Juicy, fluffy, tender, absolute meaty Japanese Hamburg Steak (Hambāgu), served with rich tomato sauce, on rice or noodles.
This Japanese Hamburg Steak (Hambāgu) is especially called “Nikomi Hambāgu” which literally means stewed meat patties (meatballs) in Tomato sauce.
By stewing ground meat slowly, you don’t need to worry about undercooked patties.
My mom’s best Hambāgu recipe with big on flavors.
Using white bread-absorbed milk instead of bread crumble, this Hambāgu is supreme fluffy.
Rich delicious tomato sauce will be ready at the same time.
How To Make Japanese Hamburg Steak (Hambāgu)
Making Hamburg steps look a little hard, but, actually, it’s easy to make, and also leftovers become tastier the next day.
To stew meat patties (meatballs) slowly, you don’t need to worry about undercooked, so you can make big Hamburg steaks.
Although the process is simple, there are a few Japanese cooking tips that make a tender, juicy, flavorful, meaty, tasty ground meat dish.
THE MEAT
The reason why Japanese Hamburg Steak (Hambāgu) is juicy, fluffy, and meaty is that it is made of a blend of ground beef and pork.
It’s not intentionally, it’s just because the standard ground meat in Japan is a blend of beef and pork called “Aibiki”.
Commonly the ratio of the mix between beef and pork is 7:3, 70% is ground beef and 30% is ground pork.
Using the meat, especially because of juicy pork, Japanese hamburg steak is juicy and tender.
Try using a mix of ground beef and ground pork, using pork for a third of the recipe.
If you can find meatloaf mix (the mix of ground beef, ground pork, and ground veal), it’ll be perfect!
Only for the day to eat Japanese Hamburg Steak (Hambāgu), forget calories.
When choosing ground beef, get 20% fat for a rich, flavorful Hambāgu!
Also, the fat (juice) can bring rich flavor to the tomato sauce.
THE ONIONS
When you’ve checked out other Hambāgu recipes, you have seen that onion should be sauteed.
With my Mom’s recipe, we can skip the process. Holay!
Of course, you can sautee onions if desired.
However, we’ll stew the steak for 2 hours or more, I don’t think it’s necessary personally.
Besides, a little crunch texture of onions will be nice.
Instead, I use a sweet onion to make a flavorful Hambāgu.
WHITE BREAD SOAKED IN MILK
In typical Japanese Hamburg steak recipes, they almost all the time use bread crumbs to make it fluffy, tender, and flavorful.
I don’t know why My mom uses this way, but, we use white soft bread instead of breadcrumbs.
Tear soft bread into small pieces, and let them absorb the milk for while.
Indeed, adding milk to the mixture is common and meaningful. Adding milk (and fat) makes the meat juicier and more flavorful.
THE TOMATO SAUCE
Typically, Hambāgu is served with demi-glace sauce or Japanese-style “Wafu” sauce in Japan.
At my house, I have never got the typical Hambāgu.
My mom’s Hambāgu is always this stewed “Nikomi” Hambāgu and always in the tomato sauce.
The famous Italian meatball on pasta, as you know, with tomato sauce!
So, this mouth-watering combination has been already proven.
Moreover, the meat patties will be browned and caramelized, so they can add rich flavor to the sauce.
Better than Bouillon Premium Roasted Beef Base & Roasted Chicken Base
Personally, I prefer to use chicken bouillon, but, it’s up to your taste.
It’s my husband’s recommendation, and it’s absolutely amazing.
This is the best bouillon on the market, and you can easily add restaurant-grade flavor to the dish.
Japanese Stewed Nikomi Hamburg Steak With Rich Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Hamburger Steak
- 1.5 lb Ground beef
- 11 oz Ground pork
- ½ Onion, minced
- 1 cup White soft bread
- ⅓ cup Milk, any kind
- 1 Egg
- ½ TSP Nutmeg /allspice
- 1 TSP Garlic powder
- 1 TSP Onion powder
- Salt & pepper to taste
Tomato Sauce
- 2 canned diced tomato
- 1 tube Tomato paste
- 2 tbsp Sugar
- 1½ Chicken bouillon *Base Better Than Bouillon preferred
- 1 cup Red wine
- 1½ cup Water
- 2 Dried red chilli pepper *optional
Instructions
- Tear white bread into small pieces, and soak them in milk. Let them absorb all amounts of milk.
- In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef and pork, onions, egg, soaked bread in milk, salt&pepper to taste, garlic& onion powder, and nutmeg. Mix well until it becomes a smooth texture.
- Make the meat mix a ball, and drop it into a bowl a few times to let the air out from the meat mix.
- Use 1/2 cup and divide the patties.
- Lightly oil hands, and form each patty into an oval shape.*Toss each patty back and forth between hands to remove air while forming.
- Oil a large pot or cast iron, and brown each patty on both sides.
- Add canned tomato, tomato paste, water, red wine, chicken bouillon, sugar, and salt & pepper to taste.Optionally, add dried red chili peppers.
- Cook hamburg steaks for 2 hours or until the sauce becomes thicker. Add water while cooking if needed.
- Taste the sauce, and add seasoning if needed. *Add 1 tbsp of soy sauce or tonkatsu sauce to combine the flavor if needed.
- If needed, remove all hamburg steaks from the sauce to thicken the sauce.
Notes
Cook With Instant Pot
When using an Instant pot, cook browned Hamburg steaks with High-pressure cook mode, for 30 minutes. Remove the Hamburg steaks out of the sauce, and thicken it until your favorite consistency with saute mode.
What To Serve With Nikomi Hamburg Steak
If you want to go for Japanese style, serve Hambāgu with salad (shredded green cabbage), miso soup, and, rice.
Potato salad will be not a bad idea with rich tomato sauce and Hambāgu.
My husband loves American Italian way-on spaghetti!
You can drop the Hambāgu on the rice with a runny sunny side up egg taking on Loco moco style.
