Pepper Lunch in Rice Cooker

Pepper Lunch is a popular Japanese fast-food chain specializing in teppanyaki-style dishes. The signature dish at Pepper Lunch is a “pepper steak” or “pepper rice” meal, typically consisting of thinly sliced beef, vegetables, and their house special sauce. This recipe is a take on Pepper Lunch, and all you need are a few ingredients and a rice cooker.

Pepper steak is usually served on an individual sized sizzling hot iron plate, and customers are encouraged to mix and cook the ingredients themselves at their table. If you have a teppanyaki grill at home, then you can replicate the teppanyaki style pepper lunch. However, this recipe is intended to give the quickest and most efficient way of enjoying pepper lunch style meal.

Ingredients and Substitutions

• 1.5 cups Japanese short grain – Wash and drain rice 3-4 times before use. You can use your choice of uncooked rice, however, I recommend using Japanese short grain.
• 1/3 thinly sliced onion
• 1/3 can corn
• 1/2 lb thinly sliced beef
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup water

SAUCE

• 3 tbsp soy sauce – I am using Japanese-style soy sauce from Kikkoman.
• 3 tbsp mirin – mirin is sweet sake and is used in many Japanese dishes. I highly recommend this product for flavor. However, if you cannot get a hold of it, substitute with 3 tbsp water and 1 tbsp sugar. You can find the product on Amazon.
• 3 tbsp sake – cooking sake is another item that is commonly used in many Japanese dishes. If you cannot use this item, you can substitute it with 3 tbsp water; however, the flavor will not be the same.
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1 tbsp grated garlic

TOPPINGS

• chopped green onion
• butter 
• shichimi togarashi – Shichimi togarashi is a Japanese seven spice. It will add a little heat to the dish. If you like spices and heat, try this out.
• corn add more corn 
• pickled red ginger
• salt and pepper to taste

Tips on making best Pepper Lunch in Rice Cooker

There aren’t many tips needed when making this recipe because it is so easy to make—however, one thing to keep in mind is that the order of placing ingredients matters. You want to think of it like you are stacking on the ingredients that take the longest to cook at the bottom. For example, place rice at the bottom first because it is the hardest to cook. It also cooks better submerged in water, like how you cook regular rice. Then, I put thinly sliced onions or other vegetables, which will also cook better in the water, along with rice. Place thinly sliced beef last because it cooks the fastest and will cook with the steam in the rice cooker. 

Places to get these ingredients:

• Japanese Grocery market (Mitsuwa, Nijiya, Tokyo Central)
• Asian Grocery markets (H-Mart, 99 Ranch)
• Asian isle at your local grocery market 
• Amazon (links to some of my favorites below)

Disclaimer: Tiffoodss is a part of Amazon’s affiliate marketing program. I will receive a commission if you make a purchase through my affiliate link at no extra cost to you.

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