Hawaiian Comfort Food Recipe: Loco Moco with Onion and Button Mushrooms

If you happen to have some leftover beef stock, why not turning it into a flavorful gravy for loco moco? Loco moco is a Hawaiian cuisine with white rice, burger patties, brown gravy, and egg as basic ingredients. Chicken stock can be another option but of course the beefier the better. 

Loco moco with onion and button mushrooms -

Ingredients (for two)?

Burger patties:

• 0.7 lb/300 grams ground beef
• 2 tablespoons chopped scallion (white section)
• 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Others:

• 1 1/2 cups uncooked white rice
• 8 button mushrooms
• 2 eggs
• 1 onion
• 2/3 cup beef stock
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon chopped scallion (green section)
• 1/2 teaspoon corn starch
• Some olive oil
• Some salt
• Some freshly ground black pepper

How?

Cook the white rice first. Once ready, fluff the rice and keep it warm on the side.

Take a big bowl and mix in all the ingredients for the beef patties. Blend well and form two burger patties. Try to toss each patty in between palms to release the air inside also firm up the shape.

Drizzle about 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan and turn to medium high heat. Add in peeled and sliced onion along with 1/8 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of black pepper. Give it a quick stir and cook till the edges turn browned. Stir once a while to prevent from burning, takes about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside for later use.

Use the same pan and drizzle one more tablespoon of olive oil. Turn to medium heat then transfer the burger patties over. Do not move it before the surface has been cooked through, otherwise the shape might fall apart if attempt to flip the patties too early. Sear both sides till just about fully cooked through. While searing, the beefy juice should start dripping out from the patties.

When the patties are ready, transfer onto a plate, cover with foil and let the meat rest while preparing other ingredients. 

Still using the same pan, add in sliced mushrooms and sear till the size reduced by about 1/3. All the flavorful beefy juice will also get sucked up by the mushrooms. 

Pour in the beef stock, 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, and cooked onion. Bring to a boil then lower the heat to a light simmer. Add about 1/2 teaspoon of corn starch while whisking the mixture at the same time. Keep whisking and adjust the thickness with more corn starch if needed. 

Prepare a smaller pan and drizzle just enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Turn to medium high heat. Crack in two eggs and cook till the yolk turns semi-runny.

To assemble, scoop some rice to the plate, pour over some gravy with lots of onion and button mushrooms. Top the gravy with burger patty, egg, then drizzle some more sauce. Garnish with chopped scallion and freshly ground black pepper.

I'm considering adding 1/2 tablespoon of bourbon to the gravy next time, we'll see how that goes.


Other western rice recipes:

• Fancy meal at home - squid ink risotto with seared cuttlefish
• Discover the benefit of buying whole shrimps - lemony shrimp risotto using homemade shrimp stock