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- Nikujaga（Braised beef and potatoes）
Nikujaga（Braised beef and potatoes）
The most basic of home dishes in Japan.
| Category | Japanese food |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | Medium |
| Required time | 45minutes |
| Calories | 290kcal |
Drinks recommended for this dish
Ingredients (4 persons' portion)
- 200 g beef (thinly sliced)
- 3 large (500 g) potatoes
- 1 medium carrot
- 1 large onion
- 1 package of shirataki noodles (made from devil's tongue starch)
- snow peas
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 tablespoons sake
- 1 tablespoon cane sugar
- 2 tablespoons mirin sweet cooking sake
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 200 to 300 ml dashi-jiru (Japanese soup base)
- salt
- Peel the potatoes and cut into large bite-sized pieces, and soak in cold water for 10 minutes. Cut the carrot in rolling wedges, and the onion into wedges.
- Knead the shirataki noodles with a little salt, and boil for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the shirataki noodles from the pot with a strainer, and cut into easy-to-eat lengths. Boil the snow peas with a little salt for a few seconds to bring out their vivid color. Plunge the snow peas in cold water for a few seconds, then wipe dry and cut into pieces.
- Heat the oil in a pot, and saute the beef until lightly browned. Add the sake and cane sugar, and saute briefly.
- Add the mirin, and stir lightly. Then, add the soy sauce and saute quickly.
- Add the drained potatoes, carrot, onion, and shirataki, and fry until they absorb the oil. Add dashi soup base until the ingredients are covered. Cover with a drop-lid and simmer on a low heat until the potatoes get soft, for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Add the snow peas just before serving and boil briefly. Remove from the heat, and place in a serving dish.
Point & Advice
Potatoes will maintain their shape better if soaked in cold water before cooking.
This recipe adds the seasonings at the start of cooking to thoroughly flavor the beef. If sodium or soy sauce is added before sugar, the beef and vegetables will not absorb the sugar. So make sure the seasonings are added in the correct order.
The amount of dashi soup base is just an indication. Adjust the amount so that beef and vegetables are completely covered in 【6】. When dashi soup base is not available, mix water with dashi-no-moto (Japanese soup stock powder), according to the instructions on the package.