Nikujaga Recipe

A lady who wants to impress a potential husband will make for him the most basic of home-style Japanese cooking - Nikujaga.  If she gets the perfect balance of flavours to suit his taste, then it's a match and he'll fall in love.

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In spite of its legendary powers, nikujaga (meaning meat-potato) is the simplest meal to make.

Meat, potatoes, onions and some carrots.

You're done.

Some people use beef, some use pork.  I generally use beef, however this time I tried pork.  

Ito-konnyaku is also often included, but this time I used a block of konnyaku.

I love Shimeji Mushrooms so I threw some in.

Nikujaga Recipe (serves 2~3)

• 150g Thinly sliced beef or pork


• 2-3 Potatoes (Cut into 4ths or if large, 8ths)


• 1-2 Onions (sliced)


• 1 Carrot (sliced into chunks - see here how I sliced carrots for cream stew)

• 4 Tbsp Soy Sauce


• 1 Tbsp Sugar


• 2 Tbsp Mirin (or replace with 1 extra tsp sugar)


• 2 Tbsp Sake, optional


• 1 Cup boiling water


• Either ~3g Katsuobushi or 1 tsp dashi powder

1. Heat a little oil in a saucepan or wok.  Stir-fry the meat and onions for a couple of minutes.  


2. Add potatoes and stir-fry a little.


3. Add all the other ingredients except carrots.  Add carrots 5 min later.  Simmer for a further 20 min.

Test to see if it's done by poking a potato with a chopstick.  The chopstick should easily poke through the potato.

DONE!

Serve in individual bowls with a bowl of rice on the side and, if you like, miso soup and a leafy salad.

Actually the real reason I made nikujaga tonight was that my little boy wanted to cut carrot flowers, and kept pulling the carrots out of the fridge.  I gave in, and as you can see, we had carrot flowers.  

(that's not the usual way to cut carrots for nikujaga)

The pork I used this time was not ideal actually.  

Should have used the paper-thin stuff, or used beef like I usually do and stewed it longer.

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