Stewed Beef and Potatoes
created by Challenger Kentaro based upon a recipe by his mother, Kobayashi Katsuyo
Battle New Potato
reverse-engineered by David J Rust

Ingredients:

Steps

1. In a skillet with the heated sesame oil, fry the onions until they start to brown.

2. Add the beef and stir fry it in the skillet until it starts to brown. Add the teriyaki sauce and stir to cover the onions and beef. Bring to a simmer and add the water. Again, slowly bring it to a simmer.

3. Add the potatoes, stir to coat them in the mixture and then cover the skillet with a lid. Cook for 20 minutes, covered, on medium-high heat.

4. Add the corn starch and blend it in. This should dry some of the excess moisture in the skillet. If the mixture looks too dry, add a few teaspoons of water.

5. Remove the mixture from the skillet to a serving dish and drizzle a small amount of sesame oil, to taste, over the potatos and beef. Garnish with the green onions. Serve with white rice.

Serves 6 as a medium entree.

Iron Chef Notes:

It was difficult to see just what white powder the challenger put into the stewed beef and onions, however, it looked like corn starch and had the effect of drying the dish. It is possible that potato starch was used, but probably not flour. Flour would have left a noticable flavor that the panel did not remark on.

Both the Challenger's mother and Dr. Hattori commented that new potatoes were not the best for this dish and it could be tricky to make sure they would be cooked sufficiently without overcooking them. A good substitute are small, red potatoes. You can test the doneness of a potato by piercing it with a toothpick to see if it goes in easily without the potato being rubbery.

Cooking Notes:

UPDATED - January, 2002 - After making this dish several times, I found it necessary to add water before simmering the potatoes in the covered skillet. Otherwise, they tended to burn or not cook through entirely. Also, on the most recent occasion I made this dish, I added the green onions and served it with rice. These simple additions really went well with the overall entree and -I have to admit- the green onions REALLY matched well with the potatoes!