Japanese meat and potato stew – “Nikujaga”

About Japanese meat and potato stew – “Nikujaga”

“Nikujaga” is Japanese for meat and potato stew. “Niku” refers to meat and “jaga” refers to potato.  It is one of the typical home-cooking dishes in Japan. My mother used to make it, and I started making it as well.  These days my daughter makes it, so it has passed down as a home taste.

I think the reason why it becomes popular is that it is simple to make with easily available ingredients, and the sweet and savory seasoning suits the tastes of Japanese people. It is also good that you can easily make a variation by adding curry powder or gochujang to the basic “nikujaga”.  I always add a knob of butter to the finish, since this will give it a rich flavor and I find it very delicious. Below I put the link to an article about Nikujaga, so please read it if you like.

Recipe tips

Cook only with the water from the vegetables

There are recipes to add water or dashi (Japanese stock), but I stew only the water from the vegetables without adding water or stock. In this way, the umami from the meat and vegetables is condensed and no dashi stock is required. Therefore, it is important to use a pot of which the lid can close tightly, and try not to open the lid often while cooking. In fact, you will be surprised at the amount of water which comes out from vegetables.

The finish can be such that the sauce remains quite a lot, but if you like, remove the lid, and bring to boil and cook further until the sauce becomes thicken.  Since I like potatoes that are crumbled a bit and integrated with the sauce, I cook for 10 ~ 15 minutes after removing the lid or until the sauce is well reduced. Then add butter at the end to make it rich.

Meat

Regarding meat, you can use beef, pork and chicken.  In Japan people often use thinly sliced beef or pork. It’s best to make it using easily available meat. You can also use ground meat.

Seasoning

Old-fashioned meat and potato stews are often rather sweet with plenty of sugar and mirin. I also learned from my mother that the sweet seasoning goes well with meat and potato stews. However, some people don’t like sweet seasoning, so please adjust it to your liking.  At first, add a little sugar, and check the taste, then add more if you like.

Print Recipe

Japanese meat and potato stew – “Nikujaga”

Japanese meat and potato stew is one of the typical home-cooking dishes in Japan. It is simple to make with easily available ingredients.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time45 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr

Course: Meat and vegetable dish

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: basic Japanese, Japanese dish, Meat and potato stew, Potato

Servings: 4 people

Author: okawarishitene staff

Equipment

• 1 Pot or frying pan with a lid

Ingredients

• 500 gram Potatoes
• 500 gram Onions
• 150 gram Carrots
• 200~300 gram Meat of your choice (cut into pieces that are easy to eat)
• 30~40 gram Snow peas or green beans
• 1 tablespoon Vegetable oil
• 6 tablespoon Japanese soy sauce
• 4 tablespoon Caster sugar or granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoon Japanese sake or Chinese rice wine (if you don't have, you can omit this)
• 1~2 tablespoon Butter (optional)

Instructions

• Peel the potatoes and cut them into bite-size. Cut onions into wedges. Peel the carrots and cut into small bite-size. 
  
• Prepare snow peas or green beans. Trim both ends.  If you use snow peas, remove the string.  Boil in boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes and drain in a colander. When it is cooled, cut it diagonally to a width of 3 to 5 mm.
  
• Heat the vegetable oil in a pot and fry the onions on medium heat for 2~3 minutes.
  
• Add carrots and potatoes, and stir-fry.
  
• When the oil is mixed with vegetables, add meat, and then add Japanese soy sauce, sugar, and sake (if you have), and cover. You don’t need to stir at this point.
  
• Cover and simmer on lower medium heat for 15 minutes. After simmering for 15 minutes, stir the whole once.
  
• Cover again and simmer for another 15-20 minutes.  If you pierce bamboo skewer into the potato and if it can go through easily, it is done.  if you like, remove the lid, and bring to boil and cook further until the sauce is well reduced.  (Keep stirring regularly especially towards the end of the cooking time. ) Then add butter and melt.
  
• Put the meat and potatoes stew in a bowl, place the cut snow peas on top.

Notes

Add the butter to your liking. It is delicious without adding it, but it gives an extra rich and mellow taste.

It’s easy to do, so please try making Japanese home-cooked food.　Below I put some links to Japanese recipes, so make them as well if you like.

Thank you for reading and Bon Appetit!