Are you planning a teppanyaki barbecue and don’t know what to cook yet? Then you are exactly right here. In this article I will show you a list of foods and recipes that you can prepare with a Teppanyaki plate.
These are the foods you can prepare with a Teppan Grill Plate:
Below, you will find the most common foods that you can prepare with a Teppanyaki grill plate. I will also show you some basic recipes so you have an idea of what complements these foods.
Beef:
In Japan, beef is the most popular part of Teppanyaki meals. There are many different quality levels of beef from various regions. The more expensive varieties come from Matsusaka, Akita, and Kobe. They are often offered alongside less expensive beef from the United States and New Zealand. The fine marbling of Japanese beef provides a rich sweetness. To prepare your own delicious beef steaks with a Teppan grill plate, here are some steps for you:
Step 1: Take the meat out of the refrigerator about an hour before grilling. Once it reaches room temperature, wash and pat it dry. Pat it dry again before placing it on the grill plate. To achieve a proper sear, the beef must be completely dry.
Step 2: Preheat the table grill to 180°C for medium or 200°C for rare. Once heated, place your meat on the iron plate. Grill for about 2 minutes on each side.
Step 3: Wrap the grilled steak in aluminum foil for 5 to 10 minutes after grilling. Then, you can slice it with a sharp knife and serve.
In addition to beef steaks, you can also use other types of meat such as veal, pork, lamb, or poultry medallions, cutlets, or strips. Marinate them in oil with other spices beforehand so that you don’t need to add fat while grilling. For example, entrecôte is a steak that comes from the rib section of a beef, which you can also prepare on a Teppanyaki. You can find a delicious entrecôte recipe [here](link to recipe).
Basic Sauce for Teppan Meals:
I recommend serving your beef steak with a homemade classic Teppan sauce. You only need 4 ingredients:
- 100 ml Sake
- 100 ml Mirin
- 100 ml Soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons Sugar
Simply mix all the ingredients in a saucepan and let it reduce to 2/3. To enhance the flavor of the sauce, you can also add chopped garlic and onions to the mixture. Once the Teppan sauce is ready, use it to marinate your grilled ingredients or brush it while grilling.
Vegetables:
For vegetarians, I have good news. You can also prepare vegetables with a Teppan grill plate. This includes garlic cloves, carrots, beans, and many more. The ingredients for a vegetarian Teppan meal could be, for example:
- 1/4 white cabbage, thinly sliced
- 2 carrots, thinly sliced
- 1 zucchini, thinly sliced
- 4 spring onions, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 small white onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons Mirin
- Sesame oil
- Toasted sesame seeds
First, thoroughly wash the vegetables and then cut them into strips for even cooking. Once the vegetables are cut, heat the table grill to 200°C. Add some sesame oil to the heated iron plate and then add the vegetables. When you see one side turning slightly brown, mix rice vinegar with soy sauce and Mirin. Add this mixture to the vegetables to give them more moisture. Let it grill for another 1 to 2 minutes on the plate until crispy. When it’s done, serve the grilled vegetables with sesame on top.
What is Mirin?
If you’re not familiar with Mirin, it is a rice wine that adds a special flavor to Japanese cuisine. Due to its high sugar content, it perfectly balances the salty taste of soy sauce. You can buy Mirin in an Asian store or order it online. If you prefer, you can also make Mirin at home with rice wine and sugar. You can make 1 tablespoon of Mirin by mixing 1 tablespoon of rice wine and 1 teaspoon of sugar.
Seafood:
With a Teppan table grill, you can prepare various types of seafood. But let’s start with fish. The first step in preparing fish is washing and cleaning. Depending on the type you use, you may need to scale, gut, and remove dark skin from the inside of the fish. To firm up the texture of the fish meat, sprinkle it with lemon juice or vinegar. Just before placing the fish on the Teppan grill plate, season it with a little salt. Be careful not to add too much as salt extracts water from the fish, making it tougher. Heat your table grill and add some sesame oil to the grill plate once it’s hot. Place the fish on the plate and flip it once one side is crispy. Remember not to flip it too often, as unlike meat, fish can break if not handled carefully.
Shrimp:
First, rinse the shrimp with cold water and then pat them dry with a kitchen paper. Then, marinate them in the above Teppanyaki basic sauce for about 30 minutes. When they are ready, place them on the preheated Teppan grill plate and grill for 4–5 minutes on each side.
Scallops:
First, wash the scallops thoroughly under running cold water and then pat them dry with kitchen paper. You can also marinate them in the Teppan sauce or simply combine lemon juice and olive oil in a bowl. Place the scallops in the marinade for about 20 to 30 minutes. Then, place them on the preheated table grill for 4 minutes. During this time, you need to flip the scallops several times. They are ready when the inside is white, and the outside is brown. Place the grilled scallops on a plate and season them with salt and pepper before serving.
Noodles and Rice:
You can also prepare side dishes like noodles with a Teppan table grill. To do this, you first need to cook the noodles just long enough so that they are neither too hard nor too soft. After cooking, drain them and then stir-fry or heat them on the preheated iron plate. Like noodles, you need to cook the rice before you can prepare it on the Teppan table grill.
Fruit:
Before grilling fruits, they should be thoroughly cleaned and peeled. Sauté the fruits briefly on the iron plate with some liquid, such as juice or wine.
Okonomiyaki – the Japanese Pancake:
Okonomiyaki is a Japanese pan or Teppan dish that is now known worldwide. The word Okonomiyaki comes from the Japanese “okonomi,” which literally translates to “as you like.” In English, Okonomiyaki is sometimes translated as “As-you-like-it Pancake.” The combination of ingredients prepared for Okonomiyaki varies by region, restaurant, and preferences. Typically, it includes raw meat such as pork belly slices, fresh seafood like squid, shrimp, and scallops, and fresh vegetables like shredded cabbage, chopped green onions, and sliced carrots.
As for the cooking process, first, mix Okonomiyaki
flour, egg, water, and fresh vegetables of your choice in a bowl and mix them well. Okonomiyaki flour is available in Asian stores or online and is mainly made of wheat flour. Then, place the mixture on a Teppan grill plate or frying pan. Add meat, seafood, or other ingredients and cook them in the same way as a pancake. After the batter and ingredients are cooked through, transfer them to a plate and garnish with mayonnaise and Okonomiyaki sauce. Like Okonomiyaki flour, you can also get Okonomiyaki sauce at an Asian store.
There are two main variations of Okonomiyaki: Kansai (also called Osaka) and Hiroshima. The above cooking steps refer to the Kansai style, the most common Okonomiyaki sauce in Japan. When making Okonomiyaki following the Hiroshima principle, the ingredients are not mixed together. Instead, the batter is prepared like a thin crepe, and the ingredients are cooked separately. Once everything is ready, the ingredients are placed on the crepe, and the topping is applied. The Yakisoba noodles are served with the Okonomiyaki sauce, which is a typical ingredient for Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki.
General Tips for Grilling with Teppanyaki:
To ensure that you can properly prepare your Teppanyaki meals, here are some grilling tips that I have come across over the years:
- Make sure to preheat the grill plates 2-3 minutes before grilling. Without doing so, the iron plate will not get hot enough, and your grilled items will lose too much moisture. The meat will become tough, the fish will dry out, and the vegetables will lose their flavor.
- Marinating your grilled items before placing them on the iron plate will make them especially flavorful and spicy. It prevents the meat and fish from drying out, and you won’t need additional fat while grilling.
- If you’re grilling low-fat or unmarinated foods, I recommend lightly greasing the grill plate. Apply a tablespoon of oil to the plate and spread it with a brush. Since the Teppanyaki table grill can get very hot during grilling, make sure that the fat or oil you use is heat-resistant.
- To avoid hot splashes when searing, pat dry the moist grilled items with kitchen paper.
- Do not salt your meat before grilling, as it extracts water from the grilled items. This will make the grilled items dry instead of juicy.
Conclusion:
The Teppanyaki grill plate offers many possibilities for preparing meals. With it, you can sauté, simmer, steam, flambe, and keep warm almost any foods you can think of. Additionally, when cooking with Teppanyaki, like in Japanese cuisine, attention is paid to fresh and flavorful ingredients. The foods are lightly seasoned with soy sauce and/or teriyaki sauce before grilling. This enhances the original flavor of the main ingredients rather than masking it.