This recipe was first introduced to me by one of my roommates while at university. It encompasses many of the features of real sukiyaki, but it is not cooked at the table. It is a nice, quick dish which feels like comfort food.
When it was originally crafted, beef broth and soy sauce were filled with salt. Today we can purchase them unsalted or low sodium, allowing the cook to decide how much salt needs to be used.
This dish is best served with Easy Steamed Rice.
Mock Sukiyaki
Ingredients
- 500 g top sirloin - cut into very thin strips
- 1 onion - large dice or thin slice
- 1 1/2 cup beef broth
- 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce - low sodium
- 1/2 tsp salt - or to taste
- 1 cup celery - sliced
- 1 bell pepper - red or yellow is great for colour
- 1 cup mushrooms - sliced
- 1 cup broccoli - or zucchini sliced on the diagonal
- 1 tbsp corn starch - dissolved in 3 tbsp water
- 1 pinch black pepper - freshly ground
Instructions
- In a skillet, brown steak in 1 tbsp olive oil over a high heat, turning the meat so that it sears all sides; do the meat a bit at a time so that the steak does not steam or stew.
- Remove the meat as it cooks and place it in the lid of the skillet (why dirty another dish when you'll be using the lid eventually?).
- When all the meat has been cooked, add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes, scraping up the brown bits.
- Add the meat back to the pan and add the broth, salt, and soy sauce. Cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes.
- Add vegetables (feel free to substitute with available/seasonal vegetables). Simmer until the vegetables are crisp-tender.
- Combine the water with the cornstarch and stir until it is fully dissolved. Stir this solution into the mixture in the skillet and cook until the sauce thickens. Season with freshly ground pepper.
- Serve over freshly cooked rice.
Easy Steamed Rice
A no fail perfect way to prepare rice
Ingredients
- ½ cup uncooked rice - makes 1 cup of cooked rice
- ½ tsp salt
- 3 to 4 cups water or chicken, beef or vegetable broth
Instructions
- Bring the water and salt to a rolling boil. Add the rice and stir it to prevent it from sticking to the bottom. Cook the rice in the boiling water for 10 minutes.
- Drain the rice into a strainer and then fill the bottom of the saucepan that you just used with about 2 – 3 inches of water. Place the strainer on the saucepan (ensure that the rice is not sitting in water. Cover the strainer and bring the water to a boil (steaming the rice). Cook for at least 20 minutes, but can continue to steam it until it is ready to be eaten. To increase the number of servings, just add more rice to the boiling water and follow the other steps.
Variation 1
- I will often cook some onions and mushrooms in a small frying pan and add them to to the cooked rice before serving. Sometimes I just add a tablespoon of butter to the rice and stir it in.
Variation 2
- If you would like to cook brown rice, increase the initial cook time in the water from 10 to 14 minutes and then steam it until it is tender.
Variation 3
- Cook the rice in chicken, beef or vegetable broth instead of water for the first 10 minutes and then steam over water as described above.