Loco moco
Hawaii’s ultimate comfort plate: a juicy beef patty over rice, smothered in onion gravy and topped with a runny fried egg.
- 45 min total
- 35 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 2
- About $2.59 a serving
- 730 calories
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- ¾ cup long-grain white rice
- 8 oz 85/15 ground beef
- ½ yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 beef bouillon cube
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 large eggs
- 1 stalk green onions, sliced
From your pantry
- 2¼ cups water, divided
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
- 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp soy sauce
Each serving has about 730 calories, 34 g protein, 65 g carbs and 35 g fat, and costs about $2.59 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
- No 85/15 ground beef? 90/10 ground beef works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the rice until the water runs mostly clear. Put it in a with 1¼ cups water and over high.
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.
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 18 minutes.
Low heatTimer: 18 min
Shape the beef into 2 patties about ¾ inch thick and sprinkle both sides with the salt, pepper and garlic powder.
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 2 teaspoons oil in a over medium-high and cook the patties 4 minutes per side, until browned and 160°F in the middle. Move them to a plate.
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.
Medium-high heatTimer: 8 min
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.
Turn the heat to medium, add the butter and onion to the drippings, and cook 4 to 5 minutes, until soft and browned.
Medium heatTimer: 4 min 30 sec
Sprinkle in the flour and stir 1 minute.
Medium heat
in the bouillon, then slowly stir in the remaining 1 cup water, the soy sauce and Worcestershire, . 3 to 4 minutes, until thick.
Crumble. Crumbling means breaking food into small, rough bits with your fingers or a spoon, like feta or ground meat in the pan. Small bits spread through the dish, so there’s some in every bite.
How you’ll know: The pieces are small and uneven, about pea-size, with no big clumps left.
Scrape up the browned bits. It means loosening the brown bits stuck to the pan with a wooden spoon, usually right after adding liquid. Those bits are concentrated flavor, and they melt into the sauce.
How you’ll know: The bottom of the pan looks clean again, and the liquid turns darker and richer.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Pour slowly and stir the whole time, and the gravy stays silky.Return the patties to the gravy and turn the heat to low to keep them warm.
Low heat
Heat the last teaspoon of oil in a second over medium and fry the eggs 3 minutes, until the whites are set and the yolks are still soft.
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.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min
Food safety: Soft yolks are a small risk. If you’re pregnant, or cooking for small children or older people, cook the eggs until the yolks are firm, or use pasteurized eggs.
Spoon the rice onto plates, add a patty, ladle on the gravy, top with an egg and scatter the green onion.
Dolly’s tip: Break the yolk into the gravy. That’s how it’s meant to be eaten.
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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