Gyudon Beef Rice Bowl
One thing Bosco and I love to do is find a delicious dish at a restaurant and recreate it at home, using simple and healthy ingredients. We were first introduced to Ta-Ke at our friend Joanne’s sake filled birthday party last year and since then have been back numerous times for lunch. In particular, Bosco really likes their gyudon. If you’ve been to the fast food chain Yoshinoya, you will know gyudon is commonly made from very thin slices of beef. But what is special about Ta-ke’s version is they use thick slices of wagyu beef, which is much more juicy and tender. So upon my dear fiance’s request, I have created our own version at home. If you’re looking for another weekday meal to cook for your honeyboo, please give this one a try, I promise it won’t disappoint! : )
Prep: 20 minutes
Cooking: 25 minutes
Difficulty: 1/3
Total cost (for organic ingredients): approx. HKD 200 for two people
*Thanks Bong and Kirby for the suggestion!*
Portion: 2 people
Ingredients:
- 150-200g sliced beef short rib (approx. 1-2mm thick)
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 onion
- 2-3 pieces spring onion
- 1 packet enoki mushrooms
- butter
- salt and pepper
- Japanese rice
sauce (left to right):
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp tsuyu sauce (soba sauce)
- 2 tbsp sake
- 2 tbsp mirin (sweet rice wine)
- dash of sesame oil
*I’ve read you can replace mirin with 2 parts sake/cooking rice wine and 1 part white sugar, if you try this replacement please let me know how it tastes!
*mirin and sake seem to be a staple in Japanese cooking, so if you like Japanese food, I would recommend you just buy a small bottle. I will also have future recipes using them : )
*mirin and sake seem to be a staple in Japanese cooking, so if you like Japanese food, I would recommend you just buy a small bottle. I will also have future recipes using them : )
Timer: 0 minutes
1. Boil water, remove the pot from heat source and gently immerse your eggs in it, and keep the lid off (thanks for your feedback Kirby:)
*I would suggest letting your eggs reach room temperature before placing them in or else the temperature shock may crack the egg
After 20 (really runny yolk) to 25 (slightly firmer) minutes place it in ice water until cooled
*this will stop the cooking and help to loosen the egg whites from the inner shell for easier extraction later
2. Pat your beef dry and lightly sprinkle pepper and salt
“beef won’t brown properly if it’s wet” says Julia Child
*There’s no need to marinate thin slices of quality beef for a long time because you don’t want to pull out its natural juices with the salt and make it tough
3. Thinly slice the onions along the fibres (as mentioned before, the onions will retain their rigidity better this way).
Julienne the white stalk of the spring onion
Wash and pull apart the enoki mushrooms
The prepared ingredients
Timer: 20 minutes
4. in a non-stick pan over low heat, melt a bit of butter (butter will really kick the aromas and flavours up a notch) but olive oil is a good alternative if you don’t like a really rich flavour.
Place the beef flat into the pan to lightly brown
*why cook the beef first? this way you will seal the flavours and juice of the meat, pepper, salt, butter inside the meat. If you cook the beef directly in sauce, it won’t brown properly to create those extra flavours.
Once the beef has lightly browned, flip it over and lightly brown the other side as well.
Timer: 25 minutes
5. The meat shouldn’t be cooked through yet at this point, add the onions and enoki mushrooms underneath the meat. Add the sauce and let it simmer away with the lid on over low heat
* this way you won’t overcook the meat but the juices from the beef can drip onto the onions/mushrooms
*The mushrooms and onions will shed quite a bit of water, giving you more sauce later
*Why cook with sake? In addition to providing extra flavour, alcohol can tenderize the meat
Once the enoki mushrooms soften, add a dash of sesame oil and it’s ready!
*There’s no need to cook for too long, you want the onion to retain some texture and not to overcook the beef (it’s important to get good quality beef so that it doesn’t get tough easily)
Timer: 35 minutes
Flip 1 bowl of rice into your serving bowl
Scoop the desired amount of beef and sauce over the rice, leaving a little pocket in the middle to prevent the egg from sliding down the side. Then directly crack the egg on top and top with spring onions, shredded seaweed and seven flavour powder and serve!
The yolk will still be really runny when you poke it !
Timer: 45 minutes
Another way to prepare the eggs is to beat and mix them into the beef, same as the oyako don. I prefer the half boiled onsen egg but Bosco prefers the latter, so here’s how I did it!
With half the beef remaining scooped to one side, bring to a boil
Tilt the pan to one side so that the sauce can pool under the beef
Add 2/3 of the eggs and cover with lid, cook for 30-40 seconds or until the eggs loosely solidify
Add the remaining 1/3 of the eggs, top with spring onions, cover with the lid and turn off the heat.
Let it cook for another 10-20 seconds.
Serve over rice !
There it is, done in around 45 minutes 🙂
I hope you enjoyed this post and that it inspired you in some way to cook. If you make this, please share a picture with me!
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Be in love with life.
Much Love,
CC
I love how the egg is perfectly cooked – almost like an onsen egg!
Thank you!! 😀
Your gyu-don looks so good!
And I’m sure you cook onsen-egg better than many Japanese ppl:D
Thank you Yui!! <3<3 I learn so much from you!!
This looks really delicious! Thanks for the follow!
Thanks! I hope you can try it out one day, it is so delicious and simple to make 🙂
This is aawesome