basically a beef stew that’s served with rice. This recipe I adapted from one I found on norecipes.com and it turned out delicious! We had no idea how it would taste but it was really, really good. Will definitely be making this again!
Serves 4 to 5.
~ 750 grams beef chuck or roast (I used a bottom round roast) / 3 yellow onions / 4 cloves garlic / 3 handfuls of cremini mushrooms / 2 cups red wine (I used a Cabernet Sauvignon) / 2 cups beef stock / 4 tbsp tomato paste / ~ 1 tbsp grapeseed oil (or your choice of cooking oil) / 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce / 1/2 tbsp soy sauce / 1 tbsp sweet paprika / 2 bay leaves / 2 whole cloves / 4 tbsp butter / 1/3 cup all-purpose flour / salt and pepper
First, for the prep. Mince the garlic. Halve and then very thinly slice your onions into thin half-moons. Next, cut up your beef into roughly 3/4 inch cubes and season with salt and pepper. In a dutch oven or large heavy pot, heat up your cooking oil over medium-high heat. In batches, sear off the beef on all sides until browned. Scoop the seared beef out and into a bowl to set aside.
Turn the heat down to medium. Now add the onions, garlic and 1 tbsp of butter to the dutch oven. Lightly season with some salt. Give it a bit of a stir and then slap the lid on for about 10 minutes. Take off the lid and slowly caramelize the onions, stirring often. The recipe I was referring to said to cook the onions for an hour but I was too impatient for that and gave it maybe about 20 minutes.
Next, turn the heat down to low and add back in the beef and the rest of the ingredients except for the butter and flour.
Now to let everything simmer away for 2 hours. I know it’s a long time, but you want the meat to get nice and tender. Partially cover with the lid but if you notice that the liquid has cooked down quite a bit, pop the lid back on. I put the lid back on mine after about an hour and a half. When the stew is almost ready, make a simple roux. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter and then stir in the flour. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Stir in the roux, a spoonful at a time so you can thicken it to your liking. I didn’t use up all the roux. And then you’re done! We had it served with some sushi rice.
eating in moose jaw 