Dining with the Chef.

Welcome to Dining with the Chef. I'm Rika Yukimasa.

Today, we're going to focus on stir-fries.

Stir-fries are a quick and easy way to increase your intake of vegetables.

If you follow the basic techniques,

you'll be able to expand your repertoire and make your stir-fries taste even better.

The first thing is to make the most of the color and texture of the ingredients.

And second, aim for a healthy stir-fry.

Today's recipes will help you master the basics of stir-frying.

Tokyo, an Asian city with the largest metropolitan population in the world.

The boundaries between old Japan and futuristic Japan are blurred in this metropolis.

The food here is a fusion of cuisine not just from around Asia, but around the globe.

Our program host is culinary expert Rika Yukimasa.

And our co-host is Patrick Harlan, aka Pakkun.

Rika's TOKYO CUISINE.

Today, two Japanese-style stir-fry dishes.

Our first dish is a Sukiyaki-style Beef and Vegetable Stir-Fry over Rice.

The original Japanese-style sauce will have everyone coming back for more.

Beef and vegetables, stir-fried to perfection, served over rice.

It's a hearty, one-plate meal.

Today's program is all about stir-fry.

Stir-frying is wonderful; you just need a single pan, whatever's in your fridge,

and a few minutes to make a delicious and beautiful meal.

And the best thing is, it's not that hard.

Even novice cooks can enjoy this trip, right?

Yeah. The good thing about stir-fry is that you can just mix and match all different kinds of ingredients.

If you do the proper prep, it's so extremely easy to cook.

Great. What are we having first?

So we're having sukiyaki-style stir-fried beef and vegetables on rice together with sunny-side egg.

Oh, that sounds great. Sort of like a Nasi Goreng, but a Japanese stir-fry.

Okay, so we have the ingredients here.

Looks like we have beef chuck-eye, half an onion, snap peas, eggs and cooked rice at the end.

We'll talk about the ingredients for the sauce later on. So where do we start?

We're going to first prep the vegetables.

First, cut this onion in half.

We're going to just use this half of onion, and then we're going to cut along the grain.

Why do you cut along the grain?

Then it's going to get crunchy texture.

Having a nice crunch is what makes a good stir-fry.

Cutting the onion along the grain will keep it from getting soggy when fried.

With snap peas, you want to remove the tough strings that run down the side.

So break off the ends and remove the strings.

The outside and the inside.

- Both.
- Interesting.

Yeah, sometimes people forget.

So what I do mostly is I usually cut this one like this.

This first...

- Oh, you cut it.
- Yes.

- You make a simple half an incision and that makes it much easier.
- Much easier, isn't it?

There we go. Oh, that's easy.

- Once you've made that incision, everything's so much easier.
- Exactly.

Now for the meat. Look at that beautiful chunk of chuck eye.

Yes. Now we want to cut into thin slices.

You know, in Japan, we cook a lot of beef, not like as a chunk, but in really thin slices.

We call it "usugiri."

And if you go to regular grocery store, we see all these sliced beef, sliced pork.

Right. They sell them in packs. Pre-sliced.

- Which is nice.
- Yes.

And then I think one of the reasons why we do it is we eat beef or pork with chopsticks.

So we want to cut it into thin slices cooked together with vegetables.

Right. And the cooking time is faster.

So it's really nice to just have thinly sliced beef. Super easy.

Is there a reason we're using chuck eye?

Yes. Chuck eye has a very good balance of meat and also fat.

So it's, you know, if you're using thigh, it's just too much meaty.

So we're going to use this one and this is a little secret, but do you see this white part?

And if you just cut... make incisions, then the meat gets really tender.

- Interesting.
- Yeah, that's what I do every time I cook really thick steak.

If I see this white part, kind of grain.

- First you make incisions.
- So this is where you tenderize it?

- Yes.
- Okay.

Make slits in the white connective tissue and cut into 5-millimeter-thin slices.

Then, use a meat mallet to tenderize the meat.

If you don't have a mallet, use something else around the house, for instance, a wine bottle.

The trick is to pound the slices evenly so that the meat cooks evenly and also to use a light hand.

You want to tenderize, not pulverize.

That's it for the prep.

Now you're ready to season the meat.

- So we're going to sprinkle salt.
- Okay.

Do you remember the kind of rule that I apply for seasoning with salt for the meat and pork?

1% of the weight, I believe? Okay.

So this meat is about 300 grams, meaning we need to have three grams of salt.

Okay.

A sprinkling of salt will remove unwanted smells and enhance the umami flavor.

The amount is 1% of the weight of the meat.

It's not even secret, but I think it's nice to know.

This is a five-milliliter teaspoon.

Right. Teaspoons are five milliliters.

And then this is coarse salt. It's kind of rough salt.

- And if you place this, this one teaspoon, it's about five grams.
- Right.

And this one is about two-thirds, and this is three grams of salt.

So you want to sprinkle three grams of salt just to have a taste of a little bit.

And then it's easy. If you can remember this 1%.

It doesn't only apply to beef, but also to pork and chicken, fish, whatever protein.

- 1% of the weight.
- Yes.

So I just add some pepper.

Okay. There's no rule for percent weight for pepper?

If you like really hot foods, you can add a lot.

- Right.
- Yes.

- Now for the sauce.
- Great. Here are the ingredients.

We have two tablespoons of sake, one tablespoon of soy sauce, and one tablespoon of sugar.

It's a little different from our usual lineup.

Yes. Usually we say "3 S&M."

One is sugar, soy sauce, sake, then "mirin." "3 S&M."

"3 S&M" stands for the four seasonings that Rika makes full use of in her cooking.

Use equal parts of each to give a Japanese flavor to just about anything.

To cook two servings of savory simmered fish,

add two tablespoons each of sugar, soy sauce, sake,

and "mirin" to four tablespoons of water.

If you follow the "3 S&M" rule, it will be perfect... every time.

But today, I'm not using "mirin," because sometimes it's difficult to find "mirin."

True. "Mirin" is like a sweet sake.

But this time, we skipped the "mirin" and added a little extra sake. Regular sake.

Why do we want to make sure we have enough sake here?

Because "mirin" contains alcohol in it.

So you want to add some kind of...

if you add some sake or alcohol, then it refreshes the taste of meat.

With the "3 S&M" rule, you use equal parts sake, sugar, soy sauce, and "mirin."

If you don't have any "mirin," which contains alcohol, you can double the amount of sake

to remove unwanted smells and add a depth of flavor and umami similar to "mirin."

If you want to know about Japanese cuisine, it's all about this variation of "3 S&M." That's all.

Or some of the steaming vegetables you use less "mirin,"

for some other stuff, like "teriyaki," we use more sugar.

So it's just the variations.

Come up with whatever is best for each dish.

Great. Are you going to do anything else with this?

Well, today I'm using this honey instead of adding...

"mirin" contains a little bit of sugar.

Since I'm not using "mirin," I am adding this honey.

- Looks yummy.
- Yes.

Because honey gives a little bit depth of different flavor.

So it's a little bit of arrangement.

"Mirin" is an alcoholic seasoning that adds sweetness, depth and umami to your food.

Honey is a good substitute that gives a sukiyaki-style depth and sweetness to your stir-fry.

Combine the honey, sugar, soy sauce, and sake, and you're all set.

- So let's start stir-frying.
- Okay.

- You're going to heat the pan first?
- Yes.

Ooh, high heat.

So the rule of thumb on the cooking stir-fry is to start cooking ingredients that are hard.

Add the sesame oil to the pan and start with the ingredients that take more time to cook -

in this case, snap peas and onions.

- That smells so good.
- Smells good, isn't it?

It's almost like you want to coat the vegetables with sesame oil.

- When do we add the meat?
- Well, we don't add on top of this.

We cook it separately.

When you cook the meat and vegetables together, meat will be overcooked.

I usually see people using high heat when they stir-fry. Why is that?

When you cook slowly, the water comes out from the ingredients.

- So, for example, these onions will be wilty.
- Oh, okay.

So you want to cook a short time on high heat,

sort of seal in the juicy, crunchy, lovely vegetable wonderfulness.

Yes. Texture is important.

- So, quickly over high heat.
- Yes.

Once the onions start to brown,

remove the vegetables,

add more sesame oil,

and stir-fry the meat over high heat.

So what you do is you just want to coat and cook the surface, and take out.

Take out the meat. Yeah, cook them easy.

Yeah, please don't overcook that meat.

And then I'm just going to return here.

You just want to brown both sides.

Because finishing part, I will do together with the vegetable, with the sauce.

So what I'm doing is just coating with sesame oil.

Just by cooking separately, you get a much better result.

No kidding. It doesn't take that much more time.

Just a little bit of effort for a big payoff.

After searing both sides of the meat,

remove and wipe off the pan to prepare for the final stages of the stir-fry.

So we've got over ingredients separately cooked, but not flavored yet.

- Right.
- What do we do now?

Well, first, we're going to plate the rice.

- Really? Okay. Well I'll bring the plates.
- Because...

Once I start cooking this at the final stage, it's going to be extremely quick.

And you don't want to overcook the meat. So please place the rice here.

So once I do the final stage of stir-frying, we're going to place on top of rice.

Okay. How would you like the rice arranged?

- Flat.
- Flat, flat, please.

And then bring this all back.

And then you don't need this meat juice.

- Okay. You don't want the drippings from the meat.
- No.

And then the sauce.

Smells wonderful, isn't it?

So you coat with the seasonings.

It smells like Japanese cooking, doesn't it?

"Teriyaki."

- Although you can also smell the honey this time.
- Honey, yeah.

- Should be okay.
- "Honey soy sauce" just sounds so good.

So meat and vegetables all together.

So we think it's kind of very important not only to intake protein,

but also to take these vegetables together.

-Sure.
- And then on top, I'm going to place a sunny side up egg.

Okay, this is the egg spot we've got to save.

I'd almost forgotten about the egg.

Great.

Beautiful.

So we cooked the stir-fry on high heat. What about the egg?

This one is, you cook continuously on low heat.

- Okay.
- And never place the lid.

And just wait.

In America, we think of egg yolk as, you know, bright yellow.

But here, this orange egg yolk is sort of a sign of a delicious fresh egg.

- Right, right. And we sometimes eat raw, as you know.
- Sure.

With sukiyaki, we eat raw.

So this time, I wanted to cook just enough

so that you can enjoy the sukiyaki taste beef and stir-fry, together with egg.

Oh, that sounds wonderful.

Tilt the pan. If the egg white doesn't drip, it's ready to plate.

Add a finishing touch to the dish with a sprinkling of "sansho" pepper.

The citrusy aroma and tongue-numbing heat will boost your appetite.

It's wonderful.

And I like how you made, like, a little Milky Way kind of design here.

- Are we done?
- Yes!

Next, stir-fried spinach with "dashi."

Adding "dashi" to the stir-fried spinach, reduces the oil and the calories.

It's a healthy style of stir-frying that can be applied to a wide range of vegetables.

- So next up is a "dashi" stir-fry.
- Yes.

- Interesting.
- Yes.

Well, you know, the one of the most important things in Japanese-style stir-fry

is to cook it healthy, cook everything in a healthy way.

Sure. But this time we're doing "dashi?"

Yes. By using "dashi" soup, you can get rid of excess oil,

so you can enjoy stir-frying flavor,

but at the same time, you can get rid of excess calories.

I love that.

You can do this not only with the spinach, but cabbage, broccoli, whatever you want.

Excellent. All right, so let's check out our ingredients.

We have spinach. Looks delicious, doesn't it?

Thinly sliced garlic. Of course we have sesame oil.

And then over here, we have water, sake,

granulated "dashi" powder - which you can get in your local Asian market, probably -

a little soy sauce, and some coarse salt.

- Okay, so let's get cooking.
- Okay.

This is a this is a little trick.

You actually don't need to parboil the spinach if you want to do quickly, if you want to cook quickly.

But by parboiling the spinach, you get rid of this kind of "egumi," kind of like bitterness.

The stems take longer to cook, so first place the root ends in the boiling water,

and hold for about 10 seconds.

Then, immerse the leaves and boil for about 30 seconds to remove any bitter taste from the spinach.

The green pigment is sensitive to heat,

so plunge in cold water to stop the cooking process and retain the color.

This is called "iro-dome," literally "color fixing."

After about 20 seconds, remove and squeeze out the excess moisture.

Okay. And that's ready to go?

- Yes.
- Perfect.

- Now what?
- Now we're going to slice them.

And you can cut in... let's see... one, two, three... five this time.

- All right.
- So...

what I do is... you want to have similar length.

Interesting. I'm impressed you can do that just eyeballing it.

Should be good.

So the preparation is done. Let's cook.

Yes. Let's cook.

We start with sesame oil again, I assume?

You know, sesame oil is so handy.

If you want to have an Asian flavor, sesame oil is a must-have item.

- Right.
- Yeah.

And then you lower the heat, because you don't want to overcook the garlic.

This time I'm using this garlic for flavor.

When you have this garlic on high heat, they will turn brown right away.

- Right.
- So you don't want to wait until it turns brown.

Once you start to enhance the aroma, then you can add this.

Once the garlic releases its aroma,

add the spinach, water, sake,

granulated "dashi," soy sauce, and salt,

stir-fry over high heat.

And what you do is, you are getting rid of this oil.

You know, you have briefly cooked everything with the oil, but by adding soup, you're getting rid of it.

So if you don't drink the whole thing, the intake amount of oil is different.

Interesting.

Once the spinach starts to wilt,

it's ready to plate.

- ...be tasty.
- Wow.

A couple of handfuls of spinach have been transformed into an elegant, fine dining dish.

I cannot wait to dig in.

So let me start with the sukiyaki-style stir-fry here.

I feel bad about wrecking the beautiful composition, but I've just got to dig in.

"Itadakimasu."

The onions are still crunchy.

We didn't overcook them. That's so nice.

And the meat. Chuck is not that soft a meat.

But you tenderized it perfectly, and because we didn't overcook it, it's not tough.

It's flavorful and tender. Wonderful.

So you know, you're cooking ingredients separately, by doing so, you have this crunchiness.

- Right.
- And then you enjoy this crunchy sound.

At the same time, you have this egg to add the umami flavor.

And when you mix all together, you just have a little bit of harmony of everything.

Exactly. It's great.

I don't think I've ever had egg on Japanese stir-fry.

But the egg goes really well with the soy sauce flavor as well.

Now, let's move on to this finished "dashi" stir-fry.

"Itadakimasu."

Oh, that's amazing. Oh, it's so good.

It's almost like you cooked it with bacon, there's that much umami.

It's from the "katsuo" in the "dashi."

But that adds this, like, strong aroma, almost like it's been grilled with bacon.

It's that strong, and that... sort of meaty.

- Even though it's low calorie.
- Yeah.

- It tastes like it's like high calorie or rich food.
- Right.

It's so good.

I'm going to make this tonight for sure.

That's going to be... well, I think that when my guests came and then once they experiment eating this,

they just want to dive in and cook again and again.

And especially if you have a chance to cook "dashi" from the scratch, it tastes even better.

Right. You can cook your own "dashi" by preparing the broth with bonito flakes and "kombu" kelp.

It's just a miracle ingredient.

Well, I think if you don't have "dashi," you can substitute with chicken bouillon or vegetable bouillon, whatever.

Sure. The same basic principle.

Soup or broth instead of things like oil.

I hope you enjoyed the two Japanese-style stir-fries I introduced today.

Fry the ingredients separately, adjusting the heat according to the texture and flavor,

and your stir-fries will taste even better.

And by simmering the stir-fried foods in "dashi," you can rinse off the excess oil.

Stir-fries are a great way to achieve a well-balanced diet.

So I hope you'll try today's recipes.

Thanks for watching, and see you again soon on Dining with the Chef.

Bye for now.

Now for a recap of today's recipes.

First, the Sukiyaki-style Stir-fried Beef and Vegetables over Rice.

Cut the onion along the grain.

Remove the strings from the snap peas.

Cut the beef chuck eye into 5-millimeter-thin slices, pound to tenderize, and season with salt and pepper.

Stir-fry the vegetables and meat separately, over high heat.

Wipe the pan, return all ingredients, add the sauce, and stir-fry briefly.

Serve over rice and top with a sunny-side up egg with a sprinkling of "sansho" pepper.

For the stir-fried spinach with "dashi," parboil the spinach and cut into equal lengths.

Fry the garlic over low heat add the spinach, water, granulated "dashi," and seasonings.

Once the spinach has started to wilt, it's ready to plate.

Keep warm while enjoying these two Japanese-style stir-fried dishes!