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Simmered in a savory dashi based sauce, Nishime is a classic one-pot vegetable stew to serve in Osechi for the Japanese New Year celebration.
The Osechi (Japanese New Year’s food) menu is about preserving traditional recipes and celebrating the essence of food. Whether it’s for prosperity or good health, every dish plays a role in welcoming the new year. You’ll find simmered dishes such as Nishime (煮しめ) or sometimes called Chikuzenni (筑前煮), being served for its many auspicious significance.
In this one-pot colorful stew, root vegetables and chicken are simmered in dashi broth seasoned with soy sauce, sake, and mirin. I’ve shared my regular stove-top Chikuzenni recipe before, but this year I decided to speed things up by using the pressure cooker function of the Instant Pot. It can make a big batch in a short time, perfect for entertaining a big group of family and friends!
Watch How to Make Instant Pot Nishime
Simmered in a savory dashi based sauce, Nishime is a classic one-pot vegetable stew to serve in Osechi for the Japanese New Year celebration.
What is Nishime?
Nishime (煮しめ) is a traditional Japanese vegetable stew sometimes prepared with chicken. The dish is the most popular nimono (煮物), or a simmered dish in English, and a classic representation of Japanese home-cooked meal. It’s often served at special celebratory occasions and Japanese New Year because the ingredients have different meanings for joy, happiness, prosperity, and cleansing.
The 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 regions.
The cooking method where you simmer ingredients for a long time to reduce the cooking liquid is called Nishimeru (煮しめる), and shorten to Nishime (煮しめ). Sometimes it’s written as Nishime (煮染め) or Nishime (煮締め), or Onishime with honorary “o”.
Decorative-Cut Ingredients
As a New Year’s dish, the vegetables and konnyaku are cut into fancy shapes to celebrate the occasion. Whether you want to cut the ingredients with decorative designs or not, it is entirely up to you. I have two reasons why it can be a nice thing:
- Dress up for the New Year. This is the special time we put on fancy clothing and dress up our homes, why not do it for the Osechi too?
- A “wow” factor for this very humble dish, with 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 the Instant Pot version.
Auspicious Ingredients for Instant Pot Nishime
The following ingredients are included for auspicious reasons:
- Carrot – Welcome spring by shaping carrot into plum (ume) flower.
- Lotus root – The holes of lotus root presents a clear and unobstructed future.
- Burdock root – A skinny, long root that grows straight down into the ground symbolizes stability for house and family.
- Shiitake mushroom – It represents longevity when you cut the edges of the mushroom into a hexagon that resembles a turtle shape.
- Taro – Taro symbolizes fertility or descendants’ prosperity as you can find a lot of baby taros in one root.
Substituting Difficult-to-Find Japanese Ingredients
Vegetables: Many of the ingredients used in Nishime that can be found in Chinese and/or Korean grocery stores, and sometimes Southeast Asian grocers. If you are lucky, some of the major grocery stores like Whole Foods or local co-ops may carry these unique vegetables too.
Konnyaku (konjac): This, on the other hand, maybe difficult to find. But you can skip it as konjac is included more for the texture and auspicious purpose.
Dashi Packet: To show you how quickly you can make dashi, I used dashi packet in this recipe. You can buy a bag of dashi packet from my favorite brand Kayanoya on Amazon (or less-expensive option). I really want to encourage you to ditch the dashi powder and start using dashi packet instead. The flavor of dashi is really important for this dish or any other Japanese cooking.
Dashi from Scratch: Of course, it’s best to make dashi from scratch. It is so simple and takes only half an hour or less to make dashi (or can be faster). You can’t make authentic Japanese food without dashi, so please try your best to make dashi instead of using other stock (unless I mention it).
And may the New Year bring you and your family lots of happiness and new inspirations as you enjoy this Instant Pot Nishime together.
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
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Simmered in a savory dashi based sauce, Nishime is a classic one-pot vegetable stew to serve in Osechi for the Japanese New Year celebration.
- 1 cup water (instead of water + dashi packet, you can make standard awase dashi or vegan-friendly kombu dashi)
- 1 dashi packet
- 5 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 10 snow peas
- ½ konnyaku (konjac)
- 1 bamboo shoot
- 1 lotus root (renkon)
- 1 carrot
- 5 Taro (Satoimo)
- 1 gobo (burdock root)
- ¾ lb boneless, skinless chicken thigh (I used chicken tender today, but can be a combination of different cuts)
- 1 ½ Tbsp sesame oil (roasted)
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 2 ½ Tbsp mirin
- 1 Tbsp sake
- 3 Tbsp usukuchi (light-color) soy sauce (or use regular soy sauce)
- ½ tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt)
- Gather all the ingredients.
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In a small saucepan, add 1 cup water and 1 dashi packet. Slowly bring to a boil on medium-low heat, while gently shaking the bag a few times to get more flavors. Once boiling, lower the heat and cook for 1 minute. Then turn off the heat. If you want to make dashi with dashi powder, click here.
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Remove the pot from heat and remove the dashi packet. Add the dried shiitake mushrooms in dashi to rehydrate for 15 minutes.
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Remove the tough strings off the snow peas.
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Make Tazuna Konnyaku. Slice konnyaku to about ⅛ to ¼ inch (7-8 mm) thick. At the center of each slice, make a 1 ½ inch slit.
- Put the top or bottom part through the hole. Push it in and pull out both ends.
- 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 enough to eat. Transfer snow peas to a sieve/plate.
- In the same boiling water, add the konnyaku and cook for 2-3 minutes to remove the smell (which is why you cook after snow peas).
- Cut the bamboo shoot into quarters. Keep the tip into 1 ½ inch length (so it will look pretty), and slice the rest (bottom) of the piece.
- Peel the lotus root skin and cut in half.
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[Optional] If you want to make Hana Renkon (Flower Lotus Root), here is the tutorial.
- Slice the lotus root into ¼ inches and soak in water (or 2 cups water + 1 tsp vinegar to make the lotus root whiter).
- Peel and cut the carrot using Rangiri Japanese cutting technique. [Optional] If you like the flower shape carrot, then first cut the top 2 inches into ¼ inch slices. And cut the rest of carrot using Rangiri cutting technique.
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[Optional] Cut out the carrot into a flower shape. You can eat the cutout carrot (mince it and use in fried rice or soup).
- Peel the taro skin with a sharp knife. It’s very tough, so I don’t recommend using the vegetable peeler. Instead, use a knife to slowly peel the skin. For taro, it’s recommended to peel the skin thick (It’s not considered wasteful to remove skin with more flesh attached).
- Cut each taro in half and soak in water to get rid of starch and astringent taste.
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Lightly peel the gobo skin with the back of your knife (unlike taro, you want to preserve the flesh as much as possible as the flavor of gobo stay right under the skin). Cut the gobo using Rangiri Japanese cutting technique and soak in water to get rid of starch and astringent taste.
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By now the dried shiitake mushrooms should be soft and hydrated in the dashi. Squeeze the liquid out from the shiitake mushrooms. And strain the dashi over a fine mesh sieve over a measuring cup. You will need 200 ml (= take away 2 Tbsp from 1 cup).
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Discard the stem of shiitake mushrooms. [Optional] Cut the edges to make into a hexagon, which represents turtle shape for longevity.
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Cut the chicken tender using Sogigiri. cutting technique. It creates more surface which allows the chicken to cook faster and absorb more flavors.
- Press the “Sauté” button on your Instant Pot and heat 1 ½ Tbsp sesame oil.
- Add the chicken tender and coat with oil.
- When the chicken is no longer pink outside, add the lotus root, taro, gobo, and bamboo shoot. Then add the dashi.
- Add 1 Tbsp sugar, 2 ½ Tbsp mirin, 1 Tbsp sake, 3 Tbsp usukuchi soy sauce (light color), and ½ tsp kosher salt.
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Mix well with seasonings and ingredients. Add carrot, konnyaku, and shiitake mushrooms (save the snow pea for garnish).
- Press “Cancel” to stop “Saute” mode. Close the lid and set HIGH pressure for 3 minutes.
- Make sure the steam release handle points at “sealing” and not “venting”. The float valve goes up when pressurized.
- When it’s finished cooking, the Instant Pot will switch automatically to the “Keep Warm” mode. Let the pressure release naturally.
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Open the lid and gently mix the ingredients. Serve individually or in a large bowl. Garnish with snow peas (I cut each diagonally in half).
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Transfer Nishime in an airtight container and let cool completely before storing in the refrigerator. You can keep it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Reheat in a pot and serve. The flavor will intensify as time passes. If you plan to serve it later, you may consider reducing the amount of seasoning. Nishime also freezes well. Defrost overnight and reheat in a pot.
Recipe Video
Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on December 25, 2018. It’s been republished in 2019.
I always have dashi granules in my kitchen and was wondering how much to use in place of the dashi packet.
Hi Linda! For 1 cup, it should be 1/2 tsp, but to make a strong dashi, you can use 1 tsp. I made my dashi stronger for this recipe. Hope you enjoy!
Looking forward to trying this Nami. I have two questions for you.
1. What section of the market do I find konnyaku (konjac). Will it be in the refrigerated section where Tofu usually is?
2. Does Lotus Root get softer when cooked? I had no idea it was that hard.
As always thank you for such great recipes and emails.
Hi Jacquie! I apologize for my late response due to my travel. Here are my answers:
1) At Nijiya market where I shop, konnyaku is in the refrigerated section near Tofu.
2) It will get tender but remain its shape and crunchy. Never gets “soft”.
Hope that helps! 🙂
I’m making this now -thank you for this!! I’ve been looking for a good nishime recipe and am a big Instant Pot fan, so I am excited to see how it turns out. It looks like you left out the part where you add in the shiitake and shiitake dashi. I’m guessing it’s when you add the rest of the dashi, right?
Hi Stefanie! Hope you enjoyed this recipe! At step 2 of “To Make Dashi”, I added dried shiitake mushrooms into dashi. And At Step 15 of “To Prepare Ingredients”, I squeezed the shiitake mushrooms. Hope that helps!
Thank you! Actually, I am wondering when you add it to the Instant Pot. I think it is when you add the awase dashi to the pot. Is that right?
Hi Stefanie! Sorry for the misunderstanding. I added to Step 5 when I put konnyaku and carrot, but it doesn’t matter as long as you add before pressure cooking. 🙂
Hi Nami,
Happy New Year!
I’m making this dish just now for our New Year’s lunch and realized that there was no mention of when shiitake mushroom should be entered in the pot. It looks like that it should go in along with carrots and konnyaku. Could you please confirm when you get a chance? Since I left them out unintentionally, I guess I’d incorporate mushrooms later. ????
Thanks!
Hi Misty! Happy New Year! I apologize for my late response (due to traveling). Yes, the shiitake goes with carrots and konnyaku (leave the snow pea). Sorry I couldn’t write you back sooner…
Thank you so much for showing how to cook a Japanese Nishime with Instant Pot! Your ingredients and the way you cut them is exactly the same way I do it, including the konnyaku twist, for the new year’s celebration. (I even use the same dashi brand and kind!) The only difference is that I use chicken thighs and throw in a konbu. I got hold of some root vegetables and just purchased an Instant Pot, so cooked Nishime and it came out great!
Hi Junko! Thank you so much for your kind feedback and I’m really happy to hear your made nishime in IP! Love this way – fast and easy, even though the traditional way has its own benefit. 🙂 Thanks so much for trying my recipe! 🙂
This looks good. May I ask how much/tsp of dashi against water for 1 pkt, Also any adjustment need if cook over the stove. Thank you.
Hi Adeline! For stovetop, I have the recipe here:
https://www.justonecookbook.com/chikuzenni-simmered-chicken-and-vegetables/
And here’s the recipe for dashi powder. Each dashi powder is slightly different, but please use it as guidance: https://www.justonecookbook.com/dashi-powder/
Thanks for replying.
Hi. I’ve been making a few osechi dishes each year since we got back from one year in Japan, long ago. I’m so grateful for your Instant Pot osechi recipes! I made the Kuromame, and it was great–best I’ve ever made, in a fraction of the time and energy. I made the Nishime with less great results, but I was really short on time, so I still appreciated it.
My problem was that the carrots came out mushy. Possible reasons are that I modified the recipe…. I had about twice the renkon and 1.5 times the gobo, twice the carrots, omitted the taro (none on hand; forgot to buy) and omitted the chicken (wanted it to be edible for pescatarians), and skipped the sesame oil-saute step because when I opened it I found that my sesame oil had gone rancid). Because I had more root vegetables, I also used 1.5 times the dashi and seasonings, but kept the same 3 minute pressure cooking time. I wonder what is the main factor in the mushy carrots. Any insights?
Hi Barbara! It’s wonderful that you continue the Japanese New Year tradition! I’m glad the kuromame came out well too!
Among all the root vegetables, lotus root and gobo are much harder/tougher than carrot. So when you cook these two ingredients together, the carrot becomes tender first before gobo/lotus root. In other words, you don’t need the same amount of cooking time for the carrot. If you cook on the stovetop, you can add in carrot later than the harder root vegetables, but with the Instant Pot, it’s more hassle to release the pressure, add the carrot and bring the pressure back to cook… so we just throw all in together. A few ways to solve this problem:
1) Some carrots are so thin. Don’t use those. Find thick carrots!
2) Cut the carrot into bigger sizes (Use Rangiri cutting technique: https://www.justonecookbook.com/rangiri/)
3) Blanch the flower shape carrots separately and decorate when serving (but carrots will not have dashi flavor as you cook separately)
Hope this helps!!
Just want to say how much I enjoyed your video of this recipe! It’s the first time I’ve watched someone cook Japanese food (other than sushi!) and I’m in awe. I can’t wait to try this and learn so much more about the beautiful traditions of Japanese cuisine. Thank you for inspiring me!
Hi Lacey! Thank you so much for your kind words! It’s great that sushi is now well-known, but it’s more for a special occasion and we don’t eat it often. 🙂 I’m glad you got to see some of our home-cooked Japanese food! 🙂 Thank you for writing!
Hi Namiko!
I love your recipes! Is there any crock pot substitute if you don’t have an instant pot?
Thank you!
Erin
Hi Erin! I don’t, but you can pretty much cook the same except that you have to cook for a longer time. 🙂
I love Nishime… I reminds me of my Mom who has passed. I make it every year for my family.
I’m happy to know that there is an easy way to cook it in the Instant Pot.
I’m learning so much from you and its nice to see you doing this in person!
I’m going to try to make Mochi next i… I just love fresh Mochi… so soft. I remember getting it at Japan Town in San Francisco.
Happy New Year.
Hi Ginger,
We are so glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Nami loves Instant Pot. It’s so easy and fast to make many dishes.
Thank you very much for trying many of Nami’s recipes. We hope you enjoy homemade fresh Mochi too.
Have a wonderful, Happy New Year!🎍
Hi, Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipes! I picked up a couple bags of frozen root vegetables at my local Japanese market. They’re already cut to save even more time.
Would I keep the pressure cook time the same in this case?
Should I reduce the liquid amount any since it’s frozen?
Thank you very much!
Hi Yvette,
Thank you very much for trying this recipe!
We have never tried frozen root vegetables for this recipe before. We think the texture will be softer than the fresh one.
Reducing the dashi amount just a bit and cook only 2 minutes will be a good idea.
We hope this helps!