How to Cook Perfect Nikujaga  (Simmered meat and potatoes)

Delicious, fresh and tasty.

Nikujaga  (Simmered meat and potatoes). Nikujaga quite literally translates to "meat and potatoes" - niku means "meat" and jaga means "potatoes" in Japanese. It's a comfort food and the Japanese version of beef stew. The beef in Nikujaga is added more for flavor than substance.

Nikujaga  (Simmered meat and potatoes) Nikujaga (meat and potatoes in Japanese) is a homey dish made of simmered potatoes, onion, shirataki, and surprisingly just a bit of meat for flavour. Just like most Japanese simmered dishes (nimono 煮物 ) the ingredients are simmered in a sweetened broth flavoured with dashi, sake, and soy sauce. Nikujaga is a standard family food in Japan. "niku" means meat and "jaga" means potatoes, so this is basically simmered potatoes and vegetables with meat. You can cook Nikujaga  (Simmered meat and potatoes) using 10 ingredients and 6 steps. Here is how you cook that.

Ingredients of Nikujaga  (Simmered meat and potatoes)

  1. Prepare 6 of potatoes.
  2. You need 1 of onion.
  3. You need 1 of carrot.
  4. You need 200 g of sliced beef or pork (ground meat is also ok.).
  5. You need 2 tbsp of olive oil.
  6. It's 6 tbsp of sake.
  7. It's 4 tbsp of sugar.
  8. It's 4 tbsp of mirin.
  9. You need 6 tbsp of soy sauce.
  10. It's 4 cup of dashi.

My grandfather's Nikujaga recipe doesn't use any broth, only sugar, sake and soy sauce, so it has a wonderful sweet taste. Great recipe for Nikujaga (Simmered meat and potatoes). Nikujaga is one of traditional dish in Japan. "Niku" means meat and "jaga(imo)" means potato in Japanese. It reminds us of taste of mom's cooking.

Nikujaga  (Simmered meat and potatoes) step by step

  1. Cut the potatoes and soak into water for a while. Slice onion. Cut carrot and beef into bite-size.  2. Add olive oil to the flying pan and sauté beef.  3. Add onion, carrot, and potato without water and sauté them.  4. Add dashi, sake and sugar. Simmer it for 5 minutes.  5. Skim the scum. Add mirin and soy sauce.  6. Place the paper towel directly on the food and simmer it       for 25 minutes..
  2. Add olive oil to the flying pan and sauté beef..
  3. Add onion, carrot, and potato and sauté them..
  4. Add dashi, sake and sugar. Simmer it for 5 minutes..
  5. Skim the scum. Add mirin and soy sauce..
  6. Place the paper towel directly on the food and simmer it for 25 minutes..

It is simmered the taste of ingredients and mom's love. Japanese Meat and Potato Stew is not like the Western style stew. Thinly sliced meat & potatoes are cooked in dashi-based stock and the sauce is not thick. Nikujaga translates literally to meat and potato. It can best be described as a Japanese beef stew recipe.