Donburi

[Hiroyuki]

No news is good news?

[torakris]

I made a great donburi last night!

I had picked up a package of saikoro steak (saikoro means dice in Japanese and this refers to the square shape and dice size of the meat, though you can "saikoro" a real steak beofre or after cooking, you will often see a ground meat version being sold in perfecrt cube shapes, this is whatt I used) that was too small to actually serve 5 of us as a main dish so I decided to turn it into a donburi.

I sauteed the beef with salt and pepper, then I placed it on top of the rice ( a mix of brown and white) and placed a large handful of chopped mizuna on the other side, then placed a nice amount of grated daikon radish in the middle and poured ponzu over the whole thing. Everyone loved it!!

[torakris]

I had eaten a lot for lunch and wanted a light and easy dinner, soo

maguro tataki, ikura and avocado it was later drizzled with wasabi-joyu

[Hiroyuki]

I had eaten a lot for lunch and wanted a light and easy dinner, soo

←

You call this light and easy... I'm speechless...

[Min]

That's so beautiful, Kris!Presentation is excellent!

Just like to share I made a modified version of beef shogayaki(with ginger juice, tamari, sesame oil, mirin, chinese rice wine, black pepper and white onions) last night and my husband loved it! Nothing to do with donburis though..well it could be if i placed atop my bowl of rice.

Edited November 13, 2004 by Min (log)

[Hiroyuki]

Today, bincho maguro (a type of tuna) was on sale, 98 yen per 100 g, so I just had to buy a pack of almost 600 g. Thus, tonight's dinner is tekka don (donburi with slices of tuna on top). I would call this light and easy.

[torakris]

last night, a donburi with black rice and topped with maguro tataki (minced raw tuna with scallions), mizuna, avocado and drizzled with sriracha

[okinawaChris]

My favorite Gyudon was had recently at a local outlet of a large bento shop chain. While it was similiar to what is served at local a Yoshinoya, this beef bowl was topped with a creamy style horseradish sauce similiar to the type served with Prime Rib back in the states. It was outstanding and raised this simple dish to new heights!

[Kiem Hwa]

last night, a donburi with black rice and topped with maguro tataki (minced raw tuna with scallions), mizuna, avocado and drizzled with sriracha

←

Beautiful!!!! Kristin, you are so creative!!!

[torakris]

Yoshinoya D&C Co. revived its popular bowls of "gyudon" beef on rice for one day only Friday to mark the first anniversary of the dish being pulled off the menu following Japan's ban on American beef imports due to mad cow disease.

Yoshinoya prepared 1.5 million gyudon bowls to be served at its 1,000 shops nationwide, using 150 tons of beef in the process. About 80 percent of the beef came from stocks of frozen U.S. beef and the remainder was Australian and Mexican beef, the company said.

the rest of the article

[anpanman]

For at least the last year, since Yoshinoya has discontinued the gyu-don, they changed their main item to the pork don. The honten (original) store in Tokyo is the only shop to keep the gyu-don going through the US beef ban.

[torakris]

donburi night last night!

buta no teriyaki-don

(teriyaki pork rice bowl)

I sauteed some pieces of pork (seasoned only with salt and pepper) then added some teriyaki sauce (my version that I posted in the teriyaki sauce thread), simmered it a bit. Then I remved the pieces, thinly sliced them, and added them back to the pan to coat them with the sauce, cooking it a bit more.

In the donburi bowl I placed some cooked rice, shredded lettuce, the slices of teriyaki pork and then topped it with some karashi-mayo.

The karashi-mayo was made by mixing some karashi (Japanese mustard) with mayo to taste and then thinned with some water to make it easier to drizzle.

[torakris]

donburi night again!

this I picked up some katsuo (bonito) sashimi which I seared then I mixed some julienned daikon with kaiware (daikon sprouts) and added sliced avocado. it was topped with a sauce made from equal parts soy sauce, mirin, and rice vinegar and a good dollop of yuzu-koshou.

this was great! every one loved it

oh and it was served on 100% genmai (brown rice)

[tan_cl]

I've always enjoyed negi toro don (minced fatty tuna and spring onions on sushi rice) but recently, the Japanese chef at my regular place asked me to try the spicy negi toro don. This is now my absolute favourite dish and I'm wondering how to make it at home. The chef said all I had to do was add chile but I suspect it's not just standard raw chile puree that he's talking about but some sort of chili sauce. Any one have any idea what sort of chile they use for this spicy negi toro don? I suppose Tabasco would be sacrilegious?

[torakris]

sriracha?

[torakris]

sriracha?

←

Here is a picture of a negi-toro don that I made a bit back, I add the sriracha separately as my kids can't eat it but they love the negi-toro part. I season my negi-toro with scallions (negi) and soy sauce. This particular donburi was made with black rice, I like the color and flavor contrast.

[JasonTrue]

Since this is pretty likely an invention for a non-Japanese audience, you can probably use whatever tastes good to you.

Japanese don't really have a signature chili paste except maybe yuzu-koshou, or something like shichimi. Tabasco is about as ubiquitous in Japan as it is in the US... and pops up in all sorts of places it wouldn't be expected (like in low-end Italian restaurants).

The most commonly used tougarashi in Japan are somewhat distinctive (smaller and spicier than Korean chilies, but used far more sparingly, and with a different flavor; different than the common thai chilies though). You can sometimes find them dry in Asian markets, and I've also seen fresh shishitougarashi in my area.

[SuzySushi]

The sushi bars near me use sriracha sauce.

[tan_cl]

That looks fabulous. How do you cook the black rice and what kind is it? Negi toro don is definitely one of my favourite dishes - since we're on the subject, is the rice that you use for negi toro don sushi rice (i.e cooked and prepared as though for sushi, with vinegar and sugar) or is it just regular rice? I'd like to get my rice right - somehow, I find it always either too hard or too soft when I cook it. Do you have the correct proportions of water to rice?

Sorry, a bit off the topic, I know!

As for the chile sauce, I'm not so sure it's sriracha sauce since I find sriracha faintly sweet but the spicy negi toro I tried is spicy without being sweet. Emeril Lagasse has a somewhat similar recipe for it that uses "hot chile paste" - again, no idea what kind of chile he's referring to. Is spicy tuna rice common in Japan? I figured it probably isn't very traditional but I thought it might be at least as old as say, omu rice or katsu curry.

[SuzySushi]

I'd like to get my rice right - somehow, I find it always either too hard or too soft when I cook it. Do you have the correct proportions of water to rice?

←

PM me if you'd like a mini-lesson on cooking Japanese rice (without a rice cooker).

[torakris]

here is a bit I wrote about getting perfect rice (with a rice cooker) but there are also some hints for doing it the "regular" way.

perfect rice

The black rice I used in some Korean stuff I picked up at an Asian grocer in the US, I mix a small amount of it into regular white rice for a beauriful color and a nice nutty flavor.

For 3 cups of rice (raw) I would use between 1/4 and 1/2 a cup of black rice and then 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 white rice (total being 3 cups raw rice). The black needs to soak a bit, so I soak it alone for a couple of hours adding it to the white rice just before cooking.

Most donburis (including negi-toro don) do not use seasoned sushi rice.

Spicy tuna is not a popular dish in Japan.

[Hiroyuki]

Make the chef drunk and ask him point-blank,

Kakushi aji wa nan desu ka?

隠し味は何ですか？

(What is the secret ingredient?)

[dornachu]

[Kristin,

If i were to make this with chicken and onions, do i cook the chicken in all the sauce? (100ml water plus mirin, soy sauce, sugar)?

[torakris]

[Kristin,

If i were to make this with chicken and onions,  do i cook the chicken in all the sauce? (100ml water plus mirin, soy sauce, sugar)?

←

brown the chicken pieces and onion (if you are using a regular onion) in the frypan first until about halfway cooked through then add the sauce (and scallions if you are using them) and let it simmer a bit until the chicken is just seconds away from being done. Then add the eggs and the chicken should be perfect. I hate over-cooked chicken....

[Lazrowp]

Spicy tuna, spicy salmon, spicy yellowtail are probably the most popular dishes in the US.

Sriracha (www.huyfong.com) is perhaps the most popular hot sauce in Asian restaurants in the US. This company, which has been profiled many times on business tv shows does absolutely no advertising yet it has grow steadily.

I use the sauce for soooo much: on eggs, w/a hot dog, as my mapodofu hot sauce.....

Paul