Today I will let you in on an easy benihana garlic butter recipe that you can follow even when you are short on time. Now here is something that holds for most households: garlic and butter are common ingredients that we use in making a variety of dishes. Their popularity owes to their rich flavors which can turn a bland meal into a finger-licking delicacy in a few.
The fun comes in when you mix the two.
Have you ever considered this or given thought to what the result would be? Well, people at Benihana have. If you have not heard of Benihana, you should know that it is a Japanese restaurant that has risen in fame owing to its garlic butter sauce. Their dishes boast of flavors that most restaurants cannot achieve and they thus have many return customers.
If you would like to know how you can nail making Japanese garlic butter, read on for more details. Not only will I guide you through each step but I will take you through some dishes you can transform with this delicacy. Enjoy!
Benihana – All you need to know
I have been going on and on about Benihana, and if you have not heard of it before, you may wonder what the fuss is all about. This restaurant is one of the best teppanyaki establishments in America which has acquired a large customer base due to its unique cooking style.
Teppanyaki refers to a cooking style where the chef prepares and cooks the meal in front of the customers using a large skillet in the middle of the table. People find this cooking quite interesting as do I. Simply put; it’s much like going to a bar where a bartender pours you drinks and comes up with cocktails on sight. The only difference in this situation is that a chef whips up the food and cooks it right in front of you.
It’s not often that you get to have such a dining experience. The entertainment itself will ensure that you come back for more. The downside to this kind of dining is that you will run hot so be sure to dress lightly. But the chances are high that you won’t notice the heat once the chef starts working wonders right in front of you.
Now that I have covered teppanyaki, I can get down to the garlic butter. If you’re in a hurry, you could always get some from the store. But given that you have the necessary ingredients and could whip up some just as fast, it is way more fun and fulfilling to make your own. Trust me; it’s easy.
Using Whipped Garlic Butter
I’ll start by letting you in on how you can use the butter before we get to the preparation. One of the dishes that people enjoy alongside this delicacy is fried rice. With a little garlic butter in tow, the tasty rice becomes incredibly finger-licking.
That means that if you can make a batch of garlic butter sauce while at home, then you can easily make some fried rice and enjoy it in this manner. All you need for this are some bean sprouts, green onions, cooked rice, and some garlic butter. I prefer having ingredients such as beef, shrimp and eggs in my rice as it makes the meal tastier.
Another secret about this meal is that it can transform a plain old loaf of garlic bread to a snack that you can munch on delightfully when the hunger pangs strike. All you need to do is to apply some of the butter to a slice of the bread. The bread immediately absorbs the flavors, and you can feel them oozing out with every bite.
It’s so amazing how a single meal can get transformed by some garlic butter.
Other than my favorite go-to dishes, there are lots of different meals that you can enjoy with this butter. It all comes down to what tastes you like best. Some people try it on sauces, others on steak dishes while others try it on vegetables. The choice is yours and what works for my palate may not do so for yours.
How to Make Benihana Garlic Butter
I hope that I have excited you with the many ways in which you can use this sauce. You’ll be happy to know that you only need a few ingredients to make the sauce and the steps are oh so simple!
Ingredients
- ½ a cup of unsalted butter
- Two tablespoons of lemon juice
- A teaspoon of soy sauce
Two cloves of garlic
Points to note
For the butter, feel free to go with any brand. However, I recommend that you use high-quality brands such as Sysco to get a taste that is close to what you would get at a restaurant. And whatever you do; do not get salted butter as it will affect the results to a great extent.
Lemon juice gives the butter that extra freshness that we all crave in a meal. Do not extract the juice long before you start the preparations.
Here is a trick that comes in handy in the extraction.
Start by rolling the lemon on a hard surface while applying pressure to its side before you cut it. This step helps in releasing the juices, and you will have a much easier time when getting the juice than if you were to get into the juicing immediately.
Please do not buy the lemons that come in cartons in stores. They are likely to have a sweet taste that will get in the way of achieving an authentic whipped garlic butter.
Unsalted butter does not contain much salt, and we all know how useful this ingredient is in bringing out flavors. That is why you need the teaspoon of soy sauce. I mean, what is an Asian delicacy without some soy sauce. You can choose any soy sauce you find at the store. I recommend that you go with one that you have used in the past. If not, you can always choose whatever catches your eye.
The garlic that you choose has to be fresh. You can check for freshness by applying pressure on it. If the piece feels hard when you squeeze it, it means that it is fresh. Garlic tends to lose firmness as it ages and you’ll want to avoid any pieces that give in to pressure. Also, choose garlic that still has its skin in place to get that fresh flavor.
Tools Required
You are halfway there now that you have all the ingredients in place. Here is the equipment you need to prepare the butter:
- Bowl
- Spatula
- Container
For the bowl, you want to use one that is large enough to accommodate the above ingredients. It’s better to have one that is too big than to have one where you have to keep worrying about spilling the components.
Any bowl is okay for this kind of work, but since you are handling butter, it’s best to go with ceramic or stainless steel surfaces. I find that it is quite hard to clean plastic bowls once they come into contact with butter. If you don’t have an alternative, you can use anything. It will not affect the results, and it is a matter of preference.
A spatula is quite handy when mixing ingredients as you can always scrape the sides and add the mixture to the batch. I recommend that you use a small one made of plastic as it will help you reach all parts of the container. It will also be efficient in combining all the ingredients.
Before making the butter, you should consider whether you can finish it all in one go. If you have lots of people in the house like I often do, you don’t need to think much about storage. But if you can’t finish it or you want to make a batch that you can use for a long time, be sure to get an airtight container where you can store the remainder. Ensure that the container cannot leak as you don’t want to lose any of the flavors in the butter.
Now we are done with the preliminaries, and we can get down to the making of the butter.
Directions
Start by assembling the ingredients and tools stipulated above. Next, prepare the materials that you wish to use. For the bowl, spatula and container (optional), ensure that they are clean and that they don’t have any water with them. The best way to do this is by cleaning them with dish soap before rinsing them with lots of water and drying them with a washcloth.
For the ingredients, you can now clean the lemon and the garlic and set them in a small bowl. The chances are high that your butter will not be at room temperature as stores sell dairy products when chilled. Working with butter when it is in this state can be quite tricky but you can make your work easier by softening it.
You don’t even have to warm it in the microwave. Leave it at room temperature for about fifteen to thirty minutes, and it will be much easier to handle. Don’t worry; this period is not enough for it to go rancid and you shouldn’t have any health concerns over this. In the colder months, you may have to place it in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it a little.
As the butter softens, you can now start working on making the lemon juice and cutting the garlic cloves. If you extract a lot of lemon juice, you can store it in the fridge. I prefer using one half and saving the uncut half for a later date. Or taking some hot water with the remainder; it is your choice.
For the garlic cloves, it depends on what you like in your food. If you prefer having large pieces of garlic in your meals, then cut the cloves into big chunks. If you prefer them small, work with what you like. It is a matter of preference, and I have come across people who prefer using toasted garlic for its exceptional flavors.
I’ve tried it too, and the taste is out of this world.
The next step is pretty easy. Take all the ingredients and place them in a bowl. Proceed to combine them using the spatula through a folding method. Gently fold the butter towards the center of the bowl until the ingredients combine evenly. Once you achieve an even color, you have reached the right consistency. You can choose to continue but overworking the mixture is not necessary. Plus, you don’t want the butter to soften too much while at room temperature.
Once you get an even color, you can now store the mixture in the fridge if you do not plan on using it immediately. If you plan on using it, you can use it to prepare meals such as vegetables, poultry, and bread. The butter should last at least three weeks in the fridge. If you want it to last much longer, you could always use an airtight container, and it should be good for a month or more.
Cooks also have another way that they store this butter, which is entirely genius. Wrap it like candy and place it in the fridge. In this way, any time you want to use it, you can slice out the amount you need and put the rest in the refrigerator.
Hibachi garlic butter is one of those delicacies that genuinely make a difference in meals. It is versatile such that you can use it in a variety of dishes including sauces, steaks, chicken and many more meals with ease. I even use it on pizza when I have kids around the house, and they love it. And it takes only four ingredients to make. Try our benihana garlic butter recipe today and get to taste the difference!
