Hibachi at home

Have you ever had a to die for meal at a Japanese "Hibachi" steakhouse before??  Like Benihana, Gasho, Kanki, Shogun, etc.?  I sure have.  I just love those places.  In fact, when my Mom was out here visiting in April we went took her to the one here.  Sure enough, it was just as good as the ones we'd had in CO and elsewhere.  :)  They start out with that crisp salad with ginger dressing, onion soup, depending on the place and time of day shrimp appetizer and then the real show and meal!  Steak or chicken perfectly cooked with veggies to compliment and rise to finish.  Oh and the sauces.  They seem to be the thing that varies the most between the different steakhouses, but they are always yummy! I just love, love, love it!  Can you tell?!? ;)  I just did the veggies, meat and rice (and one dipping sauce) this time.  But next time I will add more, and add more to this post too! :)

Anyway, when I got to feeling like some Hibachi yummy on the way home from work yesterday I remembered that I'd gotten some "Hot Oriental Mustard Powder" at Savory Spice last week.  So...I stopped at the store to grab some veggies and whipped up some delightful hibachi at home!!  :)  When my hubby walked in the door, I greeted him with "Welcome to Cindy's Hibachi House", dinner will be ready soon.  We both cracked up after that too....  On to how I did it! So you can too!  :)

Hibachi at Home:  Serves 4 Adults

1 lb. Chicken or Beef (count on 4 oz. per serving)

2 Onions, sliced

2 Zucchini, sliced

2 c. Mushrooms, sliced

1-2 c. Bean Sprouts (fresh)

Soy Sauce

Vegetable Oil (or other) 

1/4 c. Butter

Jasmine Rice, 2 c. uncooked rice prepared.

Sesame Seeds, optional

1.  First, cut up your meat into bite size pieces.  Cook it up in some preheated oil in a skillet or wok, adding some soy sauce when it is about cooked through.  ( I only seemed to manage to get a pic of the chicken cooking....)

 2.  Once the meat is cooked place it in an oven safe bowl and in a warm oven.  Slice onions and start cooking in a little bit of oil.

 3.  Separate onions and add soy sauce.  Let them cook until they are starting to get tender.  Then place them in an oven safe bowl and place in the warm oven.

 4.  Melt butter.  You could use oil again, but the butter gives it the real flavor of the restaurants.  :)

 5.  Add the sliced zucchini to the melting butter.

 6.  Add in the sliced mushrooms too.  Stir together and let cook for about 5 minutes with a lid on it.  Whip up sauce/s at this point if desired.  :)  The hot mustard sauce was a breeze with the powder.  All I had to go was add water.  :)

 7.  Add in fresh bean sprouts.  Let cook for 2 minutes, without lid.

 8.  Stir in the onions and add a tad more soy sauce.

 9.  Plate the meal.  Rice, veggies and meat.  

Hibachi Chicken

 Sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired.

Hibachi Steak

This actually tasted just about identical to *what I remember* the actual restaurants tasting like.  The only difference was the sauces.  I didn't do a veggie dipping sauce (kind of just forgot) and the mustard was better yet also way HOTTER than any of the restaurants.  So next time I will definitely try to make a veggie sauce, and I may see if I can make the mustard taste more like the restaurant ones....or maybe not. ;)  

I also want to do the salad next time.  My Mom gave my sister and I a few years ago, a great recipe for a salad dressing like theirs.  So sorry, I won't be adding it on here.  But, I'm sure you can experiment with it for yourselves!!  Happy cooking!!!!

Brussel Sprouts (and three ways to fix them!)

It's turns out...that my hubby and I both hadn't ever (at least as far as we could remember) had brussel sprouts before.  So, when I was talking to my Mom a few months ago and she told me that she had recently bought and fixed some of them....I was intrigued and had to go out and buy some.  And after buying them about 10 times more, I can bet you can guess that we both liked them!  :)  So, here are a few ways to cook these little tiny adorable cabbages!  :)

(This post is referring to fresh brussel sprouts because they are the best--however frozen aren't too bad either.  So if you are using frozen thaw slightly in the microwave before chopping and sauteing, k?)

Start by giving them a gentle wash.  A colander works well.  :)

 Then trim the little stemmies off.  Like so.  (I <3 the mini cabbages. SO cute!)

 Now you can either slice them like this for either a cabbage-like salad or a shredded stir fry.

 Here's what a pile of shredded ones looks like...

 From here either do A or B but probably not both. :) 

A.  Put the shredded brussel sprouts (raw) in a bowl and add salt, pepper, vinegar and miracle whip until desired flavor for a cole slaw salad.  I loved this....my hubby not so much...  :)

B.  Gently saute the shredded sprouts in olive oil until just getting greener (trust me, their color perks up) and slightly browned.  Don't over cook or else you (or I) won't like it.  Sprinkle with salt and peppa and serve.  Also delish! :)  You could also just add the raw shredded sprouts to any stir fry. 

Sauted shredded sprouts. 

 Here's option C.  This is probably our very favorite!  You can make it Italian style, stir fry style, Asian pasta salad style.....or any style you like!  :)  Yum!  Just trim the stems and then quarter the sprouts.  

 Saute in some olive oil or veg. oil until more green and slightly golden.  Again, don't over cook...It's better to have them on the crunchy side than the overcooked side.  I hear overcooking them is what has given these little cuties a bad rap.  :(  Sad day.  They are SO good, and good for you!  :)

 Take them off the heat and serve with some fresh grated Parmesan cheese or any way you like! :)

Yum!  Enjoy!!!!!!!!  :)