Suki Yaki

This is one of my all time favorite meals, hands down. I'm not sure if it's because it's nostalgic, or because it's so darn good, probably both. The whole family loves this meal. One of the nice things about this Japanese dish is that all the ingredients you can get at normal stores, which makes it a little less intimidating for someone who wants to try a Japanese dish for the first time. I hope you love it as much as we did.

Here are some helpful side notes about some of the ingredients. If your store has a good quality beef roast on sale for a great price, I'll usually buy that. Take your meat to the meat department in your grocery store and ask them to slice it thinly for you, this will save you A LOT of time and hassle and most store will do it for free, so why not!?! The bean threads, I think I was able to find at Walmart with the other Asian foods, they are dried, white/clear noodles. You can also check your local grocery stores, but mine didn't carry them. Follow the directions on the back of the package on softening them, which consists of covering them with boiling water and letting them sit. Mine came in a three pack tray of noodles, which is way more than we need for our family of 5. This last time I just cut one of the dry bundles of noodles and used that, and it worked and I stored the rest of the dry noodles in a ziplock for another use. Some of us in our house like the noodles more than others, so for us I think next time I'll use one of the three bundles instead of a half, so I can get my noodle fix. Also this is more of a technique than a recipe, the only recipe is really for the sauce that the ingredients are cooked in, you are more than welcome to try your own mix of veggies or other things that you like.

Suki Yaki
1 1/2 lbs beef tenderloin - thinly sliced
green onions
sliced fresh mushrooms
carrots, sliced
broccoli, cut into bite size chunks
onion, thinly sliced
napa cabbage, sliced into stripes
tofu, medium firm, cut into 1 inch cubes
bean threads

Sauce:
1 c. Soy Sauce
2 c. Water
6 TBS. Brown Sugar (you can use white sugar, but I like the flavor better with brown)

In a large deep pan, combine ingredients for the sauce and bring to a simmer and make sure the sugar is melted. Add the other ingredients in based on cooking time, making sure the sauce comes back to a boil. I like to add the meat, noodles (so they can soak up the flavor of the sauce), carrot and other firm veggies first. Once they have cooked for a couple minutes I'll add the rest and let them cook until the meat is done and cooked through. It shouldn't take the meat too long to cook since it is cut so thin. Stir the ingredients occasionally so they all get cooked evenly. I like to throw the green onions in close to the end so they don't loose their color and get limp.
Used a slotted spoon or something to get out your cooked ingredients so you don't get too much sauce and serve over rice, you can always use a spoon to get a little more sauce to put with your rice.