These deep-fried steak strips, coated with green onions and flour, would be great for a party appetizer, a dish on a buffet table, or a picnic. It’s made several hours in advance, and served at room temperature or chilled. If you try this recipe, don’t mix the green onions with the flour until you are ready to coat the meat. I mixed the onions and flour too soon, and the moisture from the onions made the flour into a paste that did not stick well to the meat. It’s better for it to become a paste after it’s been applied to the steak. Nevertheless, the effect is to have bites of juicy steak with crisp onions.
You can see how the onions fell off!
This recipe is part of the meal I began writing about in my previous post—still working to use the food in my freezer and I’m happy to say there was a flank steak waiting to be cooked!
Party Flank Steak Strips
Japanese Cooking for the American Table, by Karen Green
page 127
- 4 to 10 servings, depending on the number of courses
- 1 flank steak (1 1/2 pounds)
- 1/2 cup shoyu (soy sauce)
- 1/4 cup mirin
- 1 Tablespoon sugar (to taste)
- 2 scallions, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 egg, well beaten
- extra flour
- cooking oil for deep frying
Pierce flank steak all over the tines of a fork. This will help tenderize the meat and allow the marinade to penetrate. Combine soy sauce, mirin, and sugar, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Marinate steak in this mixture for 30 to 60 minutes.
Combine the scallions and the 1/4 cup flour. Spread on a sheet of waxed paper. Put the egg into a shallow bowl.
Remove steak from marinade and pat dry with kitchen towels. Lightly dust with the extra flour. Place the steak into the scallion-flour mixture, pressing coating onto the meat with your finger. Dip steak into egg and then again into the scallion-flour mixture. Again, press coating into the steak.
In a deep skillet or wok, heat cooking oil for deep frying. There should be a minimum of 2″—the oil must be deep enough to submerge the steak. Deep fry the steak in hot oil, a few minutes on each side. Do not overcook; the meat should be rare. (An instant-read meat thermometer would have been very useful, as my steak is quite rare!)
Remove steak and drain off any excess oil. Cool, and chill the meat. Slice steak as thinly as possible into long strips. (I cut the strips to bite-sized lengths) Place on serving platter and allow to come up to room temperature, or serve chilled, with additional soy sauce if desired.
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Tess's Japanese Kitchen 
Bookmarked! I am afraid of deep frying but not afraid of fondue pots, so this would be a wonderful take on fondue bourginon with friends. Thanks!
Yes, I am afraid of deep-frying too. I once stupidly poured hot oil into a glass bowl. It exploded into 2 pieces along the level of the oil, top and bottom, a perfect cut! and some of the oil spilled out onto my hand. Bad burn.
My fondue pot has gone off with my mod podge, though it was more fun. That might be worth a try, but you’d have to let the flour-onion coating “set” on the meat. I mixed the onions with the flour too soon and it turned to paste before it got onto the meat so it wouldn’t stick well.
Thanks for the tip. Makes sense. My fondue pot was long gone then about 10 years ago fondue was all the rage (at least in NY) and I bought an electric one. It’s terrific and the only thing I use it for is beef. I really don’t like cheese or chocolate fondues. Go figure.