One Cut, Four Dishes

This week I will share a very basic mother recipe for sukiyaki cut beef that can be tweaked and transformed in 4 ways.  It is easy, quick and very economical to make and will keep your kid excited as to how it will be transformed next.  As you know, sukiyaki cut is the thinnest possible cut of beef and as such, remains tender even when served cold.  It is also taken from a relatively lean part of the beast such that your child will not complain that the some fat has solidified on the surface of his lunch, in Filipino it's called sebo and it is that yucky powdery and greasy animal fat that clogs arteries.  Yikes!

Here is the mother recipe:

1 K Sukiyaki Cut Beef

1/4 Cup Japanese Soy

1/4 Cup Mirin

1/4 Cup Water

For this mother recipe, just boil the mixture covered until the meat is fully cooked while skimming as much dirt as you can every now and then.  Also, be sure to toss the meat around to separate the pieces so that there won't be just one clump of beef in your pan at the end of the procedure.  Cool then store the mixture in your refrigerator.  At this point, you can portion what you intend to cook the next day and freeze the remainder for future consumption.

For today's lunch box, I did again--as requested by the boy, last week's Teriyaki Tapa and served it with some Kimchi Fried Rice.  For the Teriyaki Tapa, I got a portion of beef from the mother recipe which I sweetened with a bit of honey (not too much, it is lunch remember, not dessert) and stir-fried it in a bit of oil until it was nicely browned with little bit of caramelization.  I finished it off with a teaspoon of butter.  This process takes all of five minutes and I'm telling you that after you've tried this, you will never again buy those heavily-nitrate laden, double-dead versions you find in groceries. 

The Kimchi Fried Rice was made with the help of some Korean-style Furikake which contains Kimchi, some dried nori, sesame seeds and other Korean spices. I think that  Moms should find as many healthy products in the grocery that can help make meals easier, more interesting and of course, yummier for our kids.  There really is a lot out there and I will be featuring some of them in the coming days.

Please do come back tomorrow and we will transform this same cut into a Pepper Lunch Style dish.  Hope to see you then!

Today's Lunch Box:  Teriyaki Tapa and Kimchi Fried Rice.