After our recent travel to Asia, my resolve to cook more Asian food is renewed with gusto. Alas, I think I've traveled to the wrong countries where the standard of a good dish is kicked up to exponential notches. Fear not, friends, I am in the process of re-creating dishes I enjoyed in Taiwan & Singapore so I hope to share with you more of that in the future.
Right now, I'll stick to a more familiar territory of Japanese food. When I was staying in Japan, a long time ago, my host family used to cook me western-style Japanese dish (
youshoku, 洋食) which was a bit ironic since I always have had deep curiosity and appreciation of traditional Japanese culture and cuisine. When asked why, my host mother said that many of them were considered comfort food, especially for children, and since her children loved these dishes, she thought of making some for me.
Years later, I appreciate what she said. The Toddler loves the flavor of ketchup, butter, cheese in his food. Similarly, although youshoku are eaten with chopsticks and rice, these western-style Japanese dishes, which often are not found in Western countries, are laced with familiar western flavors: ketchup/tomato for that sweet/sour combination, Worcestershire sauce for that western-version of umami (as opposed to using soy sauce, although soy sauce is also used to some degree), and butter for that rich, roundedness on the tongue.
Perhaps the most popular youshoku is Omuraisu (Omu-rice), thanks to the unforgettable
Tanpopo movie. Hayashi Rice (the word
hayashi supposedly came from
hashed beef) comes a close second in my mind due to the same flavor combo: tomato & demi-glace sauce. Even the parsley that usually plays an afterthought role is front and center here: it enhances the western-ness of the dish as without it, it would be just another "beef in tomato sauce."
A bit about demi-glace sauce: it is apparently not the same as the regular, gourmet-kind demi-glace that you can find at your
épicerie fine. In essence, the real demi-glace is 1:1 mixture of broth reduction and
sauce espagnole (another sauce made from meat + veggie reduction + tomato product of some kind). Straight up, it tastes very rich in beefy (if it is beef demi-glace), meaty flavor with a background of aromatics. The Japanese demi-glace sauce is more of a "sauce," to me, it tastes like a very much like tomato sauce with a kind of beefy flavor added in the background. For the most authentic taste, see if you can find
Japanese demi-glace sauce -- the dish should taste rather tomato-ey. If you can't find Japanese demi-glace sauce, don't waste your $30/oz gourmet demi-glace; my adaptation below requires nothing but common ingredients that can be found in regular grocery store.
Hayashi Rice
Makes 6 servings
(loosely adapted from
Cooking with Dog and other recipes. See the video
here.)
Dark roux:
4 Tbs butter
6 Tbs flour
1/2 cup beef broth (or a touch more)
1 lb thinly-sliced lean cut beef (like round steak)
a bit cooking oil, if needed
1 medium onion, sliced
2 medium carrots, match-stick sliced
4 oz button mushrooms, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large ripe tomato, peeled and seeded, diced into cubes. If not available, you can use approx 1 cup of diced canned tomato.
1/2 c red wine
3 Tbs ketchup or tomato paste
2 cups beef broth (more or less)
1 Tbs honey
1 Bay leaf
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce (the regular kind or Japanese kind)
1 Tbs soy sauce
salt, pepper to taste
A handful of chopped parsley
First, make the roux as follows (also watch Cooking with Dog video above):
Melt butter over low heat. Once all melted, add flour and stir constantly for 8-10 minutes or until butter-flour mixture turns deep brown -- not as deep as the color of dark chocolate but maybe as deep as caramel. Watch carefully as once browned, it gets brown even quicker!
Take the pan out of heat. Pour the broth all at once and mix vigorously, being careful that the mixture can bubble over. If you've done this right, you'll end up with a mass of dough and nothing sticks on your pan (even if you use a regular, not-non-stick pan like mine). Set the roux aside.
Season beef lightly with salt and pepper. Brown them in batches with a little bit of oil. Set the cooked beef aside.
Pour off pan drippings, if any, then add onion and carrots. Saute until onion is soft and slightly caramelized. Add garlic and mushrooms, saute about 3-5 more minutes until fragrant. Mix in the cooked beef, ketchup/tomato paste, and red wine. Turn heat down to medium, reduce the wine until almost all is evaporated, about 2-3 minutes.
Next, pour in broth, honey, bay leaf and diced tomato. Simmer for another 10 minutes or so or until the sauce reduced somewhat. Add the roux in the middle of the mixture, whisk until the roux is all melted and combined. At this point, add your seasonings: Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste.
Finish with the freshly-chopped parsley and serve with steaming hot Japanese rice.
Although using quite a bit of butter, my version is less oily-tasting on the tongue. The fresh tomato plus tomato paste helps brightened up the dish. If you prefer a sweeter version, substitute the tomato paste with ketchup and up the honey a bit more.
I hope you've enjoyed this post and happy cooking!