If in need of some island comfort food, this is the recipe. My favorite Hawaiian foods include: spam musubi, loco moco, and kalua pork (my friend makes the best kalua pork I’ve ever eaten. I tell ya, nothing compares to kalua pork cooked in a pit in the ground — nothing). I’ve had so many loco mocos from around here in Seattle and in Maui. Most of the Seattle ones lack something, but I can’t quite put my finger on it, although I still order them, because they are still good! My sister got me hooked on them many years ago. I mean what’s not to love? Juicy beef patty over freshly steamed white rice drenched in a flavorful brown gravy and topped with a fried egg. Ok, well maybe my heart and cholesterol might not love it, but sometimes I like to indulge in the good stuff. And this is the good stuff. I found a recipe provided by a Portland, Oregon food truck called 808 Grinds and it is so crazy good. I did minor adjusted to the measurements of the beef, salt and pepper, but the rest is all them.

This recipe makes a peppery beef patty when using freshly cracked pepper, which I like, but if you prefer less of a pepper taste, feel free to reduce the pepper to 1 tsp. I recently tried giving a good shake of some furikake seasoning over the rice before topping it with the beef patty and wow — I found my new favorite way of eating this. I used the type of furikake (rice seasoning) that is mainly just sesame seed with seaweed and some salt and sugar. You can’t taste the seaweed, since there is so much flavor from the beef patty and gravy, yet the furikake addition gives the whole dish that extra flavor boost that pushes this dish to perfection.

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Loco Moco

Adapted from a recipe courtesy from “808 Grinds” food truck in Portland, Oregon

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Servings 4

Ingredients

Burgers:

• 1 pound ground beef
• ½ cup sweet onion, minced
• ½ cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1½ tsp kosher salt, (reduce if using table salt)
• 1½ tsp freshly ground black pepper, (or 1 tsp for less strong pepper taste)
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 egg, slightly beaten

Gravy:

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups beef broth (use homemade, or your favorite brand. I like Kitchen Basics brand), more as needed
• Dash Worcestershire sauce
• Salt and ground black pepper

The Plate:

• Cooked steamed rice, preferably short grain rice, like Japanese rice Niko Niko Calrose rice
• 4 eggs, fried over easy
• Furikake (sesame with seaweed)

Instructions

Burgers:

• Mix the ground beef, onions, panko, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce and egg. Try not to overmix.
• Gently form into 4 patties and try not to compact it too much. If they are large patties, make an impression in the center to help keep the flat shape when it cooks.
• Pan fry or broil the patties to desired doneness. To pan fry: heat up a dry non-stick or cast iron skillet (you won’t need any oil/butter after the fat renders out from the meat, but if you really want to, you can heat up butter in the pan). Cook patties on medium heat.

  For medium-rare to medium: cook on first side until it forms a golden brown crust (about 3-4 minutes). Flip and cook until golden brown on second side (about 3-4 minutes).

  For medium-well: cook until the brown cooked color is up and around the sides of the patty, but not quite reach the top side (blood pooling at the top is another cue for thinner patties). Flip, then cook to preferred doneness, 4 minutes or so.
• Save excess oil/dripping from the pan for the gravy.

Gravy:

• Add the butter to the excess burger oil in the skillet and heat.
• Add the flour and whisk out any lumps to create a smooth roux.
• Slowly add the beef broth, stirring constantly until smooth.
• Add the Worcestershire, salt and pepper to taste.
• Cook until thickened and the flour taste is gone.
• If too thick or strong tasting, add a little water or beef broth.

Plate:

• Place a mound of rice in the center of the plate. Give a good sprinkle of furikake rice seasoning, if using. Place a beef patty on top of the rice and drizzle with gravy. Top with a fried egg seasoned with a little salt and pepper.

Recipe Notes

• For the ground beef, any regular ground beef will work, but I really like a custom blend of 60% beef chuck and 40% brisket. If you don’t own a meat grinder, pick out the meat you want and nicely ask the butcher to grind it up for you.

Tried this recipe?
Mention @_thelittleruby. Also, rate and comment below!

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