Nikujaga: Japanese Beef and Potato Stew
Salty, sweet and full of umami richness, nikujaga or Japanese beef and potato stew, is a delicious dish that you're not likely to find in a restaurant.Nikujaga is flavored with dashi, soy sauce, sake and mirin. Inspired by Episode 1 of Restaurant to Another World, an anime series I discovered on Netflix.
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
- 1 large yellow onion peeled, halved and thickly sliced
- 500 grams beef brisket cut across the grain into ¼-inch thick slices
- 2 cups dashi
- ¼ cup Japanese soy sauce
- ¼ cup sake
- ¼ cup mirin
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 medium carrot peeled and cut into serving-size pieces
- 2 medium potatoes peeled and cut into serving-size pieces
- 8 medium shiitake stems discarded and caps cut into halves
- 500 grams shirataki
- 100 grams snow peas trimmed
Instructions
- Heat the sesame oil in a thick-bottomed pan.
- Saute the sliced onion in the oil until translucent.
- Add the beef slices to the onion and cook, tossing occasionally, until no longer pink.
- Pour in the dashi, soy sauce, sake and mirin. Stir in the sugar. Bring to the boil, and allow to boil uncovered for five minutes.
- Lower the heat and cover the pan. Simmer the beef until tender. If the liquid dries out before the beef is done, pour in water, no more than half a cup each time (see notes after the recipe).
- When the beef is tender, add the potatoes, carrot, shiitake and shirataki to the beef. Continue simmering until the carrot is tender (by that time, the potatoes and shiitake will be done too).
- Spread the snow peas on the stew. Cover the pan. Simmer for five minutes (see notes after the recipe).
- Taste the stew. Add more soy sauce or sugar, or both, to balance the flavors.
- Divide the beef, potatoes, carrot, shiitake, shirataki and snow peas among four bowls. Ladle in the sauce and serve hot.
Notes
You want the cooking liquid to reduce to concentrate the flavors. But remember that you also need enough liquid to cook the vegetables and noodles in. So, if you need to add water, do so sparingly. Ideally, the liquid should reduce down to a cup or less by the time the stew is done.
If there is still plenty of liquid by the time you’re adding the snow peas, turn up the heat and cook the snow peas uncovered to reduce the liquid some more.
Do NOT be tempted to add more dashi in place of water because that will make the stew too salty.
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