Sukiyaki Recipe - Beef And Vegetables

 RECIPES OF JAPAN

Since the turn of the century, Sukiyaki has become such a celebrated dish when the Japanese began eating beef (previously proscribed by Buddhist law). There are two styles of cooking this mixture of meat, vegetables, beancurd and noodles; the Osaka style involves cooking the sauce in the pan at the table with each new addition of ingredients. The Tokyo style requires the sauce to be prepared in advance.

Ingredients :

600 g   100 g 100 g 100 g 100 g 500 g 300 g   400 g     1 piece   8 4 tbsp 4     Sauce: 150 ml 150 ml 150 ml 130 g

Prime sirloin beef, sliced   Burdock, thinly shaved Golden mushroom or enoki (enokitake), hard part of stem discarded Fresh shiitake mushrooms, stem discarded and caps cross cut Chrysanthemum leaves, cut in 8 cm pieces Spring onions (scallions) diagonally sliced in 2 cm pieces Small onions, cross cut in 1/2 cm slices   Wheat noodles (udon) or shirataki konnyaku, boiled until just cooked and drained   Beancurd (yakidofu), grilled and cut into smaller pieces   Small baked gluten cakes (fu) or 1 cake of cotton beancurd, cubed Beef fat (suet) Eggs       Light soy sauce Sake Mirin Sugar

Method : Arrange the uncooked beef, vegetables and both type of beancurd on a platter; set the eggs aside for dipping the cooked ingredients later. Keep the beef fat in a small dish to use for greasing the cooking pan. Prepare sauce by putting all the ingredients in a pan, bring to a boil, remove from heat and pour the sauce into a jug. To start the dish, put the beef fat in a heavy deep skillet and heat gently so that it melts and spread over the whole surface of the pan. Remove excess fat. Add the sliced beef and vegetables, pour on a little of the prepared sauce and simmer. When ingredients are cooked, each person helps themselves to the 'treasures' , dipping each item of the ingredients in the egg (lightly stirred with a pair of chopstick) before eating.