Japanese Simmered Beef and Potatoes - Nikujaga

Japanese Simmered Beef and Potaoes - Nikujaga

Here's a dish said to be associated with Japan's greatest military hero, Admiral Togo Heihachiro. Togo was the commander of the Imperial Japanese Navy at the time of Japan's greatest naval victory - the defeat of the Russian fleet at the battle of Tsushima in 1905. Back then, Japan had a very close naval relationship with the UK - in fact, most of its vessels were British designed & built. Admiral Togo studied in the UK and while there, apparently grew fond of a stew of beef and potatoes commonly served in the British Royal Navy.

Literally, "Nikujaga" means meat & potatoes although the "niku" used in the dish is almost always beef or pork (though you can use chicken - there isn't a hard line to be drawn here). "Jaga" is short for "jagaimo", meaning potato in Japanese. This word also has an interesting origin. The "imo" is indigenous to Japan and translates as a "taro root". A "jagaimo" on the other hand, is short for "jakarta - imo" because these potatoes found their way to Japan on board Dutch trading vessels from Indonesia - from there they were cultivated in northern Japan and particularly Hokkaido, where the climate and land isn't best suited to rice cultivation.

As ever, the Japanese modified the dish to suit their own palates, so Japanese Simmered Beef and Potatoes - Nikujaga - is cooked in a soy-flavoured stock. It's really the stock that is the key to the dish - I used beef, potatoes, onions, carrots and some beans in this recipe but you can use whatever veg you have to hand to add to the potatoes - in Japan, Nikujaga is the kind of dish where every home has its own special recipe and its own variation on the theme (the Japanese call this "ofukuro no aji" meaning, "mother's taste").

I used a cut of beef called Beef Feather Blade in this recipe. It's beef taken from the shoulder and very finely sliced. It's very common in Japan but not so common outside of Japan. You should be able to find it in Japanese, Chinese or Asian stores. If that isn't convenient for you, you could always ask your butcher to prepare it for you.

The vegetables in this recipe are cut into quite small pieces, expecially the carrot, so that everything can cook quite quickly. If you're about to fight a sea battle you probably don't have too much time to cook a stew - so the cooking time for this dish is short - 20 minutes. You can cook your Nikujaga in advance and then leave it all in the pan for a few hours so that the potatoes soak up more of the flavour from the sauce (what the Japanese call "shimi komi".) In fact, it tastes even better served the next day when it has had time to absorb more of the flavours of the sauce. Nikujaga will keep in the fridge for 2 - 3 days as well if you want to make a big batch and put some aside for another day.

On the subject of potatoes, I used large baby potatoes in this dish (large enough to peel.) I find they are best for absorbing the flavours in the dish. If you can't find large baby potatoes, use a waxy potato rather than a floury one. Why? Because the floury variety tends to break up in the sauce while they are cooking. Just cut the potato a little bit bigger than when using a baby potato as this will help the potato keep its shape while cooking. (PS: Don't be tempted to leaves the skins on, the potato won't soak up so much flavour through the skin - bare is better!)

Japanese Pork and Potato Stew AKA Nikujaga is substantial enough to be eaten by itself but in Japan, it's usually accompanied by bowls of rice.

If this dish has got you in the mood for some Japanese Pork and Potato Stew AKA Nikujaga, you can find the Youtube tutorial by clicking Japanese Simmered Pork and Potatoes Nikujaga or by scrolling to the bottom of the page. You can find the written recipe below.

Happy cooking! Kurumi XXXX.

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ingredients:

(makes 2 servings)

60g / 2oz green beans, rinsed

1 onion

2 medium potatoes

1 carrot

200g / 7oz beef feather blade (or a similar very thinly sliced beef)

250ml / 9floz water

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp cooking sake

3 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp mirin

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how to:

remove the both ends of the green beans then cut them into thirds.

remove the skin and ends of the onion. cut in half and then into slices about 1cm / 1/2 inch thick.

peel the potatoes and cut into bite sized chunks.

peel the carrot, then cut into small pieces diagonally.

lay the the beef in a pile on a cutting board and slice in half.

next, add the water, sugar, cooking sake, soy sauce and mirin to a medium frying pan.

turn on the heat. add the potatoes, carrot and onion. bring to the boil and simmer with the lid on for 15 minutes.

when the time is up, test the vegetables with a skewer to see if they are cooked through.

if the vegetables are still firm, simmer for another 2 - 3 minutes.

add the green beans and beef to the frying pan. spread the beef around the pan so that it cooks evenly.  simmer about 3 -4 minutes more with the lid on.

remove the lid and check that the beef is cooked.

serve with bowls of fresh steamed rice.

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Japanese Simmered Beef and Potatoes - Nikujaga