Negimaki (beef-onion rolls)
Dear SOS: Many years ago, a Japanese restaurant in Gardena (which has since closed) made a very tasty flank-steak dish called negimaki (beef with onions). It was thin slices of flank steak rolled around green onions with a tempura-style sauce.
I have not been able to find it anywhere else, and my Japanese friends can’t find it in their cookbooks.
Sally Friedfeld
Rancho Palos Verdes
Dear Sally: Timing is everything. Your letter arrived the same week as a new cookbook called “Global Gourmet: A Multicultural Cookbook” by Kathleen Bart (Reverie, $19.95). Aimed at young cooks, it describes a traditional menu from each of 12 regions of the world, including Japan. It includes a recipe for negimaki meeting your description, but using sirloin rather than flank steak.
Combine the soy sauce, sake, mirin and sugar in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the sauce is thick and syrupy, about 25 minutes. Pour into a small bowl and set it aside to cool.
Thinly slice the steak lengthwise into 2 to 3 slices, one-eighth-inch to one-fourth-inch thick. Place a steak slice flat on a cutting board or other work surface and pound to flatten. Arrange two green onions, trimmed to fit the steak, along the bottom edge. Roll the steak tightly around the green onions, until the steak is a cylinder. Tie each end of the cylinder with kitchen string to keep it from unrolling. Repeat this process with the remaining steak and onions.
Heat the sesame oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the beef rolls and cook until they are brown on all sides, about 5 minutes. Pour the sauce over the rolls and bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes.
Remove the rolls from the skillet, cut off the string and slice the rolls into 1-inch pieces. Spoon the sauce over the sliced rolls, and serve.
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