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Beef soboro don

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Beef soboro don.
Beef soboro don.William Meppem

Soboro don is pure comfort food and a real crowd-pleaser in my house. Soboro in Japanese means to crumble; here it refers to a protein – fish, meat, eggs or tofu – that’s cooked down to a crumbly texture. I’ve chosen beef mince, but chicken mince is a great alternative. While the traditional don (or bento) would commonly be served with scrambled eggs, I like the simplicity of half a soft-boiled egg. This sweet and salty dish loves the company of blanched vegetables, such as sugar snap peas or green beans. Serve with a leafy green of your choice: mizuna is nice, or shiso for extra flavour.

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Ingredients

  • 350g beef mince

  • 60ml (3 tbsp) soy sauce

  • 40ml (2 tbsp) sake

  • 2 tbsp caster sugar

  • 2 cloves garlic, finely grated

  • black pepper, to taste

  • steamed Japanese short-grain rice (such as Koshihikari), to serve

  • 2 eggs, soft-boiled and halved

  • 150g sugar snap peas or green beans, trimmed and blanched

  • mizuna or shiso leaves, to serve

Method

  1. Step 1

    Place the beef, soy sauce, sake, sugar and garlic in a small-medium saucepan and set over a medium heat. Stir to break up the mince – chopsticks are handy here – and ensure everything is well mixed. Cook the mixture for 3 minutes or until the beef has begun to change colour. Reduce heat to low-medium and cook for a further 5-6 minutes, stirring often, until nearly all of the liquid has evaporated. Season with pepper.

  2. Step 2

    Spoon some steamed rice into four bowls and top the rice with the beef, half a boiled egg, the sugar snap peas and mizuna or shiso. Season with a little more black pepper and serve.

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Julia Busuttil NishimuraJulia Busuttil Nishimura is a Melbourne-based cookbook author, Good Weekend columnist and host of Good Food Kitchen.

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Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/goodfood/recipes/beef-soboro-don-20230801-p5dt00.html