Founder of @Umami Sans Frontiรจres
Expense
Preparation
Baking time
Rest time
Rice
Meat Soboro (Seasoned Ground Meat)
Egg Soboro (Sweet Scrambled Eggs)
Edamame
๐ฅฃ Cook the rice
1/ Cook the rice in a rice cooker or pot.
๐ฅฃ Prepare the meat soboro
2/ Heat a little oil in a frying pan and cook the ground meat over medium heat.
3/ When the meat changes color, add sake (or white wine) and sugar, and continue cooking. Add mirin and soy sauce, and simmer until almost all the liquid has evaporated.
4/ Turn off the heat and let it cool.
๐ฅฃ Prepare the edamame
5/ Bring a pot of water to a boil, add salt, and boil the edamame for 3โ5 minutes. Drain and remove the beans from the pods.
๐ฅฃ Prepare the egg soboro
6/ Crack the eggs into a bowl, add sugar, and beat well.
7/ Heat oil in a frying pan, pour in the egg mixture, and stir quickly with chopsticks or a silicone spatula over medium heat to scramble into fine pieces.
8/ For a fluffier texture, cook gently over low heat.
๐ฅฃ Assemble
9/ Serve the rice in bowls and arrange the meat soboro, egg soboro, and edamame colorfully on top.
๐Tips for Extra Flavor๐
โญ๏ธ Perfect for Bento: This dish tastes great even when cold, making it ideal for lunch boxes. My younger daughterโs school friends from various countries love it and often ask her to tell me how delicious it is ๐. Itโs a crowd-pleaser across ages and cultures ๐ truly umami without borders, as I like to say: Umami sans frontieres.๐
โญ๏ธ Easy to Eat with a Spoon๏ผYouโll see chopsticks in the photo, but honestly, I recommend using a spoon โ itโs much easier to mix everything together and enjoy every bite!
โญ๏ธ Customize the Egg Soboro: I like to add sugar for a sweeter flavor, but you can also season it with dashi or mirin to your taste.
โญ๏ธ Use Different Green Vegetables: In Berlin, frozen edamame is easy to find, but you can also use snow peas, green beans, spinach, or avocado for a colorful twist. My daughter especially loves avocado๐ฅ mixed with mayonnaise and soy sauce.
โญ๏ธ No Mirin? No Sake? No Problem!: If you donโt have sake, you can simply use white wine instead โ I always make it this way. For mirin, mix 1 tablespoon of white wine with 1/2โ1 teaspoon of sugar to create a gentle sweetness similar to mirin. These easy substitutions make it simple to cook this dish even outside of Japan.
โญ๏ธ Time-Saving Tip: I often cook the meat soboro and egg soboro at the same time using two frying pans. While cooking the meat, I boil the edamame and scramble the eggs in another pan. If you only have one pan, cook the egg soboro first, set it aside, and then prepare the meat soboro.
โญ๏ธ A Taste of My Motherโs Cooking: When I was little, my mother used to make this for me. She often added sakura denbu, a fluffy, sweet pink topping made from finely shredded white fish, sugar, seasoning, and food coloring. I really loved this sakura denbu ๐ธ the pretty color and gentle sweetness always made me happy whenever I found it in my lunch box. Itโs often used to add colour to Japanese lunch boxes.
Founder of @Umami Sans Frontiรจres
