This just looked too good not to try: thin (sammich sliced) sirloin steak, slow cooked in a pear, ginger, garlic, and tamari sauce rolled into a flour burrito with rice, fresh herbs, green onion, kimchee, and a spiced mayonnaise based “Japanese Steakhouse White Sauce” – also called Yum Yum Sauce.
And, it is.
ALL of it. Totally yummy, and really pretty simple to toss together – even my own, home made, quick kimchee.
INGREDIENTS
BBQ Beef Filling:
•2 lb top thinly sliced sirloin steak
•2 pears, peeled and cut into chunks
•2 inch knob ginger, chopped
•4 cloves garlic
•1/4 cup lower sodium tamari
•1/4 cup brown sugar
•1 tbsp Sherry Peppers Sauce (or good sherry)
•1 tbsp sesame oil
Burritos:
•Cooked rice
•Fresh parsley, chopped
•Fresh basil, chopped
•Scallions, sliced
•Quick kimchee pickle
•Large flour tortillas
•Aluminum foil (for wrapping)
Yum Yum Sauce:
•1-1/4 cup mayonnaise
•1/4 cup water
•1 tbsp melted butter
•1 tsp tomato paste
•1 tsp sugar
•1/2 tsp garlic powder
•1/4 tsp paprika
•1/8 tsp Cayenne
•1/8 tsp Seasoned Salt
Add the pears, ginger, and garlic to the bowl of your food processor fitted with the metal blade. Pulse until you have a kindofa “pear sauce” and pour into your slow cooker.
Stir in the tamari, brown sugar, Sherry Peppers Sauce (or sherry – or mebbe add a bit of Sriracha, to taste) and the sesame oil until nicely blended.
Cut the thin sirloin steaks into strips, add to the slow cooker, and stir to coat the steak evenly in the sauce.
Cover and cook on high for three to five hours or on low for nine hours.
Once the meat is in the slow cooker, it’s time to make the Yum Yum Sauce. You want to do this early on so that the flavors have time to meld really well in the jar.
First things first: “one teaspoon of tomato paste?!?”
Yeh, I know.
Thing is, there is this really cool product called Tomato Powder, and that is exactly (100%) what it is! You need a wee, tiny bit of tomato paste, pull this jar from your fridge, stir one part tomato powder into three parts water to make a fine tomato paste.
I get mine from my fave local spice merchant, here; but Amazon and other retailers carry tomato powder as well, so, have a ball.
Whisk all of the sauce ingredients together, I used my immersion blender, until well mixed and smooth, then transfer to a jar, cover, and stash in the fridge while the beef is cooking, at least four hours.
So!
Beef is cooked, Yum Yum Sauce nicely chilled and flavors melded, you’ve cooked a pot of rice for the burrito, let’s gather the rest of our burrito fillings together…
I tossed the scallion together with the chopped basil and parsley in a small bowl and set them aside.
Full disclosure: the original recipe I came across called for using cilantro in place of the parsley and gave an option of adding chopped fresh mint as well, but…
Cilantro and mint are not my favorites, s0…
As you can see, the meat and sauce have cooked together really well, and, you could just spoon this over rice or mebbe even soba noodles – heck, I was picking bits out of the pot, but, we are here to make a burrito.
Well, actually, I got eight.
Arrange your fillings in a row; rice, beef, kimchee, veggies, and sauce, then cut heavy-duty aluminum into eight squares.
Warm a tortilla over medium heat for about 30 seconds per side, then place in the center of a foil square.
Place some rice in the center of the tortilla, then top with the meat, kimchee, scallion mixture, and Yum Yum Sauce.
Fold the sides in then, starting from the front, roll tightly to the back to form your burrito. Wrap the foil around the burrito and repeat with the remaining tortillas.
Once you’re done filling, rolling, and wrapping, pop the burritos into a 250º oven for about 20 minutes to heat through and serve; with additional Yum Yum Sauce, if you like.
These were really, really good!
But! They made eight pretty large burritos and, there were just the two of us for dinner.
Good thing they were already individually wrapped in foil – I now have a quick nosh in the freezer!
Update:
I was feeling a bit bad about the way I ended this morning’s post, talking up those no doubt tasty, foil wrapped frozen burritos stashed in my fridge, but not talking about how, exactly, to reheat them.
Well, all it took was removing one from the freezer for lunch today, unwrapping and discarding the foil wrapper, and placing it on a ‘wave safe plate or bowl.
‘Wave the burrito for two minutes, then turn it over and ‘wave for another 30 to 60 seconds, until the burrito is heated through. Let rest for 30 seconds before thoroughly enjoying this wicked nice lunch, snack, or dinner in less than five minutes.
Call that a good deal? ‘Cause I do.