A blue Japanese bowl containing Nishime, simmered vegetables and chicken.

The menu for Osechi Ryori (Japanese New Year cuisine) is all about preserving traditional recipes and celebrating the auspicious occasion. Every dish plays a role in wishing for prosperity and good health in the new year, with the simmered stew called nishime (煮しめ) or Chikuzenni (筑前煮) served for its auspicious significance.

While I’ve shared my stovetop Chikuzenni recipe before, I decided to speed things up this year with this Instant Pot Nishime recipe. The pressure cooker function makes a big batch in a short time—perfect for entertaining family and friends!

What is Nishime?

Nishime (煮しめ) is a traditional Japanese one-pot stew of root vegetables and chicken simmered in dashi broth seasoned with soy sauce, sake, and mirin. It’s the most popular nimono (煮物, simmered dish) and a classic Japanese home-cooked meal. It’s also served on special celebratory occasions like Japanese New Year because the ingredients have different meanings to symbolize joy, happiness, prosperity, and cleansing.

The traditional Japanese vegetable stew commonly includes root vegetables, starchy potatoes, konnyaku (konjac), kombu, deep-fried tofu, sometimes chicken, fish cake (chikuwa and kamaboko), and occasionally fish depending on the region.

What’s The Difference Between Nishime and Chikuzenni?

The cooking method where you simmer ingredients for a long time to reduce the cooking liquid is called nishimeru (煮しめる), and shortened to nishime (煮しめ). Why is nishime also called Chikuzenni? It was named after the old Chikuzen Province in Northern Kyushu that’s part of modern-day Fukuoka Prefecture. This dish originated there; however, it’s now enjoyed throughout Japan under both names.

A blue Japanese bowl containing Nishime, simmered vegetables and chicken.

Ingredients You’ll Need for Nishime

Auspicious Japanese Vegetables

We include the following vegetables in nishime for auspicious reasons:

  • carrot – Welcome spring by cutting carrot slices into a plum (ume) flower.
  • lotus root – The holes of the lotus root present a clear and unobstructed future; you can cut it into a flower shape called hana renkon.
  • burdock root (gobo) – A skinny, long root vegetable that grows straight down into the ground; it symbolizes stability for the house and family.
  • shiitake mushroom – It represents longevity when you cut the edges of the mushroom into a hexagon to resemble a turtle shape.
  • taro – It symbolizes fertility or descendants’ prosperity as you can find a lot of baby taro on one root.
A blue Japanese bowl containing Nishime, simmered vegetables and chicken.

Why Make Decorative Cuts on Nishime Ingredients?

We often cut the ingredients into fancy shapes when making this vegetable stew for the Osechi Ryori meal on Japanese New Year and other celebratory occasions. Whether you want to use decorative cuts or not is entirely up to you. I have two reasons why it can be a nice thing:

  1. Dresses up a new year’s dish. This is a special time when we put on fancy clothing and decorate our homes, so why not do it for the Osechi, too?
  2. Adds a “wow” factor to this humble dish of common Japanese root vegetables and other low-key ingredients.

Too much work? I agree, especially when you have to make so many other dishes for the New Year. But hey, that’s why I’m introducing this Instant Pot version!

How To Make Instant Pot Nishime

If you will include this dish in your Osechi meal, I recommend cooking it 2 days before you plan to serve.

  1. Make the dashi. 
  2. Prepare/cut the ingredients.
  3. Sauté the chicken in the Instant Pot in sesame oil. 
  4. Add the vegetables, dashi, and seasonings. 
  5. Pressure cook for 3 minutes under High pressure. Let the pressure release naturally.
A blue Japanese bowl containing Nishime, simmered vegetables and chicken.

Substitutions for Japanese Ingredients

Vegetables: You can find many nishime ingredients in Chinese and/or Korean grocery stores and sometimes Southeast Asian markets. Some major grocery stores like Whole Foods or local co-ops may carry these unique vegetables, too.

Konnyaku (Konjac): Konnyaku, on the other hand, may be difficult to find. But, you can skip it as konjac is included more for the texture and auspicious symbolism.

Dashi Packet: I used a dashi packet in this recipe to show how quickly you can make dashi. You can buy dashi packets on Amazon from my favorite brand Kayanoya (or use a less-expensive option). I really want to encourage you to ditch the dashi powder and start using dashi packets instead for a delicious flavor that’s important for nishime and other dishes in Japanese cooking.

Dashi from Scratch: Of course, it’s best to make dashi from scratch. It is so simple and takes only 30 minutes or less to make. You can’t make authentic Japanese food without dashi, so please try your best to make dashi instead of using another type of stock (unless I mention it).

May the New Year bring you and your family lots of happiness and new inspiration as you enjoy this Instant Pot Nishime together.

A blue Japanese bowl containing Nishime, simmered vegetables and chicken.

Wish to learn more about Japanese cooking? Sign up for our free newsletter to receive cooking tips & recipe updates! And stay in touch with me on FacebookPinterestYouTube, and Instagram.

4.80 from 29 votes

Instant Pot Nishime

Nishime is a traditional stew of tender root vegetables and chicken simmered in a savory broth. This everyday dish is also an important part of the Japanese New Year feast called Osechi Ryori. Save time by pressure cooking it in the Instant Pot! {Vegan Adaptable}
Prep: 30 minutes
Cook: 55 minutes
Total: 1 hour 25 minutes
Servings: 6 (as a side)

Ingredients 
 

For the Dashi (Japanese Soup Stock)

For the Nishime Ingredients

For the Seasonings

Instructions

Before You Start…

  • If you will include this dish in your Osechi meal, I recommend cooking it 2 days before you plan to serve. For more helpful tips on planning your Japanese New Year feast, please read my A 5-Day Osechi Cooking Timeline blog post.
  • Gather all the ingredients.
    Instant Pot Nishime Ingredients

To Make the Dashi

  • In a small saucepan, add 1 cup water and 1 dashi packet. Slowly bring it to a boil on medium-low heat, while gently shaking the bag a few times to release more flavor. Once boiling, lower the heat and cook for 1 minute. Then, turn off the heat. Tip: You can also make dashi using dashi powder.
    Instant Pot Nishime 1
  • Remove the pot from the heat. Squeeze out the liquid and discard the dashi packet. Add 5 dried shiitake mushrooms to the dashi to rehydrate for 15 minutes.
    Instant Pot Nishime 2

To Prepare the Ingredients

  • Remove the stem ends and tough strings of 10 snow peas.
    Instant Pot Nishime 3
  • Cut ½ block konnyaku (konjac) crosswise into slices about ⅛ to ¼ inch (3 to 6 mm) thick. To make the tazuna konnyaku (optional), cut a lengthwise slit 1½ inches (3.8 cm) long in the center of each slice.
    Instant Pot Nishime 4
  • Then, tuck one end of the slice through the slit. Push it in; then, pull out the end from the other side. The konnyaku will now be twisted on either side of the slit to resemble horse reins. Pull gently on both ends so the slice lays flat. Repeat with the remaining slices.
    Instant Pot Nishime 5
  • Boil water in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add a pinch of salt and blanch the snow peas for 30–60 seconds, until crisp but tender. Scoop them out of the boiling water and drain them in a sieve or transfer to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking and set aside. Keep the water boiling.
    Instant Pot Nishime 6
  • In the same boiling water, add the konnyaku and cook for 2–3 minutes to remove the odor (which is why you cook them after, and not before, the snow peas). Drain and set aside.
    Instant Pot Nishime 7
  • Cut 1 bamboo shoot lengthwise into quarters. Then, cut each quarter in half crosswise so the tip end is about 1½ inches (3.8 cm) long. Slice the tip end lengthwise into slices ¼ inch (6 mm) thick. Finally, slice the bottom end into ¼-inch (6-mm) slices.
    Instant Pot Nishime 8
  • Peel off the skin of 1 lotus root (renkon) with a vegetable peeler or knife. Then, cut the root in half crosswise.
    Instant Pot Nishime 9
  • (Optional) If you want to make hana renkon (lotus root flowers), you can use my tutorial.
    Instant Pot Nishime 10
  • Slice the lotus root crosswise about ¼ inch (6 mm) thick. Soak the slices in a bowl of water (or 2 cups water + 1 tsp vinegar to make the lotus root whiter).
    Instant Pot Nishime 11
  • Peel 1 carrot. If you want to make flower-shaped carrot slices (optional), first slice the top 2 inches (5 cm) of the carrot into ¼-inch (6-mm) rounds and set aside until the next step. Then, cut the rest of the carrot using the rangiri Japanese cutting technique: Slice diagonally while rotating the carrot a quarter turn between cuts.
    Instant Pot Nishime 12
  • (Optional) For the flower-shaped carrots, use a vegetable cutter to punch out a plum flower shape from the carrot rounds. Tip: Repurpose the carrot remnants by mincing them and using in fried rice or soup.
    Instant Pot Nishime 13
  • To remove the skin of 5 taro (satoimo), slowly peel the tough skin with a sharp knife. It’s very tough, so I don’t recommend using a vegetable peeler. Tip: For taro, it’s recommended to peel the skin thick. It’s not considered wasteful to remove the skin with more flesh attached.
    Instant Pot Nishime 14
  • Cut each peeled taro in half crosswise and soak in a bowl of water to get rid of the starch and astringent taste. Ideally, the taro should resemble a hexagon (with six sides) from the top view.
    Instant Pot Nishime 15
  • Next, lightly scrape off the skin of 1 gobo (burdock root) with the back of your knife. (Unlike taro, you want to preserve the flesh as much as possible as the flavor of the gobo is right under the skin.) Cut the gobo using the rangiri Japanese cutting technique. Soak the pieces in a bowl of water to get rid of the starch and astringent taste.
    Instant Pot Nishime 16
  • By now, the dried shiitake mushrooms should be soft and hydrated. Squeeze the liquid from the shiitake mushrooms into the soaking liquid. Next, strain this shiitake dashi in a fine-mesh sieve over a measuring cup. You will need 200 ml (about 1 cup minus 2 Tbsp).
    Instant Pot Nishime 17
  • Discard the stems of the shiitake mushrooms. (Optional) Cut the edges of the shiitake caps to form a hexagon, which resembles a turtle shape and symbolizes longevity.
    Instant Pot Nishime 18
  • Cut ¾ lb boneless, skinless chicken thigh into slanted pieces using the sogigiri Japanese cutting technique: Angle your knife back and diagonally (nearly parallel to the cutting board), and then slice the chicken. This method creates pieces of equal thickness and increased surface area, which allows the chicken to cook faster and absorb more flavors.
    Instant Pot Nishime 19

To Cook in an Instant Pot

  • Press the Sauté button on your Instant Pot. When the inner pot is hot, add 1½ Tbsp toasted sesame oil.
    Instant Pot Nishime 20
  • Next, add the chicken and stir to coat with the oil.
    Instant Pot Nishime 21
  • When the chicken is no longer pink on the outside, add the lotus root, taro, gobo, and bamboo shoot. Stir to combine. Then, add the dashi.
    Instant Pot Nishime 22
  • Next, add 1 Tbsp sugar, 2½ Tbsp mirin, 1 Tbsp sake, 3 Tbsp usukuchi (light-colored) soy sauce, and ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt.
    Instant Pot Nishime 23
  • Mix the seasonings and ingredients together well. Then, add the carrot, konnyaku, and shiitake mushrooms (save the snow peas for garnish).
    Instant Pot Nishime 24
  • Press Cancel to stop the Sauté mode. Then, close and lock the lid. Select Pressure Cook mode and cook for 3 minutes under High pressure.
    Instant Pot Nishime 25
  • Make sure the steam release handle points to Sealing and not Venting. The float valve will rise when pressurized. When it’s finished cooking, the Instant Pot will switch automatically to the Keep Warm mode. Let the pressure release naturally.
    Steam Release Handle vent

To Serve

  • Open the lid and gently mix the ingredients. Serve in individual bowls or in a large bowl, family-style. Garnish with snow peas (I cut each piece diagonally in half).
    Instant Pot Nishime 26

To Store

  • Transfer the Nishime to an airtight container and let it cool completely. Store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. The flavor will intensify as time passes, so consider reducing the amount of seasoning if you plan to serve it later. Nishime also freezes well, but the konnyaku texture will change, so I recommend removing them before freezing. Defrost overnight and reheat in a pot.

Nutrition

Calories: 227kcal, Carbohydrates: 27g, Protein: 14g, Fat: 6g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 54mg, Sodium: 544mg, Potassium: 754mg, Fiber: 5g, Sugar: 6g, Vitamin A: 4837IU, Vitamin C: 20mg, Calcium: 65mg, Iron: 1mg

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @justonecookbook on Instagram so we can see your delicious creation!

Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on December 25, 2018. It’s been republished in 2019.