Gyudon Recipe

Gyudon（牛丼）is a popular dish which was made even more popular by chains like Yoshinoya, Tsukiya and Matsuya, which make delicious Gyudon for very reasonable prices in Japan.  Gyu牛 means beef and don丼 means rice bowl (with something on top).  In other words, Beef Rice Bowl.  

Basic gyudon may be topped with beni-shoga (pickled ginger), sliced negi (shallots/spring onion) and is also delicious as Tsukimi Gyudon（月見牛丼）(with a raw egg on top) if you're feeling adventurous.
This recipe is adapted from the gyudon recipe by taka_jam on cookpad: http://cookpad.com/recipe/195791

Gyudon Recipe  serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 cups boiling water and 2 tsp Dashi powder
• 1-2 Onions, sliced
• 400g Beef, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 1/4 cup Sake (optional)
• 1/3 cup Japanese Soy Sauce
• 1/2 tsp grated fresh Ginger

• Steamed Rice and Beni-shoga, to serve.

Step 1

1. Place water, dashi powder and onions in a saucepan and boil 3 min.
2. Add sugar, sake, soy sauce, beef, and stir to combine well.  Bring to the boil and simmer 10min.
3. Stir in freshly grated ginger and simmer another 5-10 min until beef has absorbed the flavour, onions are caramelised and liquid is reduced to half.
4. Serve on a bowl of steamed rice and top with beni-shoga if desired.

Step 2



Step 3

Step 4

Tsukimi Gyudon: Crack a fresh egg on top for a more adventurous version (my favorite).  This adds a creamy element to the flavour, similar to sukiyaki.

Gyudon tips:

(At step three) One of the keys to perfect gyudon is cooking time.  If it is undercooked, the flavour hasn't developed enough and the onions are sharp.  If it is overcooked, the onions will become too soft and the flavour too strong.

For an Introduction to the Japanese Ingredients you see in this (or any) recipe, click here.

Hafu Film

Did you read Half Australian Shinobu, Half Japanese Jane (my memoirs on growing up half-Japanese in Australia)?  

Well, Megumi Nishikura, one of the filmmakers of Hafu Film came across it, and introduced me to something exciting happening in the world of Half-Japanese people.

Hafu is a documentary film about the experiences of mixed-Japanese people living in Japan.

Having never met another half-Japanese (outside my immediate family) until I was an adult, and having no half-Japanese friends in Australia, it was fascinating to read about half-Japanese people who have had similar experiences and feelings to my own.

And my experience of being half-Japanese IN Japan?  That's another whole story in itself.  Where do I start?  Oh great, I don't need to, they're making a film instead (^_^)

I'm really looking forward to seeing this film.

Here's a preview:

If you'd like to contribute to the making of Hafu Film, there are various thank-you gifts on offer including autographed DVD's of the film, or for very generous donations, having your name in the film credits as associate producer, etc.  Have a look here for more information.  

Images and video in this post are by Hafu Fillm.

• Are you half-Japanese?  What are your thoughts and feelings about being hafu?