Steak meets Sushi: Grilled Beef Tataki Nigiri

Meet the best of both worlds: steak + sushi.

30 mins

800°C

15 Mins

30 mins

800°C

15 Mins

Tataki is a typically Japanese method of preparing beef fillet, where the meat is marinated, seared at very high temperatures and then thinly sliced. In our recipe, the slides of beef fillet are placed on a bed of sushi rice.

Serves 4

Ingredients

Ingredients for the Beef Tataki

450 gram Beef fillet
1 Cup Japanese soy sauce
1/2 Cup Mirin (alternatively 120 ml sake and 2 tablespoons sugar)
1 Tbsp. Rice vinegar

Ingredients for the Nigiri

2 cups sushi rice
2.5 cups water
1/4 Cup Sushi vinegar

Ingredients for garnish

Yuzukoshō (Japanese chili citrus paste)

Step 1

Wash the sushi rice thoroughly about one hour before the starting the grill. Put the washed rice together with the water in the rice cooker and allow to sit for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn on the rice cooker turn and cook the rice. If you do not have a rice cooker, just boil the rice in a pot with water.

Step 2

While the rice is cooking, add soy sauce, mirin and rice vinegar together in a bowl and stir. Remove the beef fillet from the refrigerator and add to the bowl to marinate. Cover the bowl with cling film and put back in the refrigerator to marinate for about 20 minutes. Cover the beef completely in liquid so that it marinates evenly. The meat should be turned after 10 minutes.

Step 3

Preheat the Otto Grill. Prepare an ice bath in a separate bowl. Make sure it contains enough liquid to surround the entire piece of meat. Remove the beef from the marinade, drain and pat dry with a paper towel. Place the fillet on the grill, set the Meat-O-Meter to the highest level and grill at high temperature for about 30 seconds on each side, until a brown crust is formed (depending on the thickness of the steak). Once the fillet is grilled from all sides, place the meat in the ice water to cool.

Step 4

Meanwhile, put the rice in a large bowl and distribute the rice vinegar evenly over the rice. Mix the rice well so that each grain of rice is covered with rice vinegar. Important: when marinating the rice, make sure that the rice grains are not crushed.

Step 5

Once the beef has completely cooled, remove from the ice bath and pat dry with paper towels. Then cut the meat with a very sharp knife against the fiber into thin slices.

Step 6

Now for the Nigiri. Moisten both hands with water, place 2 tablespoons of marinated sushi rice in your left hand and shape the rice into a form approximately 5 cm long and 3 cm high. Use the index and middle finger of your right hand to lightly press the rice on all sides of the nigiri. A good tutorial can be found at the following link. Finally, place one slice of beef fillet on every Nigiri, add knife point of Yuzo Kosho and enjoy!