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Home » Donburi

Chaliapin Steak Don (Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma Recreation Recipe)

Published: Apr 2, 2021 · Modified: Feb 16, 2023 by Yuto Omura

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"Chaliapin Steak Don" is the ultimate tender steak rice bowl. This dish was made famous through an anime called "Food Wars!" and is made up of refreshing umeboshi and shiso flavoured rice, topped with marinated steak, soft golden onions and a rich red wine sauce. It will literally melt your mouth!

Chaliapin Steak Don topped with onions, red wine sauce and chopped spring onions

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Jump to:
  • Chaliapin Steak
  • Meat "Doneness"
  • Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma
  • Umeboshi
  • Watch the video "Chaliapin Steak Don"
  • Community feedback

Chaliapin Steak

What is Chaliapin Steak?

Chaliapin steak (シャリアピンステーキ) is a super soft steak that has been marinated in grated or finely chopped onions to make it extremely tender, and then served topped with onions and a rich red wine sauce.

I have to be honest, I'd never heard of this dish until the anime "Shokugeki no Soma" (食戟のソーマ) made it popular, but it's a real Japanese steak dish with an interesting history!

Chaliapin steak served in a white bowl

The History of Chaliapin Steak

Chaliapin steak was created by a chef working at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo in 1936.

During that time, a Russian opera singer named Feodor Chaliapin was visiting Japan. He was said to be suffering from toothaches during his visit and requested an extra tender steak to prevent worsening the pain. A chef named Fukuo Tsutsui fulfilled his request and the Chaliapin steak was born!

Tsutsui's method for making the steak extremely soft included beating it with a meat tenderizer and then coating it in chopped onions. It is believed that he got the idea from using onions in beef sukiyaki.

close up of fried onions served on top of Chaliapin steak don

What kind of steak should I use?

Although the dish looks and sounds quite elegant, the true goal is to use cheaper cuts of meat and then tenderize it.

Expensive beef like "wagyu" is already tender, it doesn't need so much work. The beauty of this dish is that you don't need expensive meat!

I recommend using one of the following:

  • Sirloin
  • Fillet
  • Chuck
  • Chuck Eye

Most importantly, try and use a steak that is thick so that you can get nice slices with pink in the middle.

The Science of Tenderizing Beef

The process of tenderising meat means helping break down proteins and muscle fibers in order to create a soft and tender steak. This can be achieved in a number of ways.

  • Marinating
  • Meat tenderising tool (looks like a small spikey hammer)
  • Making a crosshatch pattern with a knife
  • Poking holes
  • Slicing against the grain
  • Allowing the meat to reach room temperature before cooking
  • Resting the meat after cooking

I'd say the most common method I use is "marinating" and you'll see it a lot in my recipes.

Acidic ingredients such as lemon, pineapple, vinegar and even yogurt are great at breaking down the proteins in beef. They contain "proteolytic enzymes" which can also be found in onions!

In this recipe, we're aiming for SUPER tender, so I'm basically gonna use all of the techniques and a tonne of onions. I hope you're ready!

steaks marinating covered in blended onion in a silver container

Meat "Doneness"

For this recipe, the steak is best served rare or medium-rare. Of course, if you prefer your steak well done, you can still cook it that way.

It's kinda hard to give a time on how long it takes for the steak to reach each stage of "doneness". Factors that affect the cooking time include the thickness of your steak, whether your steak is room temperature or is straight out of the fridge (I really recommend letting the steaks reach room temp before cooking) and even the type of pan you use and how hot you can get it.

With this in mind, rather than giving you a time, I want you to follow the chart below!

If you use this method of comparing the firmness of your palm with the firmness of your steak, you're on the road to making perfect steak every time! It's easy to remember too!

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma

As I mentioned before, Chaliapin Steak gained popularity through a famous anime called "Shokugeki no Soma" (食戟のソーマ) in Japanese and "Food Wars!" in English.

The recipes featured on there create a lot of hype online and even though they're animated, you've gotta admit that they look so delicious.

One thing that captured my interest was making Chaliapin steak into a donburi dish and using "umeboshi" pickled plum paste to flavour the rice. I had to try it out! I added my own twist by adding sliced shiso leaf to the rice too, shiso and ume taste great together. (You can buy umeboshi on Amazon here.)

making umeboshi rice with ooba leaf

Umeboshi

What is Umeboshi?

So for this donburi recipe, I'm going to show you how to make umeboshi rice. Umeboshi (梅干し) is a small pickled Japanese plum which is very sour and salty in flavour. I've gotta say that I love umeboshi!

You might have seen it placed on top of rice or in bento boxes and it's a very popular flavour in Japan. You can find umeboshi flavour crisps (potato chips), popcorn and drinks!

You should be able to find umeboshi or umeboshi paste in Japanese supermarkets or online (you can buy on Amazon here) but if you can't find it then it's okay to make this dish with plain rice too. Umeboshi are an acquired taste and you should definitely try it if you have a chance! I think the flavour makes this dish very unique, but it's not essential.

Eating Chaliapin Steak Don with a spoon

Let's get to it!

Watch the video "Chaliapin Steak Don"

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Chaliapin Steak Don (Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma Recreation Recipe)


★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews

  • Author: Yuto Omura
  • Total Time: 1 hour
  • Yield: 2 portions
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Description

How to make Chaliapin Steak Donburi (Shokugeki no Soma Recreation Recipe). Fluffy Japanese rice seasoned with ume (salty pickled plum) and shiso leaves, topped with tender, melt in the mouth steak, fried onions and a rich red wine sauce. 


Ingredients

  • 2 Thick sirlion steaks or fillet
  • 3 White onions
  • Pinch of salt and pepper
  • 1 tbsp Unsalted butter
  • 1 tbsp beef fat (beef dripping) or a neutral oil with a high smoke point (like vegetable oil or canola)
  • 300g Cooked Japanese short grain white rice
  • 3 Umeboshi pickled plums (optional)
  • 4 Shiso leaves or Ooba leaves (optional)
  • 2 tbsp Spring onion chopped - to garnish

Sauce

  • 1 tbsp Unsalted butter
  • 75ml (5 tbsp) Red wine
  • 1 tbsp Soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp Water  + 1 tsp Corn starch (or potato starch)

Instructions

Prepping steaks

  1. Grate or blitz one of the white onions in a food processor to make a chunky paste.
    blending one onion in a food processor
  2. Wrap the steaks with cling film and tenderise using a meat tenderiser or a rolling pin. Beat until approx 1.5 - 2cm thick (approx ¾ inch).
    pound the meat to tenderize
  3. Unwrap the steaks and score the top and bottom diagonally with a sharp knife. Cut lightly over the surfaces, make sure not to cut all the way through.
    scoring the steaks with a diamond pattern
  4. Take a plate or container large enough for your steaks and line the bottom with half of the grated onion. Spread the other half over the top of the steaks and make sure they're completely covered.
    covering the steaks in blended onion
  5. Cover the container with a lid or cling film and leave in a cool place for 30 minutes. (Don't refrigerate.)
    cover the steak (with a lid or cling film)

Sautéed Onions

  1. Finely chop the other 2 onions.
    finely dicing onions
  2. Melt 1 tbsp of butter in a frying pan on medium heat.
    melting butter in the pan
  3. Add the rest of your chopped onions and cook until the colour turns lightly golden.
    adding diced onion to the pan
  4. Once it reaches a light gold colour, add a pinch of salt and stir. Continue to fry until golden brown.
    adding salt to sautéed onions
  5. When it's cooked, set it aside for later.
    onions sautéed until golden

Cooking steak

  1. Scrape the chopped onion off of the steak and discard.
    tenderised steak in a silver container
  2. Wash the steak under cold water and pat dry with a paper towel.
    patting steaks dry with a paper towel
  3. Sprinkle each side with a pinch of salt and pepper.
    sprinkling the steaks with salt and pepper
  4. Heat up a frying pan on high and once it's smoking, add 1 tbsp of beef fat or oil.
    adding oil to the smoking pan
  5. Once the fat is heated, add the steak to the pan.
    adding the steaks to the pan
  6. Fry the steak until it's slightly charred and flip it over.
    Flipping the steaks once charred
  7. Continue to fry until it reaches your preferred "doneness". I recommend rare or medium rare (52-54°C/125-130°F) for Chaliapin steak.
    Testing the firmness of the steak with finger test
  8. Once the steak is cooked, transfer to a plate and allow to rest.

Sauce

  1. In the same pan as you cooked the steaks, melt 1 tbsp of butter on a medium heat until you can smell the butter aroma.
    melting butter in the pan
  2. Add 1 tbsp soy sauce and cook until you can smell the soy sauce aroma. 
    adding soy sauce to the pan
  3. Next add 75ml (5 tbsp) red wine to the sauce.
    adding wine to the pan
  4. The juices from the steak should have leaked out onto the plate by now, pour those juices into the sauce for extra flavour. 
    adding the meat juices to the sauce
  5. Let the sauce bubble for a few minutes to burn off the alcohol. 
    bubbling red wine sauce
  6. In a small bowl, mix 1 tbsp cold water with 1 tsp corn starch and pour it into the sauce.
    adding corn starch slurry to the sauce
  7. Mix until the sauce is thickened and then remove it from the heat. 
    Removing the thickened sauce from the heat

Ume Rice (optional steps)

  1. Cut the shiso leaves into thin strips.
    Cutting shiso leaf into strips
  2. Remove the seeds from the umeboshi. 
    Removing the seeds from the umeboshi
  3. Using a knife, cut the umeboshi into small pieces until it becomes a paste.
    Chopping the ume until it becomes a paste
  4. Put 300g of cooked white rice into a large bowl and add the umeboshi paste and finely sliced shiso leaves.
    add shiso leaves and umeboshi to cooked rice
  5. Mix well.
    Mixing the umeboshi and shiso leaves into the rice in a glass bowl

Dishing up

  1. Divide the rice into two bowls.
    Ume rice dished up into a white bowl on a grey background
  2. Slice the steak meat into bite size pieces and lay them on the top of the rice.
    Cut the steak into bitesize slices on a wooden chopping board
  3. Pile up the sautéed onion on top and drizzle with the red wine sauce.
    pouring the red wine sauce over the onions and steak
  4. Garnish with chopped spring onion.
    sprinkling Chaliapin Steak Don with spring onion
  5. Enjoy!
    Chaliapin steak don served in a white bowl, black chopsticks lifting one piece of steak
  • Prep Time: 40 mins
  • Cook Time: 20 mins
  • Category: Meat
  • Method: Frying
  • Cuisine: Japanese

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  1. manuel

    February 11, 2023 at 12:37 pm

    Genuinely whеn ѕomeone doesn't understand after that
    its up to othеr visitⲟrs that they will help, so here it
    happеns.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  2. Ric

    April 12, 2023 at 1:14 am

    Finger method has been proven to be inconsistent. Just use a meat thermometer for better results. Good recipe though

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Yuto Omura

      April 12, 2023 at 6:12 pm

      Hi Ric,
      Yes a meat thermometer is the most accurate, but I like to suggest the finger method as a general guide for those without meat thermometers. I've updated the post to let other readers know that it's not 100% accurate. Thank you for pointing that out!

      Reply

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