Melt in the mouth Teriyaki Beef Meatballs slathered in a delicious sticky, sweet, salty, shiny sauce and served with Japanese sticky rice, smooth and creamy avocado, crispy radish and sweet tomatoes. Delicious in its own right but comfort food heaven for meatball lovers - which is probably most us!
Meatballs:
Preheat oven to Fan Oven 180°C/200°C/400°F/Gas 6 (if oven cooking)
Make the meatballs: collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.
Grate the onion and mix with the breadcrumbs. Stir well and leave to sit for 5 minutes whilst you get the remaining ingredients together.
Add all the remaining meatball ingredients, plus any additions, to the onion and bread in a large bowl and mix well with your hands until all ingredients are combined.
Take from 1 tablespoon of the meat mixture, roll into a ball. Repeat until you have used up all of the mixture. (I do this with wet hands as it helps to stop you sticking to the meatballs!)
Tip onto a tray with a little oil, shake to cover and cook in a pre-heated oven for 12 minutes.
Make the Teriyaki Sauce: put the soy sauce, mirin, cooking sake and water in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until reduced by half and slightly syrupy in consistency.
Add the sugar and stir to mix and dissolve.
Donburi Bowl: wash the rice thoroughly and cook according to packet instructions
Prepare the vegetables and garnish ingredients
Heat a frying pan over a moderate heat and add the meatballs. (If you have cooked the meatballs in advance and they have cooled down, cook for a few minutes to heat up properly before adding the sauce.)
Add all the teriyaki sauce to the pan and bring to a simmer, spooning the sauce over the meatballs as it heats and reduces a little and forms a sticky, shiny sauce. It will only take a couple of minutes.
When everything is cooked, make up your Donburi bowls. Add the ingredients in the following order:
· Rice
· Meatballs
· Teriyaki sauce
· Avocado
· Tomatoes
· Radish
Sprinkle over the sesame seeds and sliced spring onion.
Equipment
Rice
If you do not have any Japanese rice, this dish works well with Jasmine rice or long grain rice. I also like it with brown rice, particularly if you can get hold of Japanese brown rice.