Gyudon – Recipe for Japanese Beef Bowl

During my time in Taiwan, I also took the opportunity to take a weekend trip to Japan. It was there that I met Gyudon for the first time.

Since I was on the road a lot and didn’t have much money at that time, it was supposed to be a rather small snack in the lunch break. The name is a combination of Gyuniku (= beef) and Donburi (= bowl of rice). It reminded me strongly of the rice dish Lu Rou Fan (pork with rice), which I already knew from Taiwan. Here I still have the recipe for Lu Rou Fan for you.

Gyudon consists of rice, fried beef strips, onions, soy sauce and mirin, a rice wine. In this Gyudon recipe, I have added Thai basil, a kind of fusion food.

Preparation of the Gyudon

1. Wash the rice and cook it according to package instructions

2. Peel the onions and garlic and cut them into thin strips. Heat some oil in a pan and fry the onion strips in it.

3. As soon as the onions are glassy-brown, add the beef strips and fry them on medium heat for about minutes. In Asian countries or in German Asian markets, these strips are already available ready-cut, as they are often used for hot-pot menus. But you can also take roulade or other beef and cut it yourself.

4. Add some of the cut spring onions to the meat and steam them briefly. Deglaze everything with the rice wine, the soy sauce and about 100ml dashi or vegetable broth and let the Gyudon simmer for about 10 minutes at low heat.

5. You can use the time in between to fry an egg. I probably don’t have to explain how to do that, do I? ^^

6. As my optional highlight you can now add a handful of Thai basil to Gyudon shortly before the end of the cooking time. I think this gives the Japanese rice dish a special touch with some bites. But that might also be because I like to eat Thai basil.

7. To serve, simply put some rice in a bowl, spread some of the beef on it and finally put the fried egg on top. By the way, it tastes especially good if the yolk is still mainly liquid and it runs into the rice. Season with a little salt and pepper and add some sesame seeds to the beef rice. Bon appetite.

Gyudon – My conclusion

I like these simple, uncomplicated and yet so delicious dishes. For me, Gyudon is also very suitable for the quick after-work kitchen.

If you are looking for more recipes from Japan and Co., take a look at my Asian recipe collection. And all those who can’t get enough of Donburis should have a look at the 7 most popular variations of Elisa’s 1mal1Japan.

Have you ever eaten Gyudon? What are your favorite Japanese dishes? Write your ideas and opinions in the comments.