Recipes & Tips: 1st Qtr (2008)

Beef Short Ribs Braised with Shoyu and Skillet-sautéed Collard Green

The Japanese way to braise meat is quite simple. There are no aromatic vegetables such as carrots, celery and onions in the recipe. The shoyu and sake used in the preparation offer maximum good flavor, umami, to the finished dish. Please remember to marinate beef the day before cooking; this adds excellent flavor and texture to the meat.

2 pounds beef short ribs, bone attached
3 tablespoons good quality shoyu (soy sauce)
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon chile flaks
2 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil
½ cup sake (rice wine) or dry white wine
2 tablespoons granulated white sugar or brown sugar
3 tablespoons komezu (rice vinegar) or sherry vinegar

For Skillet-sautéed collard green:

1 bunch collard greens, hard stem removed; cut into 6-inch lengths
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt

  1. In a container that can hold all of the beef spread flat, place the shoyu, Worcestershire sauce, chile flakes and honey, and mix thoroughly. Rub the beef with the mixture and refrigerate, covered, overnight.
  2. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Remove the beef from the marinade and drain well, reserving the marinade. In a heated skillet add the vegetable or olive oil and, when the oil is hot, brown the beef on all side. Transfer the beef to an oven-safe pot.
  3. Have a kettle of boiling water at hand. In a small saucepan bring the sake to a simmer. Add the sake to the pot. Add the boiling water to the pot until 2/3 of the beef is covered. Cover the pot with aluminum foil, then a fitting lid, and cook the beef in the oven for 3 hours.
  4. Remove the pot from the oven and add the sugar to the pot. Cook the beef on the stove top for 20 minutes.
  5. Add the reserved marinade to the pot and cook additional 20 minutes.
  6. Add the rice vinegar and check the flavor. Add additional shoyu or sugar if needed. The braizing liquid should not taste sweet or salty. Turn off the heat and let the beef stand in the cooking liquid for at least for 20 minutes.
  7. Cut the beef into ½-inch thick slices. Serve the beef on a dinner plate along with the collard greens. Pour some cooking broth over the beef.
For the collard greens:

Heat a skillet and add 2 tablespoons olive oil. When the oil is hot add the collard greens and pinch salt, and stir and cook for until the greens are tender. Add the garlic and cook, stirring until the garlic is fragrant.

Rice Cooked with Variatal Mushrooms

You can use any kind of mushrooms - a single variety or a mixture of varieties - in this preparation. I like to use shimeji, button, trumpet and maitake mushrooms in this rice dish. Shiitake mushrooms have a bit too strong flavor unless you mix them with other mushrooms.

2 ¼ cups (3 rice cooker cups, if you are using a rice cooker) short-grain Japanese rice
2 cups + 2 tablespoons (2 2/5 rice cooker cups) un-salted chicken stock, Japanese dashi fish stock or water
2 ounces chicken thigh, skin attached
5 ounces shimeji, trumpet or other mushrooms, mixed or a single variety
1 tablespoon good quality shoyu
1 teaspoon sea salt
1½ tablespoons sake or dry white wine

  1. Rinse the rice three times and drain it in a strainer for 30 minutes. Transfer the rice to a rice cooker or a cooking pot and add the chicken stock, Japanese dashi fish stock or water. Let the rice stand until you are ready to cook the rice. Rice should be soaked in the liquid at least 30 minutes.
  2. Before cooking the rice, cook the chicken in the heated skillet, skin side down until the skin acquires golden color. (it is not necessary to add any cooking oil to the skillet.)
  3. Remove the chicken from the skillet (chicken is barely cooked) and cut it into tiny cubes.
  4. Cut the mushrooms into thin slices. In a small bowl place the shoyu, sea salt and sake. Add the mushroom slices and chicken to the bowl and toss them with the shoyu mixture.
  5. Transfer the mushroom and chicken mixture to the rice cooker or cooking pot and spread them on top of the rice (do not mix). Cook the rice.
  6. After the rice is cooked, let it stand for 10 minutes, covered. Toss the rice gently to distribute the mushrooms and chicken.

Tip:

How to enjoy good quality shoyu daily in your, non-Japanese preparations

  • Shoyu and butter are wonderful partners! I braise winter vegetables such as parsnip, carrot, kabocha squash in this way. Heat a skillet and cook 2 tablespoons butter until it is fragrant. Add ½ tablespoon good quality shoyu and cook it over medium heat for half a minute. Toss the cut up winter vegetables with the butter-shoyu mixture and braise them in the heated oven (400°F) until tender and golden.
  • Shoyu dressing: Whisk ¼ cup olive oil with 1 to 1 ½ tablespoons shoyu, ¼ cup rice vinegar, pinch salt and pinch sugar. Add garlic, mustard paste or thyme for additional flavor.
  • Shoyu added to deglazing skillet: Heat the skillet and add 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter. When it is hot cook, for example, salmon steaks with thyme sprigs in the heated oil. After the salmon is done, remove it from the skillet. Add some dry white wine and bring it to a simmer. Add about ¼ cup light cream to the skillet and bring it to a simmer. Add 1 or 2 teaspoons good quality shoyu to the skillet. Serve the salmon drizzled with shoyu-cream sauce.
  • Use good quality shoyu when you need salt. 1 tablespoon good quality shoyu contains about ½ teaspoon salt. This adds saltiness and at the same time provides flavor-enhancing umami to the dish.