Nikujaga is a classic Japanese homecooked dish called Nikujaga. Soft, thinly sliced meat and chunky potatoes simmered in a delicious Japanese style broth, this dish is so warming and has a real homely taste.
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Nikujaga as "The taste of home cooking"
What is Ofukuro no Aji?
There's a expression in Japanese called "Ofukuro no Aji (おふくろの味)" which literally means "The taste of mum's cooking".
The term is usually used for humble home cooked dishes that you rarely see at restaurants.
Nikujaga is definitely the best example of the term.
Common ingredients used in Nikujaga
The ingredients most commonly used in Nikujaga are:
- Meat (Beef, Pork, occasionally Chicken)
- Potatoes
- Carrot
- Onion
- Konjak (Konnyaku)
- Snow peas
The dish is very iconic with yellow (potatoes) and orange (carrot) colours. It has a great autumny feel!
Nikujaga was born as a result of failure!?
Firstly, I have to say that there's no definite theory about the origin of Nikujaga.
But there is one interesting theory and it goes all the way back to the 19th century in Portsmouth, England.
A Japanese guy was studying in Portsmouth, and during the stay, he started to like English beef stew.
After he came back to Japan, he asked a chef to make beef stew, but the chef didn't know the dish so he improvised. He listened to a description of how beef stew tastes and tried to recreate it using alternative condiments that are more accessible in Japan such as soy sauce and mirin.
Obviously it wouldn't be that close to English beef stew, but it later became its own dish called Nikujaga.
Some people claim this story is made-up so we will probably never really know where the dish came from, but I found it quite interesting!
Although stew is usually simmered for a long time to create deep flavours, this nikujaga recipe is quick and simple and doesn't require slow cooking! It's delicious, simple, and ready in only 30 mins!
Quick and Easy Japanese "Nikujaga" Meat and Potato Stew(肉じゃが)
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 3 Portions 1x
Description
A quick and easy one pot version of warming and homely, Japanese style meat and potato stew "Nikujaga". (肉じゃが). Soft, thinly sliced meat, potatoes and vegetables simmered in a delicious Japanese style broth.
Ingredients
Instructions
- First, cut the beef or pork into bite size pieces.
- Peel the potatoes and carrots, and then roughly cut into chunky pieces.
- Finely slice the white onion.
- Heat up a frying pan on a medium-high heat and add 1 tbsp of vegetable oil.
- Fry the meat first until lightly browned on both sides.
- Add the potatoes, carrots and onions to the pan. Continue to fry for a few minutes while stirring.
- Add 150ml of water, ½ tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp sake, 2 tbsp mirin, 3 tbsp of soy sauce to the pan and stir everything together.
- Bring it to the boil and then turn down the heat to low. Continue to simmer for about 15 minutes with the lid on.
- Add the snow peas (chopped or not chopped depending on your preference) and turn up the heat to medium-low, cook for another 5 minutes, again with the lid on.
- Serve up with a bowl of rice and enjoy!
Notes
This dish is most commonly made with beef or pork. Using thinly sliced meat keeps the cooking time short. If you use stewing meats and don't cook them for long enough they could end up chewy, keep the cooking time in mind when choosing meat cuts.
You can use any snow peas or green beans, whichever you prefer.
Japanese people sometimes add konjak or renkon (lotus root) but these ingredients can be difficult to find in other countries so I left them out.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Category: Meat
- Method: Boil
- Cuisine: Japanese
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Courtney
The recipe says green beans, but the pictures show snow peas. I think peas make more sense than green beans.
Yuto Omura
You're right, my mistake!
I've corrected it now, thank you. 🙂