日式馬鈴薯敦牛肉 Japanese style Beef stew

The last time I met up with my Ying pp~ she asked if I have 日式馬鈴薯敦牛肉 recipe (which I didn't). Since that day, everytime I think of her 日式馬鈴薯敦牛肉 came to my mind. Ha! She doesn't remind me of 日式馬鈴薯敦牛肉 but she reminded me to look for that recipe. It wasn't easy to find the recipe because I didn't know if it was really called 日式馬鈴薯敦牛肉... but I found a blog that gave me an idea. I tweaked it a little bit and got my mom to buy the ingredients. I don't have exact measurements for the ingredients here... but it should give you an idea too!

(Adapted from klervigu)
Main ingredients:
1. Beef (cubed for stewing, or shabu shabu) I used the same ones in Taiwanese Beef soup... don't know if that's helpful...
2.Onion (I used one large onion cubed)
3. Few cloves of garlic peeled
4. Small slice of ginger
5. Potatoes (I used two big potatoes cubed)
6. Carrots (I used two carrots cubed) 


Sauce ingredients:
1. Soy sauce (I used around 4 tablespoons)
2. Mirin (I used about 3 tablespoons)
3. Sugar (~1 tablespoon, optional, I like it sweet)
4. Salt to taste
5. ~1 teaspoon of Sesame oil
6. ~3 tablespoons of Rice Wine


First, I cooked the meat in boiling water just to get out any "dirty blood". Then I added oil in a frying wok and sauteed the garlic, onion, and ginger. When the onions turn brown on the sides, I added in the meat. At this point, I splash the rice wine over the meat on high heat. I love how wine makes that noise when you pour it in a hot pan... Add in enough water to cover the meat. Now add in soy sauce, mirin, ,sesame oil, and sugar. Give it a stir and bring it to a boil. When it boils, turn down the heat and cover it and let it simmer. Depending on the type of meat you use, cooking time will vary. I cooked mine for an hour because of the tendons in the meat. If you are using shabu shabu, then add in the carrots and potatoes now. When the meat is tender, add in the carrots and potatoes. Then let them cook. Taste the soup to see if it needs more salt. I prefer to add salt because I want to keep the soup medium brown in color.


That's practically about it... I made it today and just finished tasting it. My dad complained that the meat is tasteless... but I like it because it's soft and it tastes well with some soup. I think mine's a little sweeter than the real thing. Overall, I think that this is a great dish to make especially in the cold winter time! It's so warm over a big bowl of white rice or udon!