sweet 'n savory beef "stew"

I'm finished! Oorah! After two sleepless nights, yelling at myself and randomly translating j-rock Christmas songs in my head... I'm finally done with my final paper for composition. Though, for the first time it feels rather unfinished, even after seven pages. Weeird. Maybe I should've written more. Naah.

 I've learned to spite the laptop after those two days... along with the color green. Aah...I  should seriously stop procrastinating on replacing my graphics card. That green is really getting to me. -shivers-

But anywaay, back to the stew. Well, truthfully it's not quite a stew, rather it's more of a simmered dish... with beef and mushrooms. I tend to just throw ingredients together and just let them simmer when I'm super exhausted. But it, hey, works... most of the time! ^_^;

You can use any type of mushroom for this dish, though I wouldn't use dried ones since by the time they're done, the meat will become tough as they take a bit of time to cook.

Sweet 'n Savory Beef "Stew"

We'll need:

1lb flank steak, thinly sliced (or a package of shabu-shabu style beef)
1/2lb mushroom of choice (I'll be using enoki and button mushroom in this)

3tsp dark soy sauce
2tsp sugar
1tsp mirin
3 slices of ginger
2 scallions

1tbls oil for frying

2 tbls cornstarch+3tbls water

Utensils:
mixing bowl
fork
frying pan
spatula

~Place beef in mixing bowl, add 1tsp of the soy and mix. Set aside and let marinate for about 15mins. Then slice the mushrooms. Next, brown the ginger in oil over medium high heat. Add the mushrooms and sautee until soft. (They will release quite a lot of liquid. That is perfectly alright as we'll be using that to simmer the beef) Then add in the remaining 2tsp of soy sauce, sugar, and mirin.

~Allow the liquid to reduce by half (about 5-8mins). Add the slices of beef to the mushrooms and simmer until cooked  (10-15minutes, depending the thickness of the beef). Then add the cornstarch-water mixture to the beef and let simmer for another 2-3mins until thickened.  Cut the scallions into 1in pieces, then slice them in half and finally into slivers. Plate the stew and garnish with scallions.

~Serve with rice if you'd like!