For ➍4 sirloin steaks (total 500 g)*
1 ts salt
1 ts freshly ground pepper
2 ts oil
4 large prawns
1 tbs sake**
2 green peppers
6 spring onions
2 cloves garlic
3 tbs soy sauce
1½ ts sugar
1 tbs chicken stock
frying oil
Trim excess fat from steaks. Sprinkle both sides with the salt and ½ of the pepper.
Peel the prawns, leave the tail, devein. Wash under cold water. Pat dry.
(Slice on underside to make butterflies.)*** Sprinkle with the sake**.
Quarter the green peppers, remove stem and seeds. Chop 3 of the onions (green included). Chop the garlic.
Mince 3 onions. Mix together 2 tbs of soy sauce, sugar, chicken stock and minced onions. Divide into 4 dipping bowls.
Heat oil in a pan. Keep heat high. Add the steaks and fry quickly until done.* Remove the steaks. Toss in the garlic, 3 chopped onions, and the prawns. Add 1 tbs of soy sauce, and ½ ts of pepper. Cook until prawns are done (probably 4 m, for medium sized prawns, 7-8 m for large ones)***.
Serve steaks, prawns and vegetables on warmed plates with dipping bowls. Add some rice.
*Cut into bite-sized pieces if you want. Reduce frying time. Normally, when full sized, 2,5 cm thick steaks would take 12-14 m to be medium fryed. Reduce to about 5 to 6 m. (Rare would be 8 to 10m, and 3 to 4 m.)
**Or dry sherry.
***Optional. Cooking time should be reduced by ⅓ when butterflied.
'Teppan' is an iron plate in Japanese, and 'yaki' means grilled. Though now considered as a typical Japanese dish, it was only developed after WWII to offer foreign visitors (and occupying American soldiers) something like a western meal with some Japanese influences. In the early 60's, it moved to the USA, and more often than not became a spectacle of high flames and burnt meat. The recipes vary from marinated beef to anything grilled.
This variation has a nice contrast in taste and texture between the elements, and nothing more than a good thick pan is needed. You can marinate the beef in the soy sauce before grilling, but it will spoil the beef a bit.
