Saucy Dish - Japanese Hayashi Sauce

I took a risk one day at the Japanese supermarket and bought this brown-looking sauce that was on sale.  I actually never tried hayashi sauce until this year!  It's thick like curry but without the spices.  It's salty enough that you have to eat it with rice or noodles.  It's definintely something new that I've never tasted before.  I love the fact that it's really simple and quick to make (nothing beats cooking directions right off the box), and you can add any type of chopped meat (even ground!) and vegetables to the sauce.

Egg-Wrapped Rice and Hayashi Sauce

Ingredients
Hayashi Sauce:
- 1/2 lb shoulder pork, cut into cubes
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 2 stalks of celery, diced
- 1 1/2 cups of water
- 1 large carrot, diced
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 1/2 cup mushroom, sliced
- 4 blocks of hayashi sauce (half of the box)

Eggs and rice:
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 1 stalk of green onion, finely diced
- dash of salt
- 2 tsp olive oil (per egg pancake)
- 2 cups of Japanese rice, cooked according to packaging label

Tools
- cast iron pot
- small frying pan
- football-shaped rice mold

Steps
Hayashi Sauce (directly from back of the box):
1. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil and saute onions and celery until light brown.  Add in meat and cook until brown.

2. Add water, carrots, peas, and mushroom and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes.

3. Remove from heat. Break 4 blocks of hayashi sauce (half of the box contents) into the water mixture and stir until completely melted. Bring the pot back to the stove and let it simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Serve when ready.

Eggs and rice:
1. Once the rice is cooked, scoop rice into mold and carefully place onto a plate.

2. Heat 2 tsp olive oil in a small frying pan.  Beat up eggs and add in green onions and dash of salt.  Add in a quarter of the egg liquids and spread the egg mix around until the pan is covered.  Carefully flip to the other side and cook for about 10 seconds.  Take egg pancake out of the pan and place egg over rice mold. Repeat for the 3 other egg pancakes.

5. Pour a big spoonful of hayashi sauce over egg and rice.

Serves 4.