ANN/ THE JAPAN NEWS – Commercial yakiniku sauce for grilled meat is a must-have for an easy yakiniku experience at home.
However, it often ends up unused once the grilling is done, leaving many with leftover sauce. Marie Wakana, a time-saving cooking expert, has shared creative ideas for using yakiniku sauce in other dishes.
Wakana posts recipes using commercially available sauces, such as “chicken breast with yakiniku sauce,” on her blog, Tsukuri-oki Shokudo (Prepared-food eatery).
Ingredients for yakiniku sauce include soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar and garlic. She recommended using the sauce when you want to add depth of flavour, but do not want to use several different types of seasonings.
The first dish she introduces is the classic Chinese dish “stir-fried shredded beef with green pepper”. Even if you have no oyster sauce, you can prepare the dish using yakiniku sauce and chicken broth base. Despite its simple seasoning, this dish has a rich flavour that makes you want to eat more rice.
Another dish that Wakana recommended is grilled and marinated eggplant.
The eggplants soak up the seasoning and the flavour spreads with a sizzling sensation in the mouth. It also has acidity and freshness.
“Eggplant absorbs oil easily, so it is important not to add oil to the eggplant while it is cooking,” Wakana said.
“If you leave this dish overnight in refrigerator, the flavours will soak in even more, making it ideal for a prepared dish.”
STIR-FRIED SHREDDED BEEF WITH GREEN PEPPER
Ingredients
– 200 grammes beef, chopped into small pieces
– 120 grammes boiled bamboo shoots (sliced)
– Four green peppers
– Two tablespoon yakiniku sauce (medium hot)
– Two teaspoon chicken broth base
Directions
Cut the green peppers into strips. Cut the beef into 10-centimetre lengths if large. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt.
Mix the yakiniku sauce with chicken broth base and one teaspoon of potato starch to make a seasoning mixture. Potato starch makes it easier for the ingredients to absorb the flavours.
Heat one tablespoon of sesame oil in a frying pan and add the beef. Cook over medium heat for about three minutes, turning the meat occasionally until cooked through. Add the bamboo shoots and green pepper to the pan and cook for three minutes, then add the seasonings and cook for another minute.
MARINATED GRILLED EGGPLANT
Ingredients
– Four medium-size eggplants
– 20 grammes green onion
– One small piece of ginger
– One teaspoon roasted white sesame seeds (roasted)
– Two tablespoon yakiniku sauce (medium hot)
– Four tablespoon triple strength mentsuyu noodle broth
Directions
Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise, remove the stems and cut a crosshatch pattern into the skins.
Cut the green onion into small pieces and the ginger into thin strips. Making incisions in the eggplant skin will help the eggplant soak up the flavours and give it a nice appearance.
Heat four tablespoons of sesame oil in a frying pan and add the eggplants, skin side down.
Cover the pan and cook over medium heat for four to five minutes. Turn the eggplants skin side up, cover again and cook for three to four minutes.
Cook until the surface of the eggplants is well browned.
Pour the yakiniku sauce and mentsuyu noodle broth along with, one tablespoon of vinegar and two tablespoons of water into a storage container and mix together.
Place the eggplants in a container, top with green onion, ginger and white sesame seeds, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. – Midori Yamamura
