SQF: Gyudon-ish beef dish

30 JANUARY 2011. I had it all planned out. I was going to cook gyudon. I don't know why, I was just craving for something Asian, I suppose. Due to the major renovation going on at SM Southmall, Tokyo Tokyo is closed and it was only during the wedding night that I was able to eat there again, but at the ATC food court (yes, hubby and I were out gallivanting at ATC on our wedding night. LOL). And there's that unopened bottle of mirin which has been glaring at me from the shelf for months already. I decided that it was finally its time.
On Saturday morning, it happened mom was going to the plaza to buy fresh meat. I was just about to start doing some laundry. I quickly dressed and went with her.

I bought over a kilo of thinly sliced beef for the gyudon and about a kilo of beef round which I requested to be ground for that suddenly-I-want-pasta moments. The meat easily cost me P500. O_O Good thing I bought the other ingredients way in advance.

It turned out I had to slice the beef some more. The beef was still on the thick side. But even after I had worked on it some more, it wasn't still gyudon-thin. How do they get it so thin in the restaurant? =( I tried to get it as thin as possible. The result looked more like beef stirfry strips. Hahaha! Well anyway, I proceeded with the cooking.

I'm not very familiar with beef, as I'm a chicken person and my only relationship with beef goes as far as pasta sauce. I discovered that cooking it to the right tenderness, or at least to an acceptable level, takes quite a long time. Hubby and I got a pressure cooker as a wedding gift, but I'm just as much scared of it as I am of the oven. =| So I let the beef cook away in the pot.

After carving for Asian for so long, I had a delicious meal. Ate more than I should have. LOL. Hubby enjoyed eating (the leftovers survived for a couple more meals the day after). Mom said it was something like lomo because of the ginger. Too bad I didn't have that sweet red ginger stuff they have at Japanese restaurants. That would've completed the look. Plus thinner-cut meat.

My gyudon-ish dish topped on rice

Little bro came home late from a PC repair service (rumaraket na ang kapatid ko). Mom instructed him not to eat at his client's (because he usually does), so he was able to try out the beef. He was asking me about it before he left, saying he didn't know what gyudon was. When I saw him later that evening, he said, "Your beef is good."

I'll cook this again another time. When I find a way to have the meat cut thinner.

Gyudon-ish
Serves 5 or more
recipe to follow (based on several versions I found online)

*BB*