Nikujaga—warm up with Japanese-style comfort food!
Nikujaga, literally meaning meat-potato, was invented by the Japanese Imperial Navy in the late 19th century. It is believed to be the Japanese take on British beef stew. Today, I think it’s safe to say nikujaga is one of the most frequently home-cooked dishes in Japan. Historically, carrots, onions, and potatoes have been easily found in the freezing winter months and are especially good at warming our bones from the inside out—just like firewood in the good old stove.
Sukiyaki-cut, thinly sliced tender wagyu beef is normally used for this dish. I usually buy beef tendon from a local butcher. Adding boiled beef tendon makes this dish economical and also very flavorful. Of course, you can use fatty wagyu beef if you it is available in your town. But, you do not have to use beef tendon to make this dish. This is the Ozeki way—we believe beef tendon adds extra flavour to the water and vegetables. This beefed-up nikujaga dish is complimented nicely with dry red wine. Alternately, like people in Miyazaki Prefecture, southern Kyushu you can use chicken thigh meat for this dish, as the skin adds a nice flavour to the vegetables.
Nikujaga pairs nicely with freshly cooked rice. The recipes of boiled rice and miso soup are published on Lesson 1. Scroll further down this page to find them.
Alright, let’s get started!
Nikujaga 肉じゃが, braised beef and new season potatoes
Serves 4
Ingredients
200g beef tendon (optional)
200g thinly sliced beef (preferably wagyu sukiyaki cut, or top blade steak)
4 potatoes
2 large onions
2 carrots
2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
100g shirataki (optional, thin white noodles made from konnyaku potatoes, devil’s tongue)
10 snow peas (or green beans or broad beans)
For broth
reuse the water from cooking beef tendon. If you do not use beef tendon, just use water. You can also use 2nd dashi stock (ni-ban dashi).
2-3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons sake
2-3 tablespoons soy sauce (koikuchi)
Please note that the amount of the sugar and soy sauce may vary each time you cook this dish due to the sizes of the vegetables and the amount of water you use. You may need more or less. Trust your own taste buds.
Method
Cook beef tendon in water, covered, on medium heat for one hour, or until tender. (I normally cook beef tendon with water in a pressure-cooking saucepan for 15 minutes. Leave it overnight until the fat sets and remove it.)
Cut boiled tendon into bite-size pieces.
Wash potatoes, scrub skin with a brush (we use tawashi, turtle-shell shaped brush made from coconuts fiber.) and cut into large bite-size pieces. Do the same with carrots.
Peel onions and cut into 6 wedges.
Cut thinly sliced beef into large bite size.
Boil shirataki for a few minutes, rinse in cold water and drain well. Cut into 10cm long pieces.
In a saucepan coated with vegetable oil, stir fry beef, potatoes, carrot, and onion.
Add water or 2nd dashi (niban-dashi) to cover the ingredients.
Bring to a boil on high heat and skim the froth. Keep cooking until the vegetables are tender.
Add shirataki, sugar and sake and keep cooking on medium heat with an otoshi-buta* for about 5 minutes.
Add soy sauce and keep boiling until the broth is almost gone. Serve with blanched snow peas or boiled green beans.
Chef’s Tip
Normally, I cook the nikujaga until the broth is almost gone, but I suggest you do not when cooking on a freezing evening. The remaining broth creates what I call soup-nikujaga.
I normally use a pressure cooking pot to boil 1kg beef tendon in enough water to cover the tendon. I cook it for 15 minutes and let it cool until the sets. I then remove and discard the fat, and cut tendon into bite-sized pieces and pack them into freezer bags along with the tasty cooked water. I store them in the freezer for future use.
For vegans, you can use namayuba and fu instead of beef. Namayuba is freshly made soy milk product and is available at Asahiya Tofuten in Mino City and Yubayu in Gifu City. Fu is a wheat flour-based gluten product and is sold at Yubayu in Gifu City. Yuba or other tofu products are readily available in Kyoto. Kyoto is renowned for its tofu produces.
If you add curry power and water to the leftover Nikujaga the next day, you can instantly make beef & vegetable curry!!!