Recipe - Teriyaki Loco Moco

Since we had Loco Moco for the first time on holiday, we have been wanting to have it at home. I went on a search and found this recipe from Farm Girl Gourmet.  The original recipe is here.  

Teriyaki Loco Moco - serves 4

This is traditionally a breakfast dish but you can serve it for any meal.

4 cups water
2 cups white rice
1 lb. ground beef
1 small onion, minced
5 garlic cloves, minced
1-1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
1 Egg
1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon milk
Salt and pepper to taste
4 eggs, fried to taste or poached
Favorite Teriyaki Sauce
Favorite Brown Gravy

Garnishes:

Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
Sriracha Sauce (if you can't find Sriracha, your favorite hot sauce) 
Teriyaki Sauce(s)
Sliced Green Onions

In a medium saucepan bring the 4 cups of water to a boil.  Add the rice and stir.  Cover with a lid and turn the heat to low.  For the timing, cook the rice according to directions on the packet.  If you have a rice cooker use that.

Mix the first 8 ingredients (beef through to the salt and pepper) in a medium bowl until well combined.  Form into four patties and grill or broil to the way you like it.

To serve, scoop 1 cup rice per bowl, top with a burger and add brown gravy as much as you like to your own taste, along with the teriyaki sauce.  Top with a fried egg and garnish with a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes and green onions.  


Serve with a cold beer, Hawaiian if it is available in your area and just to complete the theme. While you're at it, play some Hawaiian Music, serve your beer in a coconut shell, wear your grass skirt and pretend you're in the islands. And yes, I am joking but a girl can dream.

What did we think of our first homemade Loco-Moco?  It was delicious even without the imagination running amok.  I put too much Sriracha Sauce on for me, so go lightly if you don't like it too hot. I also used brown rice as I couldn't find any white when I checked the pantry.

There are different versions of Loco-Moco.  The ones we tried on holiday didn't have any of the garnishes. 

According to this website:

"Rudy Legaspi, former member and unofficial historian of the Trop-Ties (also recently retired Executive Assistant to the Mayor of Hawaii County and admitted loco-moco fanatic) says, 'The loco-moco had its origins with the Lincoln Wreckers Athletic Club, an informal organization for local teenagers in the late 1940s.  The group used to hang-out at the Lincoln  Grill Restaurant across the street from the Lincoln Park in downtown Hilo.

The Lincoln Wreckers, who played in the local "bare-foot" football league of the time, had some success on the field, but its main claim to fame was their creation of the loco-moco.  The popular local dish has become a staple on restaurant menus throughout the islands and is a recognized cultural cuisine icon, as much as a taco is to Mexican fare or a pizza to Italian fare.  

The loco-moco story began in 1949, after Richard and Nancy Inouye opened the Lincoln Grill Restaurant.  The teens used to hang-out at the eatery, playing the pin-ball machines, cards, dropping nickels in the Wurlitzer jukebox and constantly feeding their hungry appetites.  And in those days, when teens didn't have much money for their pockets, the standard fare was a bowl of saimin noodles or a hamburger, things which didn't quite fill the always hungry teens.

So the club devised a plan to ask the Inouyes to create a special dish just for them, something filling and affordable.  For the task, the Wreckers nominated a guy nicknamed "Crazy" for his wild and madcap play on the football field.  Crazy approached the Inouyes with the club's request, and the rest is history.'"