Recommended with Sukiyaki

I'll stop you right there.  No, this is not what authentic sukiyaki looks like.  Sukiyaki is a Japanese dish prepared similarly to a hot pot, and I'm 99% sure it isn't usually paired with rice.  It does, however, go well with rice, so that's how I built my dinner when making sukiyaki for the first time.  It was so delicious with rice, in fact, I'll probably always include rice in the meal!  So yeah, I know, this isn't the real deal, but the recipe I got for the sukiyaki meat and vegetables is legitimate, and I highly recommend it!

I will say, the first time I made sukiyaki, I made it by the book and followed all the ratios exactly (but I had run out of mirin, so I had to use my expensive sake instead 😭).  It came out quite salty and quite sweet, so my second time making the recipe, I toned down the soy sauce and sugar, and I enjoyed it better.  I'm still looking for the best blend to suit my tastes, but don't let that dissuade you.  The flavors are strong, but they are also good.

Sukiyaki is traditionally prepared over a portable stove at the table with everyone around the table dipping and adding to it and eating from the pot all together.  Thankfully, Chef Marc describes how you can still cook sukiyaki without a portable stove.  I made mine on the stovetop, and it turned out just fine.  I like using a round steak cut for the meat and for the vegetables, I use two different kinds of mushrooms (shimeji and enoki), white onions cut lengthwise, the whites of leeks cut crosswise, the whites of green onions cut into 2-inch sections, and canned bamboo shoots.

I have no problem with chopping veggies for 15 minutes or so, but slicing the pound of beef I use has given me serious trouble.  I've permanently delegated that task to Caleb, but before I did, I used my carving knife on the frozen beef and sliced off very thin slivers for forty minutes, which is why I won't be doing it again.  It might be worth it to ask if your butcher can slice the meat for you at the market.

Adding lots of vegetables help to bulk up the meal, and again I know it's not authentic, but everything goes so nicely with white sticky rice.  It mellows out the flavors so well.  Both times I've made this, it's produced a lot of food, and it ends up being pretty cheap per serving.  Yay for budget-friendly, yet exciting dinners!  Let me know if you try it!  (Here's the recipe to the link again.)

Recommended with sukiyaki...

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Have a great weekend!