Beef with sesame sauce
Instructions:
- The Japanese version of this popular combination is cooked in stock at the table. Each diner swishes thin slices of steak briefly in boiling stock, then dips them in sesame sauce. Four is a manageable number of diners, since everyone has to use the pot.
- 500 g (1 lb) fillet steak;
- ½ Chinese cabbage, sliced;
- 6 spring onions, cut into bite-sized pieces;
- 250 g (8 oz) button mushrooms, halved or quartered;
- 1.5 litres (3 pints/6 cups) beef or chicken stock.
- Sesame Sauce
- 3 tablespoons sesame seeds;
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar;
- 125 ml (4 fl oz/½ cup) Japanese soy sauce (shoyu), salt-reduced if preferred;
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped spring onions;
- 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger.
- Trim any fat from the steak and place in a freezer until half-frozen and just firm. Use a sharp knife to cut the meat into very thin slices.
- Arrange the cabbage, spring onions, mushrooms and meat on a platter, cover and refrigerate.
- To make the Sesame Sauce, lightly brown the sesame seeds in a dry pan over moderate heat, stirring constantly or shaking the pan for even browning, about 5 minutes. As soon as the sesame seeds are golden brown, turn them onto a plate to cool so they don’t continue to cook in the heat of the pan.
- Ideal for crushing the sesame seeds is a wooden pestle used with a Japanese bowl called a suribachi, which has a ribbed inner surface. A mortar and pestle may be used, or even a blender. Add all the ingredients and blend for a few seconds.
- At serving time, place a table-top cooker filled with hot stock in the centre of the table and provide diners with bowls, wooden chopsticks and small sauce bowls. A bowl of steamed rice is also a usual accompaniment.
- To eat, slices of beef are picked up and suspended briefly in the hot stock, just until pale pink, then dipped in the sesame sauce and eaten with rice. Vegetables, too, are lightly cooked and should be slightly crisp. When all the meat and vegetables are eaten, the stock is ladeled into bowls and, in Japanese fashion, lifted to the lips using both hands.