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Japanese Meat and Potato Stew (Nikujaga)

4

Special Diet

Course

Main Course

Main Ingredient

Beef, Pork

Occasion

Authentic Japanese

Ingredients

  • 3 Potatoes
  • 2 Small onions
  • 1 Carrot
  • 8 Snow peas
  • 1 Tbsp Cooking oil
  • 1/2 lb. Beef or pork, thinly sliced*
  • 2 cups Dashi ( 2 cups of water + 18g package of dashi powder)

Seasonings

Directions

  • Peel the potatoes and chop them to bite sizes. Soak them in cold water while preparing the other ingredients. This helps remove some of the starch.
  • Chop onion in wedges. Chop carrots to bite sizes.
  • Trim ends of snow peas and remove tough strings that runs across the sides if there is any. To blanch snow peas, boil water in a small pot, add snow peas to the boiled water for 30 seconds, then quickly remove with a slotted spoon and plunge them into the ice bath to stop the cooking process. Remove them from the ice bath and set them aside.
  • In a large pot heat oil on medium heat and saute the onion.
  • Add the meat and cook until no longer pink.
  • Add the potatoes and carrots and mix them together.
  • Add dashi and make sure it's just enough to cover the ingredients. Cook until it comes to a boil. Skim off foam.
  • Add the seasoning ingredients, mix gently and cover with a drop lid**. Cook over medium-low heat for about 14 minutes, or until potatoes are cooked and all the flavors are absorbed.
  • Turn off the heat, top with the blanched snow peas, and serve.
* For beef, look for a cut with marbling like rib-eye or chuck. For pork, pork shoulder works well.
** A drop lid is a round lid called “Otoshibuta” in Japanese used for simmering dishes. The lid should be slightly smaller than the diameter of the pot you are using.
As the lid is placed directly on the ingredients while simmering, it prevents ingredients from breaking apart, allowing the sauce to distribute evenly.
In place of a drop lid, you can make one with aluminum foil by shaping it round and prick it in the center to make a vent. 
Check out more Tamari Soy Sauce main course recipes.

Ratings & Reviews

  1. Made this tonight for dinner. I added some ingredients like shirataki and konbu-dashi, which turned out really good. It hits home. It tastes just like how it was back in school.

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