Learn how to make Saizeriya's most loved dish, Milano Meat Doria! Turmeric rice topped with creamy béchamel sauce, flavourful meat sauce and tangy pecorino cheese.
Disclaimer: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. Sudachi Recipes earn a small percentage from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. See disclaimer for more info.
Jump to:
Saizeriya?
A quick question for people who either have been to Japan, have you ever been to Saizeriya?
Saizeriya is a famous Italian-Japanese family restaurant found all over Japan.
It's known for cheap yet delicious Italian-style dishes and wines.
I grew up going there very often and still go there sometimes, it's safe to say the "Milano Doria" is the most iconic and loved dish in there.
What is "Doria"?
Doria is a popular oven baked dish made up of flavoured short grain rice topped with white sauce and cheese. You could say it's a rice gratin.
Saizeriya's Milano meat doria (ミラノ風ドリア or Milano fu doria) in particular is made with turmeric flavoured rice and topped with a rich tomato based meat sauce. It can be made with ground beef, pork or a mixture of the two. (Alternatively, you can use chicken or a even a meat substitute if you want to make it vegetarian!)
For almost entire my life, I believed doria is an Italian dish but apparently it's not! Thanks Saizeriya for tricking me like that!
Instead, it's actually Japanese style western food (yoshoku) that was created by a Swiss chef called Saly Weil who worked at Yokohama Hotel New Grand back in 1930.
The original version was simply risotto topped with bechamel sauce and baked in the oven.
What Ingredients are used in "Doria"?
Meat doria has evolved over time and the Saizeriya version has the following:
- Turmeric rice
- Meat sauce
- Bechamel sauce
- Cheese
They named the dish Milano-style doria which doesn't really make sense to me now because it's not actually from Milan.
What kind of cheese is used for Doria?
It came to my attention that the term "cheese" in Japan is quite vague. If you go to supermarkets in Japan, lots of packed shredded cheese are labelled simply as "Mixed cheese (ミックスチーズ)" which is generally a mixture of Gouda, Cheddar, Mozzarella and/or Steppen cheese.
In this recipe, I originally used gouda and cheddar mixed shredded cheese and a hard cheese powder, but in fact, Saizeriya only uses pecorino cheese, not melted cheese.
Grated hard cheese like pecorino or parmigiano are important for adding a rich, cheesy flavour to the doria but you can add melty cheese too. I love cheese so I sprinkled extra melt-able cheese over the top. It becomes golden and delicious in the oven too.
Hard Cheese
Pre-grated hard cheese products in Japan are also often a mixture of different cheeses and are simply labelled as "powdered cheese (粉チーズ)".
For flavour (and a more authentic Saizeriya taste) use a hard grated cheese:
- Pecorino
- Parmigiano (parmesan)
Meltable Cheese
For a stringy melty texture, use one of these cheeses:
- Gouda
- Light Cheddar
- Gruyere
- Emmental
- Mozarella
- Raclette
Basically, if it's a cheese that you would use on lasagna, then you can definitely use it in doria too. The truth is, many different cheeses work in this recipe so have fun making milano meat doria with your favourite cheese!
Anyway, for anyone who's missing Saizeriya dishes, this recipe is definitely for you!
Let's enjoy homemade Saizeriya style milano meat doria at home!
Check out our video for Saizeriya-style Meat Doria
Saizeriya Milano Doria Recreation Recipe (Japanese Meat Gratin）
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 2 portions 1x
Description
A recreation recipe of Saizeriya's most loved dish, Milano Meat Doria. Turmeric rice topped with creamy béchamel sauce, tomato meat sauce with a kick and tangy pecorino cheese.
Ingredients
Rice
- 150g (5.3oz) uncooked short grain rice
- 200ml (0.85 cups) water
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 pinch of salt
Meat sauce (see note)
- 100g (3.5) ground meat (see note)
- ½ onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- ½ can of diced tomato (half of 400g/14oz)
- 1 tsp flour
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- ½ tbsp sugar
- A pinch of curry powder
White sauce (see note)
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 pinch of black pepper
- 150ml (⅔ cups) milk
- 125ml (½ cup) single cream
Topping
- 2 tbsp hard cheese (Pecorino or Parmesan)
- A sprinkle of your preferred melting cheese (I used a mixture of light cheddar and gouda)
Instructions
Cooking the Rice
- Cook the rice as you would usually do with 1 tsp turmeric powder and 1 tbsp butter. (Make sure to mix before turning on the heat.)
(Using a rice cooker is the easiest way. Japanese rice for "doria" on the stove: Wash 150g short grain rice 3 times and soak in 200ml of cold water in your cooking pot for 30 mins. Add 1 tsp tumeric powder and 1 tbsp unsalted butter and mix. With the lid on, heat the pot of rice on medium until the water comes to the boil. When you can hear the water boiling, without removing the lid, reduce the heat to medium low for 5 mins. Reduce the heat again to the lowest setting and continue to cook for 5 mins. After the 5 mins are up, turn off the heat and leave for 10 mins. By leaving the lid on, the rice continues to cook in the steam/residual heat.)
- Prepare the other parts of the dish while the rice is cooking.
Meat sauce
- Dice the ½ a white onion.
- Drizzle 1 tsp olive oil into the pan and heat on medium-high.
- Once it's heated, add the onion and crush 1 garlic clove into the pan. Fry for 2 mins.
- Add 100g mince meat and cook until browned.
- Sprinkle a pinch of salt and pepper and add the 1 tsp flour.
- Pour in ½ a can of tomatoes (200g) and bring it to the boil.
- Once it starts bubbling, bring the heat down to low.
- Add 1 tsp soy sauce, ½ tbsp sugar and ¼ tsp of curry powder, mix and then simmer on a low heat with the lid on for 10 mins.
White Sauce
- Melt 2 tbsp unsalted butter in a saucepan on a low heat.
- Add 2 tbsp flour and a pinch of salt and pepper, mix thoroughly to make a roux.
- Gradually add 125m single cream and 150ml milk while whisking.
- Turn up the heat to medium-low and cook until thick and creamy. Once thick, remove from the heat.
Assembling The Doria
- Preheat your oven to 220°C (or 430°F).
- Put the turmeric rice into an ovenproof dish. (You can use 1 medium oven dish or 2 smaller ones)
- Layer the rice with the white sauce.
- Add the meat sauce to the centre.
- Sprinkle the hard cheese (Pecorino or Parmesan) and your preferred melting cheese (such as cheddar or gouda) over the top.
- Bake for 10 mins on the middle shelf. Move to the top shelf for the last 5 minutes to add golden colour to the cheese.
- Serve up and enjoy!
Notes
We use beef/pork minced meat in our recipe but you can also use chicken or even a meat substitute if you want to make it vegetarian friendly.
It's a short cut but you can use pre-made bolognese and white sauce if you don't want to make sauces from scratch.
If you want to make it in advance, cook the rice, béchamel sauce and meat sauce and assemble the doria, then store it in the refrigerator and cook the next day. (I don't recommend keeping it longer than that.)
Freeze unbaked doria for up to 3 months. Cook from frozen at 190°C (375°F) covered with foil for 50 mins then remove the tin foil and bake for another 5-10 mins uncovered.
Store leftovers in the refrigerator for 1-2 days and reheat in the microwave.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 50 mins
- Category: Yoshoku
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Japanese / Italian
Keywords: doria,saizeriya,how to make Japanese doria,Saizeriya doria recipe,Japanese style doria,Japanese doria recipe,meat doria,beef, Japanese gratin recipe, meat gratin, doria,japanese gratin,Japanese casserole recipes,milano doria,Japanese cheesy rice,What is doria,Japanese Italian recipes, Japanese meat gratin, milano meat doria, milano fu doria, Japanese meat doria recipe, Japanese meat doria,
Izu
How big is the can of tomatoes...?
Yuto Omura
Sorry a can is 400g so 1/2 is 200g, I will add the measurement to the recipe! Thank you for the comment!
Amanda
Made this last night and added a little roasted eggplant on top - fantastic! Thank you for helping us satisfy the Saizeriya craving!
Yuto Omura
So happy you liked it Amanda!
I love the eggplant idea, gonna try that next time I make it too! Thank you 🙂
Courtney
I know you meant mozzarella, but maybe consider specifying it? I am aware that in Japan mozzarella is the only widely available cheese, but I think many if not most people reading your recipes come from and live in western countries.
Also, this recipe is super delicious and surprisingly easy to make, thank you!
https://coloradaninkyoto.wordpress.com/2021/01/28/dear-japanese-people/
★★★★★
Yuto Omura
Thank you for your comment and rating, it's greatly appreciated.
Also thank you for bringing the cheese to my attention, I've updated the post to be a bit more informative about types of cheese you can use. 🙂
Jo
Hi,
The water to rice ratio just increase accordingly?
300g rice is 400g water and 450g rice is 600g water?
Yuto Omura
Hi Jo,
Yes that's exactly right 🙂
Karen
What kind of canned tomatoes did you use? Is that purée, diced, crushed, etc?
Yuto Omura
Hi Karen,
I used the diced kind but I think crushed works too. I've updated the recipe to specify, thanks for commenting!
Edith
Hello Omura san,
Thank you so much for your great recipe. I tried once and it's absolutely delicious. I want to make it once again but I don't have cream this time. Can I make the white sauce without cream but only milk?
★★★★★
Yuto Omura
Hi Edith,
Thank you for trying the recipe, glad to hear you enjoyed it!
Great question, yes you can but because milk has a thinner consistency you don't simply substitute with milk. I recommend using 200ml of milk in total and adding it one third at a time. I actually use a milk-only white sauce in my seafood doria recipe, so you can check it out here for detailed instructions. Hope that helps, thank you for the rating!
BC
Very helpful and detailed steps, and just as importantly, the doria tasted great!
★★★★★
Yuto Omura
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂