Beef Mock Sukiyaki Recipe

One of my favorite recipes my Mom made when I was young was called Mock Sukiyaki. This is my modified version, which has more vegetables, fresh mung beans sprouts and the addition of teriyaki sauce. I was the only one who preferred vegetables to meat. Mom could of saved a lot of money by letting me eat the vegetables and my sister could have all of the meat, she did not care for most vegetables at all. Two for the price of one!

I had recently made this when we were visiting my daughter and her family. My daughter makes some lovely Asian meals, especially her bacon-fried rice. This is not surprising. When I was pregnant with her, I stopped at an Asian restaurant on the way home from work, (I had the 5:30 am to 1:30 pm shift) for a lunch plate to eat when I got home. She was “fed” many flavors while I was pregnant. What “we” had daily was the best Mexican food from a tiny restaurant and Chinese food. Between my cooking skills and the town I lived in, the variety of flavors was wonderful.

One of these days I hope I can copy the pan-fried noodles like a favorite restaurant from childhood. They were crispy  on both sides of the fried noodles, like hash is with the soft center. It is somewhat hard to explain. I am not sure my burners get hot enough and I do not have a proper wok, as you see in the photo, to use. One day.

Mock Sukiyaki reheats well if it makes more than one night’s meal. My modifications include the water chestnuts, more celery, mung bean sprouts, carrots, beef bone broth instead of the canned cra… er, stuff, and I use all organic/gmo-free ingredients. Well, the Soy Vay is not, but I have found no substitute for it as of yet.

Strike that!, I found a lovely substitute that is in the organic/gmo-free section of our grocery store! Yea! It is: Organic Asian Fusion Sesame Teriyaki Marinade & Dipping Sauce. It is delicious! By-the-way: No compensation, cookies, monies, etc., from mentioning that brand. Adding the sesame teriyaki sauce really adds to the flavor of this dish. I do not make Mock Sukiyaki without it.

I had originally listed that as an option. You can leave it out, but it really adds to the flavors, I removed the optional tag. It is up to your personal tastes, of course. If you do not have problems with it, the Soy Vay is very good. I seem to have digestive problems with gmo soys. That is my problem, of course. ;D

I wish I had taken more photos as I made the Mock Sukiyaki, a form of stir-fry meal. I was too busy putting it together and taking care of other chores around the kitchen as the meat simmered. I will try to remember to take some the next time I make this for dinner and share.

Note: You can, of course, change out the beef for chicken, pork or leave the meat out altogether. You may want to change the beef bone broth to a chicken bone broth or a vegetable broth, depending on the meat or if you prefer to make it vegetarian.

Beef Mock Sukiyaki

If you are using fresh mung bean sprouts and have not already done so, rinse them well and submerge them into cool water for 30 minutes. Drain the water used from the fresh mung bean sprouts, rinse and set aside to fully drain.

Lightly brown the beef, using oil if needed, in a large 4- to 6-quart skillet or a large wok. Add beef broth, soy sauce and, if using, the teriyaki sauce. Put a spoon in the skillet to prop the cover slightly to allow the liquids to slowly reduce somewhat if there is not a steam-vent, and cook over medium-low heat 30 minutes to tenderize the meat and meld in the flavors of the liquids. You do not want to simmer the sauce all away, of course, just reduce the liquid by half or so. That said, if you like a lot of liquid, cover fully.

Add all of the vegetables, except the green onions, cover fully this time, and simmer 10 minutes or until the vegetables are just tender. Stir often.

Note: Some people do not like fresh mung bean sprouts and leave them out. Canned ones tend to be gooey. That may be all that is available, so they will leave them out. If you can get fresh, they are worth trying if you like them.

Combine water and arrowroot powder, add to the meat mixture along with the green onions. You can not add the green onions and sprinkle them on to-taste when serving, too. Doing so tastes just as lovely. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened. Serve a large spoonful or two of the Mock Sukiyaki over rice.

It looks more complicated than I have written it. laughing… It is super easy to make. I love it on days after having a lot to do in the garden, after cleaning, and so on. It is not super quick because I simmer the beef to make it very tender.

I hope you all enjoy Mock Sukiyaki as much as we like it! I have no idea what “real” sukiyaki is, by-the-way. The original recipe is in a many decades-old recipe book from Ma Bell, a company both my Mom and I worked at.