I have no idea why this recipe is not already on this blog. I make this about once every other week because it’s easy and because it’s one of my husband’s favorite meals.

Thai basil is more aggressive and slightly more bitter than it’s sweet Italian cousin. Its bright and springy flavor melts in and permeates the salty sauce and gets soaked up by the hot fluffy rice.

It’s easy to tell Thai basil from sweet Italian basil. Its leaves have streaks of purple and the stems are often purple too. If you can’t find Thai basil, Italian basil will work but you should plan to use more of it.

I start by sauteing an onion and a bell pepper in sesame oil…

Then I make a space in the center to brown the flank steak…

Then I add the basil and garlic…

And the sauces…

And allow it to heat through.

Thai basil beef

Thinly sliced beef and veggies in a salty-sweet sauce infused with fresh Thai basil.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Yield: 2 to 2 1/2 servings

Ingredients

• 2 portions flank steak
• 1 large red bell pepper
• 1 medium onion
• 1 large bunch thai basil (about 10+ stems)
• 2 large cloves of garlic
• 2 tbsp. sweet soy sauce
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• a pinch of chili garlic sauce
• 2 tbsp. rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp. sesame oil
• garnish with toasted sesame seeds

Cooking Directions

1. Slice onions and bell pepper and saute with sesame oil.
2. Slice flank steak thinly across the grain.
3. Push vegetables to the outside of the pan and saute steak in center.
4. Brown steak on both sides then mix in with vegetables.
5. Add garlic, sauces, and thai basil torn into small pieces.
6. Allow to heat through and serve over rice.

This is as good as what you would expect to get in a restaurant. I’ve made it with tofu too, and while it’s not the same dish without the beef juices melting into the sauce, it’s still really good.

What’s your favorite dish to eat over rice?

May 18, 2011 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 8 comments

Whew! Cake-bakin’ week is almost complete! I am so done with looking at cake right now.

Jeff and I will be at the wedding today, so I’ll be sure to fill you in on how I finished the cake and how everyone liked it tomorrow. For today though, I thought I’d show you guys a quick dinner that I made earlier in the week that turned out amazing.

Scrambled tamago donburi….or scrambled egg rice bowl!

This was ridiculously easy to make. I started by making some rice in the rice cooker. If you don’t have a rice cooker, you can use this method for how to make sushi rice.

While the rice was going, I chopped up half a bell pepper into small pieces and sliced a handful of shiitakes thinly. I sauteed those together while I got my egg mixture together.

I used three eggs and whisked in about a tsp. each of soy sauce and rice vinegar. I mixed in a finely chopped scallion and sprinkled with seaweed flake.

Once the veggies were cooked through, the egg mix was added to the pan and the veggies were mixed into it. It comes together pretty quickly at this point as the egg starts to solidify. Just keep moving a spatula through the mixture to break it up as it cooks, scrambling it.

And that is all there is to it. I think it took about 10 minutes total to make the scrambled tamago topping, can’t argue with that!

Scrambled tamago donburi

Scrambled eggs with veggies over rice forms a quick and simple asian donburi.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

• half a red bell pepper (chopped)
• a handful of shiitakes (sliced thin)
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. rice vinegar
• 1 scallion (sliced thin)
• garnish with seaweed flake, sriracha, toasted sesame seeds
• sesame oil for sauteing

Cooking Directions

1. Saute peppers and shiitakes in sesame oil.
2. Whisk eggs with soy sauce, rice vinegar, and scallions.
3. When veggies are soft, add egg mixture and stir with a spatula until eggs are set.
4. Serve over rice and top with seaweed, sriracha, or toasted sesame if desired.

Served over hot rice with a couple squirts of fruity-spicy sriracha and a sprinkle of noritamago furikake, it was a warm and comforting meal ready in under 15 minutes.

What is your favorite way to eat eggs? (Cake counts!)

April 16, 2011 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 6 comments

I wanted to take a moment to formally introduce you to a staple of my spice cabinet that I’ve mentioned here a few times and tell you a little bit more about it.

Furikake. So, what is it?

Furikake is a popular Japanese condiment used mainly as a seasoning for rice. There are dozens, if not hundreds of varieties of this stuff available and there are really no rules as to what they should be made up of. The usual suspects include toasted sesame, bits of nori, bonito flake, dried vegetables, dried egg or other proteins, puffed and toasted rice, and usually salt and spices.

The two we have currently are a noritamago flavor and a katsuo mirin flavor.

Noritamago is a combination of the words “nori” and “tamago.” You know nori as the dark green seaweed sheets used to wrap maki sushi. In this furikake, the nori is cut into tiny pieces and serves as the salty element. Tamago is the Japanese word for egg, and this furikake contains lots of dried egg bits. There is also toasted sesame and a tiny bit of bonito flake in there too.

We like to eat this on top of plain rice, on fried rice, and sometimes mixed into plain rice and pressed into a ball to form what is known as an onigiri.

That one is definitely Jeff’s favorite as he isn’t as in love with bonito as I am.

But for all you dried and shaved skipjack tuna fans out there (anyone?) this is the one I recommend for you!

Katsuo is the Japanese name for the fish known in most other parts of the world as bonito. We call it skipjack tuna in the states, I don’t know why it has so many names. In Japan, katsuo is dried whole and then shaved into a product called katsuobushi. It looks a lot like sawdust and smells like dried mushrooms with a faint oily fish smell. It’s a critical component in making dashi, the popular seaweed stock used ubiquitously throughout Japanese cuisine.

It is also a popular ingredient in furikakes. The one above is mostly katsuo flavored with mirin and soy sauce and accented with toasted sesame seeds and just a few flakes of nori. The flavor is a balance of salty and savory, with the soy seasoning the earthy dried fish.

I eat this on plain rice or in an onigiri, but every once in a while I’ll sprinkle it on a bowl of noodles too.

So, if you ever come across this stuff on one of your grocery shopping ventures, now you know what you’re looking at. With so many variations out there, I’m sure there’s at least one that fits your tastebuds exactly. Give it a try, it beats plain rice any day!

What is your favorite seasoning or spice?

February 23, 2011 Alayna Discussion 5 comments