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Ultimate Japanese steak salad with onion sauce

Prep Time:

30 Minutes

Cook Time:

10 - 15 Minutes

Serves:

2 Servings

Level:

Intermediate

About the Recipe

It's no secret that the Japanese eat a lot less meat than Westerners. The way the Japanese consume meat is also different. It's rare to find meat served as a joint in uncut form at a Japanese table in home or at a restaurant. The side of beef or the whole roast chicken is never seen outside of the kitchen. Why, you might ask. Well, I think you have to delve back in time to when the eating of meat was forbidden in Japan - this ban lasted a few centuries and formed the cultural background to the way people think about eating meat today. The cutting of meat is still considered "unclean" - so much so that people engaged in the butchery of meat are considered to be a lower caste (even today although most Japanese deny it.) So the cutting of meat is strictly something for the kitchen not the table And so it is with this dish, my Japanese beefsteak arrives at the table already sliced and topped with a Japanese onion sauce. Don't worry, it may be sliced but I assure you, it still tastes great!

Ingredients

70g baby spinach


80g stem broccoli


70g yellow pepper


80g baby tomatoes


50g peeled red onion


1 tbsp vegetable oil


2 sirloin steaks


for the onion sauce:


110g peeled onion


30g peeled carrot


2 cloves of garlic


1 tbsp vegetable oil


3 tbsp soy sauce


2 tbsp mirin

Preparation

finely slice the onion then soak in water for 15mins (changing the water once)

 

finely slice the pepper


halve the tomatoes


for the onion sauce:


thinly slice the garlic, carrot & onion


heat the oil in a pan and stir-fry the garlic, carrot & onion over a medium heat for 3 minutes


add the soy sauce, mirin, cooking sake & vinegar and simmer for 3 minutes


put it in a blender and blend well


back to the steak salad:


blanche the stem broccoli in boiling water for 2 mins


heat 1 tbsp of oil in a frying pan and fry the steaks for 1 min each side over a high heat


reduce the heat to medium and fry for between 1 - 3 mins each side (depending on how you like your steak)


mix all the vegetables together in a bowl and divide the salad between your serving plates


slice the steaks into 1cm strips and place on the salad


serve with japanese onion sauce

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