Gyudon

Gyudon is what you get in Tokyo when you want to be full fast and still want something warm. Thin beef simmers with onions in a sauce of dashi, soy, mirin and a little sugar, then goes over a bowl of rice. Done in the time the rice takes.

The meat should be thin enough to cook in a few minutes. Asian grocers sell sukiyaki-cut beef, or you can ask the butcher to slice it thin, or chill the piece briefly in the freezer and cut it yourself. The sauce is sweet-salty and should soak the rice, not sit beside it.

At the table you mix egg, beef and rice with chopsticks or a spoon. The yolk rounds out the sauce. Pickled ginger or a pinch of shichimi on the side is nice if you have it. One bowl is lunch, and leftover beef reheats well over fresh rice the next day.