Gyūdon (Japanese Beef Bowl)

Gyudon - Food, Fun, Whatever !!

The original plan was to make Oyako Domburi, always a favorite but as I was taking the chicken out of the freezer, I noticed the thin sliced beef and – plans changed!

Nabeyaki Udon

 

My Heart and I were heading to one of our favorite local markets and stopped in the food court to have lunch before shopping. I had the Nabeyaki Udon – it was very good.

Gyudon - Food, Fun, Whatever !!

 

 

My Heart had the Gyūdon, which he really loved. I thought it would be a good time to try my hand at it.

Gyudon - Food, Fun, Whatever !!

 

 

Started to sautéed one whole chopped sweet onion in 1Tbsp olive oil.

 

Gyudon - Food, Fun, Whatever !!

 

Many Asian markets sell packages of very thinly sliced meats (including beef, pork, chicken, and sometimes lamb) for different dishes like bulgogi. I buy a package and then split it up into reasonable servings for two and freeze then freeze them.

Gyudon - Food, Fun, Whatever !!

 

Added in the thin sliced beef and continued to cook until cooked through and the onions started to soften.

 

Gyudon - Food, Fun, Whatever !!

 

The key to the dish is the sauce. The recipes I read all used Dashi as the base but I wanted to avoid some of the salt so I used sake instead – it seemed like a good exchange v. chicken broth. Combined the 1/2c sake with 1/4c low sodium soy sauce and 1/4c Mirin, for sweetness.  The quantities can be adjusted accordingly until you get the flavor you are looking for. Combined 1 Tbsp cornstarch with 1 Tbsp cold water.

Gyudon - Food, Fun, Whatever !!

 

Added the sauce to the simmering meat and onion combination and brought the mixture put to a steady bubble then added in the cornstarch to thicken.

Gyudon - Food, Fun, Whatever !!

 

 

Cooked a pot of short-grain Asian “sticky” rice.

 

Gyudon - Food, Fun, Whatever !!

 

When I was growing up, my godmother would make Gyūdon and she would add a raw egg right before serving. When you mixed together the raw egg with the hot meat mixture, it would partially cook. Unfortunately we can’t really trust today’s store-bought eggs so I fried eggs to put on top but made sure that the yolk was soft and runny to get a similar taste. Dinner was a success for our snow day, a satisfying comfort food meal that my Heart seemed to enjoy. I can tell I’ll be making this again.

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