Japanese hamburger steak (hambagu)
Tender, juicy Japanese-style beef patties steamed in the pan and glazed with a quick ketchup and Worcestershire sauce, served over rice.
- 45 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 2
- About $2.73 a serving
- 730 calories
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- ¾ cup sushi rice
- ½ yellow onion, finely chopped
- ¼ cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2 tbsp milk
- 8 oz 85/15 ground beef
- 1 large egg
- 3 tbsp ketchup
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp butter
From your pantry
- 1¼ cups water, divided
- 2 tsp vegetable oil, divided
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 730 calories, 31 g protein, 79 g carbs and 31 g fat, and costs about $2.73 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No milk? Half-and-half works.
- No 85/15 ground beef? 90/10 ground beef works.
- No butter? Ghee works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the rice until the water runs mostly clear.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Put it in a with 1 cup water and over high.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cover, turn to low and cook 15 minutes.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
Let it sit covered.
Cook the onion in 1 teaspoon oil in a over medium for 5 minutes, until soft and . Spread it on a plate to cool.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
Soak the panko in the milk in a bowl for 2 minutes, then add the beef, egg, onion, salt and pepper.
Knead it with your hand for 1 minute, until sticky, then shape into 2 oval patties about 1 inch thick with a dent in the middle.
Dolly’s tip: Unlike American burgers, these get kneaded. It’s what makes them bouncy and tender.Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
Heat the remaining oil in the over medium and cook the patties 3 minutes, until underneath. Flip them.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min
Add 2 tablespoons water, cover, turn the heat to low, and steam 6 to 8 minutes, until they read 160°F in the middle.
Low heatTimer: 7 min
Dolly’s tip: The steam cooks the thick middle through without burning the outside.Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Move the patties to plates. Add the ketchup, Worcestershire, butter and remaining 2 tablespoons water to the pan and stir 1 minute over medium, until glossy.
Medium heat
Pour the sauce over the patties and serve with the rice.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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