japanese beef curry

coming home hungry and having to eat some salty, mediocre leftovers isn't really my idea of a good time. sound familiar? so what do you do? you improvise. scrounge your fridge and pantry. doctor up the leftovers. lucky for me, i found a box of japanese curry paste in my pantry. and with yesterday's overly salty sirloin strips in hand, i decided to make japanese beef curry.

after getting the rice going, i threw a sliced red onion and a chopped carrot into a saucepan with some olive oil to brown.

once the onions started to brown and there was some nice caramelization going on in the pot...

i added 3 cups of water and scraped up the browned bits and brought the brew to a boil over high heat.

i then added the leftover sirloin strips from yesterday's meal. if i was making this from scratch, i would've added the meat during the browning process above and let the broth similar for about 15 min to cook the meat through.

aw i love all things japanese. this is basically curry boullion in a packet.

1 packet contained 6 cubes of curry paste...

which i broke up and added to the pot.

the curry then simmers over low heat, stirred occasionally, until the curry thickens...

and is thick enough to nicely coat the back of a wooden spoon.

at this point the curry is ready to be plated. whenever i see japanese curry at restaurants, it's always a mound of white rice surrounded by a moat of steaming hot brown curry.

what a satisfyingly rich meal for a cold winter's nite. i'll admit, the curry isn't the best in the world, but it's pretty tasty and spicy, a perfect foil for the overly salty sirloin leftovers. add some onions and tender carrots and you have a warm, soul-soothing dinner in less than 20 minutes.

and, you've made do with your leftovers.

marinated beef strips with lettuce wraps

pairing grilled, marinated meat with fresh lettuces and herbs is very popular in asian culture, specifically amongst vietnamese and other southeast asian cuisines. the pairing is a wonderful balance of carnivore and vegetarian, protein and vegetable, grease and fresh. it's also a great source of low-fat protein, if you're working out, and low-carb, if that's your thing. i love carbs too much for that to be my thing...

this recipe is again from chow.com and is a very quick-prep meal for a weeknite. there are a couple of things i'd change, which i'll explain at the end.

early in the afternoon, i made the marinade by combining a 1/2 cup of soy sauce, 2 teaspoons mirin, 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, a clove of garlic minced, a large shallot minced (didn't have green onions) and 3 dried red chiles crumbled. i then added a pound or so of sliced sirloin beef, combined, covered and refridgerated for the afternoon.

when i'm ready to eat, i heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a hot non-stick grill pan and quickly grill the sirloin in 2 batches. i recommend grilling about 2-3 min or so and then flipping to keep it medium rare and tender.

let the meat rest a couple minutes to redistribute the juices...

and plate! fresh red leaf lettuce with 2-3 pieces of sirloin each and some sprigs of cilantro.

looks good right? healthy? tasty? yes, but... this chow.com recipe was a little off. the beef ended up being very salty and i knew something was missing as i made the marinade but decided to follow it anyway. what is missing from a typical asian marinade is the sugar. next time around, i'd beef up the marinade with a couple tablesspoons of brown sugar, some extra rice vinegar and a little more sesame oil. some lemongrass and minced ginger would also elevate the flavor profile. can't wait until next time!

wilted greens with balsamic fried eggs

who doesn't like breakfast for dinner? not i. eggs are great any time of day. i'm a big fan of gooey, cheesy scrambles in the morning, a fried egg on top of a fatburger at lunch, and over-easy wok-fried eggs with soy sauce over rice (thanks mom!).

this recipe comes from chow.com, and was a featured recipe for the week. it promises an "easy weeknite dinner" and the use of "seasonal ingredients" and just sounded really tasty. so here we go.

i first washed a half bunch of dandelion greens (you can typically find these in the section holding the chard, collards and mustard greens and they are at their best in the winter months), and pulled out 3 eggs, a clove of garlic and balsamic vinegar.

after heating some olive oil in a large non-stick skillet (don't use a regular skillet, your eggs will stick), i threw in the chopped garlic clove and the greens. salt and black pepper are thrown on top.

a few turns of the tongs, a few shakes of the pan and a hot minute later the greens are done and transferred to a plate to hold. i typically use my microwave to hold food, just to keep the heat from escaping to rapidly. a warm over works great, if your oven was on. a warming drawer even better. if only i had a warming drawer... one day in my custom kitchen. i digress.

back to the dish. a bit more olive oil and in went three cracked eggs. i also seasoned the eggs lightly with sea salt.

once the eggs were set, i carefully poured in a 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar. vinegar is water based and therefore causes a nice spat with the hot olive oil already in the pan. have a splatter screen handy or be prepared to wipe up your range after. it's a little messy.

once the vinegar has reduced a bit and is a bit syrupy, the pan comes off the heat and the eggs are placed over the greens, the vinegar drizzled over. a note about reducing balsamic vinegar: don't over do it. as the reduction cools, it thickens even more. in the pan it should have slightly more body and heft, but it shouldn't be syrupy when hot and in the pan. if it is, it'll have the consistency of stale honey as it cools, which isn't what you want.

two pieces of toast garnish the plate and it's time to eat. chow.com was right. this is a great tasting, easy to make dinner. the eggs are creamy and rich, the greens are slightly bitter and tender, and the balsamic reduction ties everything together, cutting the richness of the yolk and the bitterness of the dandelion greens. toasted bread mops all the leftover goodness up. yet while rich, this dish was pretty light. i'm making this again.

hm... this would also be fantastic over a bowl of rice. must be the asian in me...