Japanese beef and potato stew (nikujaga)
Nikujaga is flavored with dashi, soy sauce, sake and mirin. This recipe was 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.
- 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.
- 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.