Loco Moco

Ingredients

• 600g cooked short-grain white rice (about 300g uncooked)
• 600g minced beef, 20 percent fat
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 small onion, grated
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tbsp neutral oil
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 200g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• 500ml beef stock
• 1 tbsp soy sauce, for the gravy
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 spring onions, sliced

Before you cook

• Cook the rice and keep it covered and warm
• Grate the half onion and thinly slice the whole one
• Mix the minced beef with the grated onion, 1 tbsp soy sauce, salt and pepper, handling it lightly
• Shape the beef into four flat patties slightly wider than your egg, and press a dimple into the centre of each

Steps

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers.
2. Fry the patties for 3 to 4 minutes on the first side without moving them, until a dark crust forms.
3. Flip the patties and cook for 3 minutes more, then move them to a plate and cover loosely with foil.
4. Lower the heat to medium and add the butter to the same pan along with the sliced onion and mushrooms.
5. Cook the vegetables for 6 to 8 minutes until the onion is soft and the mushrooms have given up their liquid and browned.
6. Sprinkle the flour over the pan and stir constantly for 90 seconds to cook it out.
7. Pour in the beef stock a splash at a time, whisking to lift the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
8. Add the soy sauce and Worcestershire, then simmer the gravy for 5 minutes until it thickens enough to coat a spoon.
9. Wipe out a second frying pan, add a little oil, and fry the eggs over medium-low heat until the whites are set but the yolks are still liquid, about 3 minutes.
10. Pack a mound of hot rice into each bowl and lay a patty on top.
11. Slide a fried egg onto each patty, ladle the mushroom gravy over everything, and finish with the sliced spring onions.