How to make Japanese-Style Hamburgers and the recipes of Japanese-Style Hamburgers

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Japanese-Style Hamburgers (Wafu Hamburgers)

A popular meal eaten at home, these hamburgers sans buns are similar to Salisbury steaks. In this recipe from Yuki Morishima, seasoned beef patties are cooked, doused in sauce, and then served with broccoli and carrots. For a healthy twist, Yuki, a Tokyo native who has lived in the United States for about twenty years, learned from her mother to add tofu to the patties to cut down on the amount of meat. You can also make the burgers with ground pork.

Time: 45 minutes
Makes: 4 servings as part of a multicourse family-style meal

Ingredients

  • 14-ounce package firm or medium-firm tofu
  • ½ cup panko bread crumbs (see Pat’s Notes)
  • ¼ cup milk
  • 8 ounces ground beef
  • 2 green onions, white and green parts, finely chopped (2 tablespoons)
  • 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced (1 tablespoon)
  • 2 teaspoons Japanese soy sauce
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 3 tablespoons Japanese soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons mirin
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • Grated daikon radish for garnish

Instructions

  1. Wrap the tofu in cheesecloth or a non-terry kitchen towel and squeeze out as much water as possible. You want the tofu crumbled.
  2. In a large bowl, mix the panko and milk together. Add the crumbled tofu, beef, green onions, ginger, soy sauce, and pepper and mash everything together. Divide the mixture into 4 balls and flatten to form patties about ½ inch thick and 4 inches in diameter. They will be very soft.
  3. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat until it becomes runny and starts to shimmer. Place the patties in the skillet and cook until the undersides are brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Flip and cook until cooked through, another 5 to 6 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, to make the sauce, combine the soy sauce, mirin, and sugar in a small bowl.
  5. When the burgers are done, reduce the heat to low and add the sauce to the burgers in the skillet and simmer for 1 minute. Slide the burgers onto 4 individual plates. Drizzle the sauce over the tops and garnish with grated daikon.

Pat’s Notes: Panko, Japanese bread crumbs with a coarser texture than regular bread crumbs, is used as a coating for deep-fried food, especially seafood. It is available in the Asian section of larger supermarkets. Unopened packages last indefinitely, but once opened, panko should be frozen.

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