Making Gyudon (牛丼)

Hello! I'm back after more than half a year! I've been quite busy as the new school has started and the things I've done over the summer was too much for me to type out onto this blog. My interest in gyaru fashion has dwindled down as time had progressed, making me more focused in school and my studies. Anyhow, I made gyudon two days ago and I would like to share!

I tweaked the recipe I got from little japan mama because when I followed it, it had a lot of excess beef juice and a little bit overwhelming. Through trial and error the first time, I was able to reduce the fat that comes from the beef.



As I was preparing, I had barely realized that I was out of granulated dashi. Oh great, what to do? Luckily, I bought bonito flakes two months back when I was making okonomiyaki in the summer. I've always heard that making dashi from scratch is much better but granulated would be much more convenient for me.

Serves to about 5 people or so.
Ingredients are:
•1.5 lbs thinly sliced beef. (I used the chuck roll I got from the square, usually I would choose rib eye for the tenderness)
•3 white or brown onions
•Grated or sliced ginger (about 2 inches grated or 4 pieces sliced)
•1/4 cup of sake (this really brings out the aroma and flavor we recognize!)
•2 tsp of granulated dashi
•2 cups water
•1/4 cup Kikkoman regular soy sauce (Soy sauce matters in this case, I have a lot of soy sauce at home and the taste is very different!)
•1/4 cup sugar

*Note: I felt that the original had a lot of excess juice or sauce so I reduced it. If you love extra beef juice, additionally add 1 cup water, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1 tsp dashi, 1/4 cup sugar, and an extra 1/4 cup of sake. Add more ginger to your preference.

*You don't really need mirin in this because of the sugar but you could if you have it.

The Ingredients!

 The Preparation steps~ (in order for you to quickly cook!)
1) Cut the beef into 2-3 inch pieces.
2) Boil water in a pot (THIS IS NOT THE WATER FROM THE MAIN RECIPE!). And partially cook the beef using a strainer or sort.
***This is in order for you to remove quite a lot of the fat without removing too much of the beef flavor. If you want to cut down more fat, partially cook half, and fully cook the other half.
 

Look at that fat.

3) Cut the onions into half inch wedges.
4)Mix the soy sauce and sake together.
5) Add the 2 cups of water and dashi and wait until it boils.


 
Cooking steps!
1) Add the onions to the pot and let it boil for 2 minutes.
 

2) Add the soy sauce, sake, and sugar and stir.
3) Add all the beef and ginger into the pot, stir again, and cover. Turn the heat to a medium-low and wait for 5~10 minutes.

4) Done! Serve on rice, of course.