Take these steak bites to the next level with some trusty teriyaki sauce! This is a quick weeknight dinner that readily yields leftovers for lunch the next day.

Time: 2/5
Doesn’t take long to sear steak bites

Effort: 2/5
A throw-everything-in-wok type of meal

Cow-abunga

“Hey SWR, I see you post pics of your food all the time. When do I get to try some of your cooking?”

I almost only ever cook for myself, my SO and my family. Sharing labours of love with people close to you is so much more meaningful than cooking for strangers, and that’s why I don’t think I’ll ever cook for money.

This friend was no stranger, however. We go way back, in ye olden days of college, pulling all-nighters together, waxing poetic and trying to discuss political philosophy while pretending to get work done. The first years out of college weren’t the most conducive to socialising, as everyone scrambled to get their careers off the ground.

Maybe I thought it was a nice way to reconnect, or maybe some part of me deep down really wanted to show off what I’ve learned in my several years as a home cook. I agreed, and set to work putting up a good show – pyrotechnics and all.

Being that I want to our time catching up rather than in the kitchen, I wanted to make something that was both quick and tasty. That led me to checking off one more box in the imaginary Served With Rice Teriyaki Bingo that I’ve been playing in my head by myself.

Teriyaki-anything is a tried-and-true crowd pleaser that works with any protein: simply cook the protein, form the glaze and toss to coat. Now, beef joins the ranks of such illustrious alumni as chicken, mackerel and salmon. And there’s no reason to believe it won’t work with tofu.

Read on to be treated to a rare shot of the kitchen torch in action. I usually cook (and shoot) alone, and what with cooking being the fast and furious process it sometimes is, I often don’t have the time to stop for pictures. Fortunately, my friend stopped and snapped some pictures ad-hoc, and they were stunning! Which is fitting, seeing as she’s become a bona fide professional running her solo media production enterprise.

As with many posts on this site, this is more demonstrating a variation of a highly adaptable technique than a specific recipe. Feel free to make any substitutions you desire. If I were to make a suggestion though, I would strongly advise you not to skip the kitchen torching as it adds a really nice smokiness that compliments the beef very well.

Dramatis Personae

Beef – I made 6 portions with 2lbs

There were these frozen steak cubes on sale at the grocery store which I capitalised on. I have no idea what cut of beef they were, and they were not as lean as I would like, but I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Any cut of beef that benefits from cooking hard and fast would work here, such as ribeye, sirloin or skirt steak. Cubes would give a meaty, substantial feel to the meal but strips (like in my beef and leeks stir fry) or slices would result in a more stir-fry kind of vibe.

Teriyaki sauce – a liberal splash per portion

This is the same old base as the teriyaki sauce described in the original Chicken Teriyaki post: A mix of soy sauce, mirin and sugar, adjusting the proportions to your liking. This time, I doctored up the base sauce with some balsamic vinegar and minced garlic. The acidity really complimented the richness of the beef, and some extra garlicky goodness never hurts.

Vegetables – roughly 1.5lb total

Always eat your veggies! I had some frozen green beans and baby carrots that have been sitting around in my freezer for a while, so out they come in a simple stir fry with some salt. I would have made more, if I had a bigger wok. This was less vegetables than I would usually serve.

They made for a nice colour contrast, which is always nice but especially important when cooking for someone else because pretty food tastes better!

Sides

Since I have a guest, I pulled all the stops when it came to side dishes. There’s this Japanese restaurant supply store near me that sells appetisers like baby octopus and goma wakame salad in huge wholesale packs, which I broke down and froze in individual portions. They also had pickled daikon radishes and instant miso soup, which came in handy too.

The marinated soft-boiled eggs are technically optional, but not really. I boiled eggs for 6.5 minutes in salted water (this makes them so much easier to peel), shocked them in cold fresh water and peeled them. They then soaked them overnight in the fridge in a 1:1 mix of light soy sauce and water, along with a bit of sugar.

Marinated eggs are one of those things that are really easy to prepare in bulk, so I made some extra to take with me to work. They add some variety to the meal, some richness with the jammy yolk, and some temperature contrast too.

Executive summary

1. The day before, make soft boiled eggs and soak in the marinade.
2. Before starting to cook, get rice going in the rice cooker.
3. In batches, sear steak cubes in a bit of oil and reserve. Lightly season with salt and pepper.
4. Sauté vegetables in the residual beef fat and reserve.
5. In the same pan, reduce teriyaki sauce into a glaze. Return steak cubes and toss to coat.
6. Briefly char the glaze on the surface of the beef.
7. Assemble and serve. Enjoy with a friend.

Play by Play

Last things first. Giving the beef a good hard sear in two batches. I seasoned them lightly at this point with salt and pepper as an insurance policy, but go easy because they’ll be glazed in a teriyaki sauce that is plenty salty later on.

A couple minutes in. The steak cubes have taken on some nice colour, and plenty of beef fat has rendered out …

… which is perfect for sautéing the frozen vegetables. Season to taste and reserve.

I already had some teriyaki sauce on hand (and so should you!) so here’s where I deglazed with some of it and let it reduce. Those little chunks you see floating around is a clove of garlic that I roughly minced to upgrade the teriyaki sauce – it’s little tricks like these that give you variety and excitement to the same base ingredient.

Now that the teriyaki sauce has reduced and thickened to my liking, the beef goes back in. I tossed it to coat, and went over it with a kitchen torch. Even though the beef is seared, it’s still worth a quick torching to slightly char the teriyaki glaze for some wonderful smoky flavour.

And just like that, lunch is served! Egg technically optional but not really. Check out those crispy corners on the steak cubes!

Thanks for the sake! Very thematically appropriate. Copious reminiscing and catching up followed.

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