"Wafu" rhymes with "ah choo"!

Wafu = Japanese-style of cooking

So you could have a wafu salad, wafu spaghetti or even a wafu hamburger - which just so happens to be the topic of this post. If the picture below looks tasty to you, read on!

My first experience having anything with the word "wafu" in front of it was at a small Japanese restaurant called Sushi Bistro Shun. I had a delicious wafu salad which had lettuce, cherry tomatoes, bonito (dried fish shavings), nori (dried seaweed), and grated daikon (white radish). A few months later at the same restaurant I tried a bento that featured wafu hamburger. It was a small, but thick, hamburger patty served with lots of grated daikon in a light shoyu (soy sauce) broth. Intrigued, I tried to look up a recipe that would generate similar results, but failed to find one.

This is my fourth iteration of the wafu hamburger and the first time I've remembered to write anything down. Some of the ingredients have been estimated so there's no need to follow everything verbatim. Adjust the ingredients as you like. A recipe makes about 14 burgers; I slightly modified the original recipe so that it can be easily doubled or halved.

Ingredients:

Hamburger:

• 1 small onion
• 2 lbs lean ground beef
• 2/3 cup plain bread crumbs
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Oil for frying

Broth:

• 3/4 cup soy sauce 
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup mirin
• 2 dried shiitake mushroom
• dried konbu (about a 2 inch x 2 inch piece)
• 1 small daikon (roughly a pound)

Instructions (I recommend making the broth first):

To make the broth:

1. Combine all ingredients but the daikon in a medium pot on medium heat
2. While the broth is simmering, peel then shred the daikon with a daikon grater (a cheese grater with small holes works just as well)
3. Remove the mushrooms and konbu from the broth after they have expanded to their original size (about 15-20 minutes of simmering)
4. Add the daikon to the broth and then raise the temperature to high. 
5. Cook the daikon for a few minutes until semi-translucent (this removes the bitterness from the daikon and also adds flavor to the broth)
6. Remove the daikon with a strainer into a bowl and reserve for later.

To make the hamburger patties:

1. Dice and fry the onion until translucent
2. While the onion is frying, combine the remaining burger ingredients (beef, bread crumbs, eggs, milk, pepper, and salt) in a large bowl. 
3. Mix the onions into the hamburger mix (hands work the best here)
4. Form patties about 3 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick
5. Fry the patties 2-3 minutes per side with a pan on medium heat

 Assembling everything together:

1. Transfer the hamburgers to a pan (or pans) large enough to fit all the patties. Pour the broth over the patties and place a cover over the pan. 
2. Simmer the hamburger patties in the broth on low for 20 minutes (or longer if you'd like), turning the patties over halfway through.
3. When ready to eat, serve the hamburger with a heaping pile of cooked daikon and pour additional broth over it. Add some chopped green onion for a bit of color. Enjoy!