Japan · Meat Dishes
Nikujaga (Japanese Meat and Potato Stew)
Nikujaga (肉じゃが, also written nikujyaga, literally "meat and potatoes") is a Japanese home-style stew of thinly sliced beef, potatoes, onion and carrot simmered in a broth of dashi, soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar.
Ingredients
- beef, thinly sliced (ribeye or chuck)250 g
- potatoes500 g
- onion200 g
- carrot120 g
- shirataki noodles (optional)200 g
- snow peas8
- neutral oil1 tbsp
- dashi400 ml
- soy sauce4 tbsp
- mirin4 tbsp
- sake2 tbsp
- sugar1 tbsp
Method
- 1Peel the potatoes, cut them into chunks about 4 cm across and soak in cold water for 5 minutes; this rinses off surface starch so the broth stays clearer. Cut the carrot into irregular bite-sized pieces (rangiri: give the carrot a quarter turn after each diagonal cut, which exposes more surface to the broth) and the onion into 1 cm wedges. Cut the beef into bite-sized pieces.
- 2Bring a pot of water to the boil and blanch the snow peas for 1 minute, then lift them into cold water. In the same water boil the drained shirataki for 1 minute, drain and cut the strands in half; this takes away the faint smell of the packing liquid. Skip the shirataki step if you leave them out.
- 3Heat the oil in a wide, deep pan over medium heat. Cook the onion for 2 to 3 minutes until it starts to soften, then add the beef and stir until no pink is left. Frying first spreads the beef fat through the pan and gives the broth more flavour than simply boiling everything.
- 4Add the drained potatoes, then the carrot and shirataki, and stir for 1 to 2 minutes until everything is coated with oil. This way the vegetables pick up the flavour of the meat before any liquid goes in.
- 5Pour in the dashi and bring to the boil over medium heat. Skim off the grey foam with a spoon, otherwise it clouds the broth. Add the sugar, sake, mirin and soy sauce and stir once.
- 6Cover with an otoshibuta, a drop lid that rests directly on the food. If you have none, cut a circle of parchment paper or foil slightly smaller than the pan. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes without stirring, until a skewer slides easily into the largest potato. The lid keeps the top pieces under the surface of the broth so they season evenly, and stirring would break the potatoes apart.
- 7Turn off the heat, remove the lid and let the pot stand for 30 minutes; the potatoes keep absorbing the broth as it cools. Reheat gently for a few minutes with the snow peas and serve warm in shallow bowls with some of the broth.