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Nikujaga is one of the most popular Japanese comfort food, the delicious dish includes sliced beef slow cooked with potatoes, shirataki noodles, and onion.
Hi everyone! We’re back to the US and had a great time in Japan! We’re trying to recover from jet lag and get back to our regular routine (which is really hard to do with the kids!). I want to thank my readers and blogger friends for visiting my site to check the guest posts while I was away, leaving kind comments for my lovely blog sitters and visiting their blogs. This time I was especially delighted to share my close male blogger friends because they are all amazing home chefs that I wanted to introduce to my readers! Food blogs tend to be dominated by female bloggers but there are definitely lots of great male bloggers who are talented with both cooking and photography.
I also want to thank my fans and readers for your kind messages and emails while I was in Japan. I haven’t had enough time to respond to everything yet but I promise I’ll get to all of them, please give me a bit of time. I apologize in advance for my late correspondence.
My trip to Japan was great – lots of great food and family time. I was really happy that my children got to spend a lot of time with my parents. Although I planed to take pictures of famous and popular places and introduce to my readers what it is like to live in Japan, I realized it’s quite difficult to bring my small children who were on jet lag to crowded places and not to mention, lots of walking… My children are so used to being driven everywhere by cars and most places I wanted to visit are still too young for them (or boring for them). As they get older, I’m sure we have more chances to visit different places in Japan and I hope to share my experiences with you then. I am planning to write a post (or posts) about my trip with some pictures – hopefully I can start working on it as soon as my family gets back to our normal routine!
Today I’m guest posting at Pinay in Texas Cooking Corner. The person behind this amazing Filipino food blog is Tina, who lives in Texas now but was raised in the Philippines. She’s a wonderful mom to her two children and makes amazing meals at home. She makes really cute bento (lunch box) for her daughters everyday and shares a lot of great tips on how to make them on her blog. But my big admiration goes to her skills being able to pull off a big party with all homemade food! I told her many times I don’t know how she’s able to pull them off but she just does it. She has a variety of recipes from appetizers to a lot of wonderful main meals, and not to mention delicious desserts. She covers it all.
This month Tina has launched a new series on her blog called Pinay in Texas Cooking Corner’s Favorite Dishes from Around the World and today she’s featuring my recipe. Guess what her favorite Japanese food is? It is Nikujaga.
Nikujaga (Japanese: 肉じゃが) literally means “meat and potatoes”, from two of the main ingredients niku (meat) and jagaimo (potatoes). It’s a comfort food for the Japanese and it is a very popular meal cooked at home. It is often considered as “mother’s taste” meal (“ofukuro no aji” おふくろの味 in Japanese) as each household cooks it just slightly different. The food itself is very simple and homely, and the warm bowl of your mother’s nikujaga brings one back to their roots. It is probably the most popular dish among all kinds of nimono (煮物 Japanese stewed dishes).
It’s the Japanese version of beef stew; however, it contains a fairly small amount of meat. The meat is added for flavor rather than substance, just like most of Japanese cooking. It is simmered in the classic Japanese seasonings of soy sauce, sake, mirin, and sugar.
Unlike Western stews, the simmering time is much shorter because nikujaga uses thinly sliced meat. Beef is commonly used for this dish but in eastern Japan, pork is more popular.
Now please click HERE to check out the recipe.
Here’s Nikujaga with thinly sliced pork belly.
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- 1 onion
- ½ carrot
- 2 potatoes
- ½ lb thinly sliced beef (chuck or rib eye) (usually beef or pork)
- 1 pkg shirataki noodles
- 2-3 pecies snow peas (or green beans, green peas for decoration)
- 1 Tbsp neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, canola, etc)
- 2 cup dashi (Japanese soup stock; click to learn more) (2 cups = 500 ml)
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Gather all the ingredients.
- Make dashi stock
- Cut the onion into 10-12 wedges. Peel and cut the carrot lengthwise in half and chop into rolling wedges.
- Cut the potatoes into quarters and smooth the edge of potatoes. If the pieces have sharp edges then they are likely to break into pieces during the cooking process from bumping into each other. We call this Japanese cutting technique mentori. Soak the potatoes in water to remove starch.
- Cut the sliced meat in half. Rinse and drain shirataki noodles.
- Remove string from snow peas and cook them in boiling water for 30 seconds and take them out.
- Then cook shirataki noodles in the boiling water for 1 minute and cut in half.
- In a large pot, heat oil on medium heat and sauté the onion.
- When the onion is coated with oil, add the meat and cook until no longer pink.
- Add the potatoes, carrots, and shirataki noodles.
- Add dashi stock and Seasonings bring to a boil.
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Once boiling, skim the scum and foam. Make sure all the ingredients are flat and most of ingredients are just covered by the broth.
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Place an Otoshibuta (drop lid) or make one with aluminum foil, and simmer on medium-low heat for 10-15 minutes, or until vegetables are cooked. Otoshibuta is necessary to maintain the shape of the vegetables being stewed. Do not mix the ingredients while cooking; Otoshibuta will help the flavor circulate automatically.
- Turn off the heat and discard the otoshibuta. Let it stand until 30 minutes before serving. The flavors will soak into the ingredients while cooling down. If you don’t have time for this, it’s also okay.
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When you heat it up again, pour the soup on top of the ingredients with a spoon a couple of times. Check the flavors for the last time. When it’s almost ready, toss in the snow peas to warm them up. When ingredients are heated through, it’s ready to serve.
Nikujaga tastes even better the second day so don’t worry if you can’t finish all the food.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
Oooooohhhh, I’m happy you had such a wonderful time in Japan! I’ve seen the pictures you posted on Facebook and thought, “aaahh I want to be there, too!” 😀 Now I hope you’ll get over the jetlag quickly!
Meet and potatoes cooked together are comfort food over here as well. 🙂
I’m glad to hear you had a wonderful time catching up with your family. I hope you quickly recover from jet-lag. I’ll look forward to seeing the recipe for this meal because it looks quite unusual. I’ve never told you this but I learned Japanese at school and used to be quite good at writing hiragana, katakuna and kunji. (Hope I’ve got the spelling write). It was actually my favourite subject at school. The Japanese classroom was set out like a traditional Japanese room. We had to take our shoes off and sit on cushions on the floor at low-down tables. It was quite a novelty. Unfortunately I left at the end of Year 10 to do my final two years of schooling at another school and that school didn’t offer Japanese – only Latin! Such a shame. I would love to have Japanese as a second language xx
Welcome back Nami! Glad to be reading your posts again. Saw your vacation pics and looks like you guys had a wonderful time exploring in Japan. Look forward to hearing more about your trip. It’s nice to bring kids for a holiday especially back to your home country and show them where you grew up 🙂
Your nikujaga looks fabulous! I made it once before but of course it didn’t look even half as good as yours here. I must try making this again. I love the shirataki noodles in this 🙂
Glad you had a wonderful time with your family in Japan. I can’t wait to check out the recipe as it look really delicious!
I hope you share some pictures from your trip! And great post. I love it when dishes taste better as leftovers!
I’m new to japanese cooking and especially using dashi. I realize that there are many different flavor dashi. Is there one flavor that you prefer for this dish (nikujyaga)?
Hi Stephanie! I apologize for my late response. The standard dashi I always use (as well as typical dashi used in cooking in Japan) is kombu and dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi).
https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-make-dashi/
Hope this helps! It’s the most important flavor in Japanese cooking. You can use this to make miso soup and other dishes. It can be kept for a week in the fridge, but it only takes less than 30 minutes to make this broth. 🙂
Love your Nikujaga post!!!! I have always wanted to learn how to cook Japanese dishes but I have no “teacher” to guide me and I always find Japanese dishes very different to handle. But with all your quick and easy to follow recipes it sure brings some hopes for my Japanese dishes project 🙂 Keep all the wonderful dishes coming k!
Welcome back Nami!! I am so happy you and your family had a wonderful trip to Japan! We missed you cooking and recipes…. I shall pop over and check out the guest post now. Hope you all recover from jet lag very soon. 🙂
Nami, I’m happy you have had excellent time in Japan and so happy to see you back. I hope you recover soon from the jetlag.
Reading about your walking “problem” I feel so impatient to go to Japan and spend whole days walking… This is my favourite way to visit cities and also my favourite sports (except for shopping of course 😉 ).
Reading so many blogs, websites and Japanese cookery books I have never heard about nikujaga, so I’m glad to discover it now. It looks like a very comforting all-year dish. I must try making it one day! Bookmarked.
Welcome back! Sounds like you guys had such a wonderful time. I too love walking cities – best way to see things. This is one lovely dish to come home to!
I’m so glad to hear you had such a great trip! This dish looks delicious…off to check it out!
肉じゃがはお母さんの味ですよね〜
最近は作ってなかったというか？ 何年も食べてない記憶が・・・
アメリカは薄切りの肉が買いにくいので、薄切りを使う料理から
離れていってしまいます。
So glad you guys are back safely and that you had a good trip! Have a fabulous Thursday, Nami!
Glad you’re back safe and sound. This dish looks lovely! Have a beautiful day Nami <3
Welcome back!!! i am really happy that you took some time off and had wonderful time with your family. Nikujaga sound like my kind of dish..and your photographs are stunning Nami! Well done as always and I will check Tina’s site right now!!!
Welcome back, Nami! I know how jet lag feels and it’s tough to shake it off! Just drink plenty of fluids (water) and you’ll be okay. Your photos look gorgeous. I’m sure this is another heartwarming recipe. Heading over now to Pinay in Texas, whom I know from our Kulinarya Cooking Club events. Thanks for sharing!
Welcome back Nami, sounds like you had a wonderful time at Japan! I can’t wait to visit, my parents still can’t stop talking about the great time they had there a few years back! It’s good to travel with children during off seasons while they are still young, once Kindergarten starts, we are stuck with traveling during high seasons with the rest of the US, much more expensive and hectic!
Take care, and hope you get over jet lag real soon!
I saw this posting at Tina’s and as always, it’s delicious looking. I’m sure it was a long trip, so I think you guys need a lot of rest to recover. Welcome back, Nami!
YAY! Great to see you back Nami! I hope you came back with tons of pictures and will share some of your travel escapades with us.
Welcome back Nami…!!! Hope you enjoyed your trip.
welcome back nami, im sure that you brought a lots of Japanese cute props, hihi
Welcome back from your trip, Nami – I’m looking forward to seeing your pictures and hearing more! All of the guest posts were excellent, and it was fun to discover some new bloggers along the way.
Welcome back! It looks like a delicious stew! Going over to check it out!
Happy you had a great time in Japan Nami! I guess everywhere in the world meat and potatoes are comfort food. Looks delicious!
Glad to know that you had a wonderful vacation in Japan, Nami!
Once again, I would like to thank you for sharing your Nikujaga recipe with PiTCC readers! It’s truly an honor to have you! Hugs!!!
Welcome back, glad it was a nice vacation.
What a lovely bowl, although I’ve never had Filipino food I believe I would definitely love this. Nice photo too.
Welcome back, Nami!! I am glad you had a wonderful time in Japan, and was trully enjoying the photos you have been posting from Japan! Can’t wait to see more in your next post(s)!:) Nikujaga looks like a perfect dish for me, really delicious comfort food!
I meant the photos you have been posting on FB… 🙂
Welcome back Nami, we missed you!
Good to have you back Nami and so pleased to hear you had such a lovely time visiting with family. Hope you get settled back into your routing soon.
🙂 Mandy
What am awesome guest post my friend! I am a huge fan of Tina and can’t wait to further get into her series 🙂
And your recipe is a perfect fit!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Welcome Back Nami! Your dish looks amazing as always!
Hugs!
I am so glad U had such a great time!!!
I know jet lag can be a pain specially with kids, take ur time…
This dish looks fabulous… Meat and Potatoes can never ever go wrong right…
Beautiful!!!
What nice you had a lovely time in Japan Nami!
This dish look really nice!
Nami, welcome back! I can’t wait to read all about your adventures 😀 And Niku jaga is perfect for our autumn and upcoming winter!
Welcome back Nami! Please post some pictures when you’re all settled back. Love this dish!
And now I made THIS for dinner tonight as comfort from the cold and rain!! Thank you for the great ideas!
Hi Nami,
Welcome back. It’s so nice to know that you had a lovely time with your parents in Japan. Hope you get over the jet lag soon. Cannot wait to hear and see pictures from your trip.
This dish looks wonderful!
Welcome back Nami! Sounds like you have a wonderful trip, but I’m sure it’s good to be home. Looking forward to seeing pictures and hearing more about your trip. Headed over to Tina’s to check out your recipe. Your pictures make me hungry for it! BTW – loved all the male guest bloggers!
I’ve made and liked this dish with tofu instead of the meat hehe. Very comforting!
Welcome back! I can’t wait to read all about your exciting trip and gorgeous pictures. It’s always “fun” to get adjusted back to home life!
Oh how fun, I look forward to reading more about your lovely trip!!! Welcome back:-) Hugs, Terra
Nami, that looks SO amazing! Welcome back – I missed you, but I’m glad you had a good time!
Welcome back! Glad to hear you had such a fun time in Japan. And who doesn’t love meat and potatoes? And this Japanese-style version looks irresistible.
I will visit both Tina’s blog and Ang Sarap blog, as I am Filipino also (now living in Toronto). Thanks for introducing these lovely bloggers!
glad you had fun! welcome back.
Ah..I know how you feel. I remember coming back home after an epic trip to Japan. I miss eating sushi alive! You have just made my friday! This looks great.
Welcome back Nami, glad you enjoyed your trip back to Japan, but who wouldn’t be happy to see their parents and family especially when they are living so far away! This dish looks like a really healthy and flavorful dish…I would love it very much I am sure!
Welcome home, Nami! Happy to hear your visit was great, too! Hoping to see more recipes from your family! This nikujaga looks especially delicious with the other veggies besides the imo. Can’t wait to try it! Hope you recover from the jet lag soon!
what a beautiful dish! I enjoy this kind of ‘less meat’ stew!
Looks like a delicious welcome back dish!
Welcome back Nami! I really like how light and comforting this is. The weather here had turned cold again so it’s perfect for us over in this part of the world!
Hi Nami, はじめまして。Came over from Tina’s blog. It’s great to be here seeing your recipes. Hope to learn more Japanese stuff from u 🙂 Would love to have u drop by my lifestyle blog too. Looking fwd to sharing & hope to see u there!
So great to have you back, Nami! I’m so glad the trip went well and I’m sure the jet-lag is terrible with so many hours difference. This stew looks so delicious and I love how only a little bit of meat is needed to flavor the entire pot – and of course, it’s always nice to have a short simmer-time. Now I’m off to go check out Tina’s blog – thanks so much for sharing another blogger with us!
Welcome home, dear Nami! Sounds like you had a very nice time enjoying the company of family and good friends. Thank you for sharing a bit about your time away.This beef dish looks absolutely mouthwatering. Going to check out your guest post now!
Welcome back my friend!I just loved the pics of your kids in the traditional robe!!Never heard of this dish before, but meat and potatoes sound good anytime and these look so tender and delicious!!Off to check Tina’s blog 🙂
Have a great weekend 🙂
Welcome back. Recovery from jet lag is painful. We are working on it as well. Love Japan – cannot wait to go back. This recipe looks like a keeper. My plan is to make more Japanese food, so your blog is going to come in handy
Hi Nami, I’m glad your trip went well!
Great welcome-back recipe 🙂
I love the colors and textures you have in this dish–it looks wonderful! So glad you had a good trip.
Nami, I am glad you had a great trip!
Nikujaga looks fabulous! I love this meat and potatoes dish, it looks delicious.
Glad to hear that you had wonderful time in Japan.
Your Nikujaga dish looks amazing!!! I have the hardest time finding mirin though. Maybe I am just looking in the wrong stores… But as soon as I find it (and the dashi packets) I will give this a try. The recipe has been bookmarked. 😀
Believe it or not but Nikujaga was one of the first Japanese dishes I have ever prepared because of its simplicity and the wide availability of ingredients (the recipe I used didn’t have dashi stock or noodles but like you said: おふくろの味)
I really have to compliment you on the presentation. You have very artistically mastered to make a simple stew very appertizing and highlighting all ingredients. これは美しいです！
It’s difficult to get back to your routing after a long trip or break, but we’re glad to see you’re back! Great recipe for Tina’s blog. I’m off to read her blog. I always love this guest post exchange, maybe someday you could contribute to What’s Cooking, World? 🙂
Beef stew is one of my all-time favorite foods, and I didn’t know a Japanese version existed! This looks hearty yet light.
I also like how you chose to feature male bloggers! It’s true, most bloggers are women.
how was japan? you should blog bout the trip as well 🙂 the nikujaga looks healthy and i always love japanese food!
Latest: Best Milk Ever
Glad to see you back, Nami. Great food and family time – that’s what a good holiday is all about. Hope you feel rejuvenated after overcoming the jet lag. Nikujaga looks incredibly flavourful. I would cook up a big pot so there is leftover:)
So glad to have you back. Also thrilled to hear you guys had a good time. Off to Tina’s to check things out.
welcome back! i just got back too (well a week now) but i do understand how it feels like to jet lag. Im still adjusting would you believe that? Yeah I’m glad i spent 6 weeks in the Philippines too.. so great to come home to your home country right?
I know Tina but of course and will swing by there soon. Thank you for sharing this post to her and yep welcome back!
malou
Just back from holiday and already wowing us with photographs and yummy recipe. thank you
Welcome back Nami! It’s such a pleasure to read your recipes 🙂 Nikujaga looks stunning 🙂
I’m glad you had a wonderful time. My coworker’s family is heading to Japan to see family this summer and looking forward to it for sure. Wonderfully light and colorful recipe. Perfect for lunch or dinner!
I’m so glad you had a wonderful time with your parents. I hope you brought home lots of goodies you can’t get in the states!
We enjoyed your guest bloggers a lot but we’re glad to see your ever smiling face around here again.
I’m off to check out Tina’s post because this “stew” looks great.
I like the idea of thinly sliced beef or pork in a stew. I often find that the thick pieces are just too much for me. This sounds perfect – delicate and flavorful. 🙂
love shirataki noodles! nice photos, noodles look so yummy!
Welcome home! I am so glad you had a nice trip, I bet your kids had a blast 🙂
Welcome welcome welcome back – have missed your blog posts my friend 😀
I hope you had a wonderful vacation!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Glad you had a great trip Nami – sounds like fun, though it’s too bad you didn’t have a chance to visit the places you were hoping to! Thanks for introducing me to another wonderful dish, and you know, I never though to de-string the mangetout (snow peas) before… I’ll remember that next time because they’re usually quite tender throughout but when you get a stringy piece it’s really annoying.
Welcome back Nami! These look so lovely. Just remember I still have shirataki noodle in the fridge!
Welcome back Nami! : ) I enjoyed your guest posts, that’s such a lovely and clever idea (at the moment I should find a blog sitter for my blog as well 😉
I love Japanese comfort food, that dish looks so flavourful and light at the same time…
Looking forward to seeing your pictures and the post about your trip! Cheers.
Welcome back! we missed your posts!
So glad you had so much fun in Japan — and thank you for the wonderful intro of blog sitters 🙂
Welcome home! So glad you made it back safely and that you had a lovely time! You’re an inspiration, already back and guest blogging 🙂
Oh that looks mouth watering yummy!
Welcome home, my friend….just wait till your kids get older and don’t want you taking pictures of them!!! Mine are finally getting used to my demands for family photos on vacation, though 🙂
This dish looks fabulous, Nami…and it’s the kind of Japanese food that would appeal to the picky hubby! Off to read your guest post at Tina’s~
So happy to have stumbled on your blog this morning. These look delicious! I love the vibrant colors in your pictures too! I wish I could have one of these bowls for lunch. I hope you have a wonderful Sunday. Enjoy your week!
Welcome back to the blogsphere. I have the same problem with my son, that’s why I don’t take him to travellings. He will be bored to death and he will start to whine until my nerves will be broken to pieces lol. This is a beautiful soup/stew. Many exotic flavors in it!
I’m so happy you had a great trip! Welcome back! I’m still catching up on posts from the last few weeks as well. It’s hard to catch up! I can’t wait to read more about your trip. This dish looks just delicious!
Welcome home Nami ~ I have to say, the colour and clarity of your photos is just exquisite. You most dedicate a post to food photography soon! 🙂 I quite like the Japanese version of steak & potatoes – not nearly as heavy as the North American version… and dare I say more beautiful.
looks wonderful and how great that you got to go home, all the best for settling back into a routine hugs
WELCOME BACK Nami! Missed you tons.. ;p.. Despite with all the jet leg etc.. You are still able to produce such beautiful a recipe and photos! Never fail to amazed me my friend.. Gosh when I saw Nikujaga, I was so certain I accidentally squeak with joy here.. Luckily nobody noticed it, otherwise they will think ” Jo.. never stops looking at food ;P” Guilty but I can’t stay away. Will be hopping over to buzz Tina too.. xoxo
Welcome back Nami!! Sounds like you had a wonderful holiday, and I know how difficult it is to get back into routine after being away.
Your nikujaga looks fantastic. How interesting that the Japanese only add a small amount of meat for this and use it as a flavouring rather than the main component of the dish. Thanks for teaching me 😀
Welcome back . Your Nikujaga looks fantastic.
Good to see you back Nami with this great guest post dish. It looks very comforting.
Till the time I had not visited your blog, Japanese food to me was only sashimi and sushi!! I am amazed at the wide array of dishes – sweet and savoury that I still need to explore in this cuisine.
Welcome back, it’s always hard to get back to the daily routine after a nice vacation isn’t it? Looking forward to seeing photos from the trip.
なみさん、お帰りなさい♪日本滞在はいかがでしたか？美味しいものを食べたり、大切な人と楽しい時間を過ごせた？ちょうど桜が見れたかな？って想像してました。
肉じゃが、うちでもヘビロテです。時々お肉なしの肉じゃが風も作っちゃいます。いつ見て丁寧な生活をしてるんだな～って感心してます♪
サンフランシスコの天候はどんな感じですか？
Welcome back! I’m delighted you had such a wonderful time. But I’m equally delighted that you’re back cooking! And such a great recipe – Nikujaga is new to me. And I learned a new word today, Otoshibuta. I use aluminum foil all the time when I’m braising in the same manner – but I didn’t know there was a kitchen device made just to do this! Anyway, really nice post – thanks.
Welcome back Nami!!! So glad that you had an amazing time and I have been following your photos on i think on Facebook 😉 it’s been a while since I’ve gone to Japanesse and I’ve forgotten just how pretty Japan is and all the food ! This is a great recipe and I love love love shirataki noodles hahaha an added bonus is that they re calorie free making this a guilt free dish hehe 🙂
Thanks for introducing us to so many male bloggers ~ I agree that the blogging world is dominated by women so it was nice to meet some male bloggers hehe
Your trip to Japan will be a wonderful memory for your children, parents and for you! I think it is great to take small children traveling but yes, it is important to tailor the trip top their needs. I am glad you had a good time! This meal sounds so warm and comforting!
Hi Nami,
Glad to have you back and that you had a wonderful trip:) I can’t wait to see you future posts about Japan, you already know how I’m fascinated with it. The Nikujaga looks so delicious. I love stews or foods prepared this way.
P.S.
I also just got back from a break, but I’ll been in touch about our little project:)
Welcome back Nami! =D
I cant wait to see your pictures from japan, it is such an unusual country for me and so pretty! Is it spring there now? I am thinking of cherry blossoms. ^.^
nikujaga stew… now that is a recipe which I might be able to reconstruct pretty soon. You say that you cut the beef into thin strips, we do the same most of the time in goa too. I prefere it that way too.
thanks a lot for sharing your wonderful stew. I am glad ur back. 😉
なみちゃん、肉じゃが超おいしそうじゃない？日本人の家庭の味そのもの。今荷物を動かしてるところで、やたら忙しくて、なみちゃんのブログにコメント出来ませんでした。優しいコメントありがとうね。
Sounds like you had an amazing trip. Have not been to Japan but it is on the list. My husband would love to ride all of the wonderful trains over there. I need to learn to make more Japanese delights and I am excited to explore your site even more. Pinned! 🙂
Hi, Nami. I hope your life is returning to normal each day. I know what it’s like to be jet lagged–it seems to take me captive for at least a week when I travel. After a long trip, this is the kind of food I crave from my kitchen. You have really educated me so much about Japanese food–love learning new (to me) dishes from you.
Have a great weekend!
Glad to have you back and how the heck did I miss this one. Anyway your instructions and photos are always wonderful and so helpful for the novice Asian cuisine tester 🙂 thanks.
Welcome back sweetie! Beautiful stew 🙂
Welcome back again Nami 🙂 I bet you’re glad to go back and visit family and take your children to explore Japan ~ I’ve really enjoyed reading your holiday posts and finally getting to ‘meet’ your kiddes hehe 🙂 This is a great recipe ~ I remember having it a Japanese restaurant once and Mr Bao and I really liked it yay!
I have never heard of this Japanese dish, but it looks delicious.
Thank you so much for this recipe! Most of the recipes I’ve used called for more sugar, so I was a little worried about the flavor, but it was perfect! I don’t use fish flakes, so anyone who is worried about the dashi should know that is comes out wonderfully with just water instead of dashi. I used white wine instead of sake, too, as that was what I had on hand. I bought an otoshibuta after reading your recipe, and it worked so much better for me than how I had made it before. It was so good, my husband asked me to make it the next day, too! (^_^) ありがとうございます！
Hi Cara! Oh thank YOU for trying this recipe and writing feedback! Each family has different taste, so I’m glad yours and mine clicked. 🙂 Happy to learn that you also found Otoshibuta. It’s a great cooking tool for Japanese (and maybe other) cuisine. Nikujaga is a perfect comfort food for us, and I’m really happy that you enjoyed it!
Looks really fun to make and this one’s delicious and healthy!
friends will surely love this if I make some servings!
Hey just wanted to say we make nikujaga a LOT and this is easily the best recipe we have found to date. Love the helpful explanations about the oshibuta and edging the potatoes. So happy to have found your blog （＾∇＾）
Hi Ian & Kristy! I’m so happy to hear that you like the recipe! Some techniques like Otoshibuta and “Mentori” (smoothing the edge) make the dish a bit better and more tasteful. Thank you so much for writing. You made my day! 🙂
Hi Nami,
When I was iN Japan last week, I ate a lot of this dish simply because I like the taste.
When back home, I immediately visited your blog to find the recipe and yes I got it here.
I cooked it this morning and I got the taste exactly like I had in Japan.
Thanks so much for sharing, Nami.
HAPPY NEW YEAR AND BEST WISHES TO A NEW YEAR!
Hi Liliana! I’m so happy you liked this recipe! Each family has slightly different recipe for this dish, so you adjust to your liking. I sometimes add a little more sugar or mirin to this recipe too. 🙂
Happy New Year!
I made this recipe for dinner for myself and my four picky younger siblings. Our pickiness knows no bounds—between the five of us, there’s someone who doesn’t eat onions, carrots, noodles, soy sauce, and a number of other things. I put this on the table and, as we were saying a blessing, my youngest brother snuck his and started eating. It was a big hit with everyone! Thank you and God bless!
Hi Kayleigh! I’m sorry for my late response – I read your message and forgot to flag the email so I completely missed to respond till now. Sorry about that.
So happy to hear you and your siblings enjoyed the nikujaga recipe! It’s a really comfort food to me, and your kind words just made my day! xo 🙂
Hi Nami 🙂
First off, I love your blog. I’ve tried a few recipes here and there, and your recipes have never failed to be anything short of wonderful. I didn’t cook Japanese food often because I had to go out of my way to get to an Asian supermarket, but that’s changed now.
I recently moved to Japan and am ever more grateful for your blog. It’s been quite an adventure, and every time I go grocery shopping I find myself looking up kanji on my phone to make sure I’m buying the right things. I’m still getting acquainted with my local market and don’t know where and what everything is. That said, what section of the store can I find shirataki noodles? I couldn’t seem to find them at the store, so I’m trying the recipe with cellophane noodles instead–hopefully it wont turn out to be too off.
I’m looking forward to trying more of your recipes 🙂 I’ve lost count of how many of your recipes I’ve bookmarked.
Thank you!
Hi Mrs. Sata! Thank you so much for your kind words and I’m so glad you enjoy my blog! I hope you are enjoying your stay in Japan.
Shirataki should be in the refrigerated section (on the wall). It should be near tofu, konnyaku, all the “ingredinets” packaged stuff rather than fresh produce area. But it can be different in each store… Hope you can find it. Yeah cellophane noodles will work, but it may absorb lots of broth (shirataki won’t), so add it to cook right before you serve.
Hope you enjoy my recipes. Thank you so much for writing! 🙂
Hey Nami-san,
I just posted a new blog entry, and linked to your nikujaga recipe in my blog. I’m going to cook nikujaga for the first time tonight.
I’m in Brisbane, Australia. I love Japanese culture, and my last girlfriend was Japanese. We were together two years, so I learnt a lot from her, including Japanese cooking techniques. I’ve already cooked an oden and a chicken and daikon nimono this week.
I visited Japan last year too, which was awesome!
Cheers,
Jody Smith
Hi Jody! Thank you for linking back to my Nikujaga post.
I hear there are so many good Japanese restaurants in Australia. Here in the U.S. a lot of Japanese restaurants have been around for 1-2 generations (so it’s more old school type restaurants). I follow some Australian food bloggers and read so many reviews of Japanese restaurants in Australia and they are mostly more modern – just like ones in Japan! I think a lot of chefs are coming from Japan too.
You must have learned a lot of home style dishes. 🙂 All the dishes you mentioned are home cooked meals and so happy to know some people know those dishes that’s close to our heart (than sushi and tempura for example. haha). Thanks for writing!
I made this tonight and it was so delicious. I love your site.
Hi Diana! Thank you so much for your feedback and kind words! I’m glad you enjoyed Nikujaga. 🙂
Via Nikujaga I discovered your blog. Thanks Nikujaga!! One question: I always make it with chicken (thighs). But if you make it with this thin meat you cook the meat the whole time? It doesn’t get overcooked? Do you use the kind of meat you can use for shabu-shabu? I found out that my eastern food shop sells this beef only the other day. Sooooo happy! First time ever my shabu shabu tasted a bit like Japan.
Hi Lara! It was! So happy to hear how you found my blog. Thank you so much for following my blog since then. 🙂 Yes you cook the meat whole 15+ minutes. Because the meat is so thin, even after cooking for a while it doesn’t get chewy or hard. Plus the cut of meat has some fat too. Usually less expensive scrap beef (we call this part “komagire”) is used for this dish, but I like using meat for shabu shabu (even small amount). 😉 Great that you found a shop that sells thinly sliced meat! I added how to slice your own meat here: https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to/how-to-slice-meat/
Nami, I tried this recipe tonight. I cooked it before using a different recipe but this one’s a winner!
Hi Michelle! So happy to hear you liked this recipe! Thank Hou so much for your feedback. 🙂
Hi Nami,
This one looks super delicious! Quick question, is there any way to replace mirin and sake since I can’t drink/eat anything with alcohol in it?
Thanks and have a super lovely day!
Hi Ai! You can simply use sugar and soy sauce. However, adapt the amount according to your liking. Since you don’t use mirin, you need to add more sure and reduce soy sauce. Hope this helps!
must be tired and jet lag, take good care! thanks for the new recipe, i am going to try it.
Nami,
I tried it yesterday ; it was very good!
Do you know what can I do with the leftover soup/broth ?
Have a great day,
Cassandre.
Hi Cassandre! I’m glad to hear you enjoyed nikujaga recipe! You only had broth/soup? Hmm I usually try to eat it together (not to leave any soup behind)… I know it’s good, but don’t know what else I can use it for. 🙂
Hi there. I would like to make nikujaga but I can’t use both mirin or sake. Do you know what’s a good substitute for both?
Hi Naqibah! You can omit both. Adjust with sugar, dashi, and water. 🙂
Hi Nami! I just wanted to tell you that you are an absolute God-send for me as I am living in Germany and had NO idea how to cook my mom’s Japanese home-cooked meals until I came upon your website. All this time, I’ve relied on her or have been eating out…But this isn’t possible in Germany, so without you I’d be horribly homesick AND starving. Thank you x 1 million! Your recipes are laid out so well and clearly and make it easy for even the worst of cooks.
Hi Marie! Aww you’re so kind and sweet. Thank you very much for writing! Once you cook several dishes, you will be able to season your meal just the way your mom cooks. 🙂 Japanese cooking is very simple (condiments are always same), so you can easily adjust to your liking. I’m glad to hear my recipes are easy to follow. Thank you very much!!! xoxo
Definitely a favourite of mine. I added sweet potato to it and a little bit of oyster sauce. I have to freeze it otherwise I tend to eat to much. Definitely a quick comfort food
Thanks for sharing these recipes
Hi Robert! So sorry for my late response. I’m happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe and thanks for your kind feedback. I love sweet potatoes! It’s definitely a comfort food! 🙂
your recipes are awesome! i love them so much <3 ive gotta try them all ☺️
Thank you so much, dzung! I’m so happy to hear that. 🙂
Thank you Nami! You are absolutely wonderful. As an aspiring food blogger, I really appreciated your incredibly kind and thoughtful response to my email asking for advice. You even checked out my blog and provided personalized feedback! It meant so much to me. I am a big fan of your blog, especially this nikujaga recipe. I made it for my Japanese boyfriend’s family in Japan and they were amazed by my cooking prowess! I think they were surprised to taste authentic Japanese food from a half-Japanese American like me. But it was all thanks to your great recipe! Thank you again, Jessy
Hi Jessy! Thank you for your kind words. I got a lot of help from many blogger friends when I started my blog (and even now occasionally), and I’d be more than happy to help out others when I can. 🙂
So happy to hear you liked this nikujaga recipe and it’s cool your BF family even liked it. He he hee.
Thanks so much for your feedback! 🙂
Oh my goodness! I made this for the first time tonight and it was absolutely amazing! I couldn’t believe I had made it! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! It has become a new favorite. とてもおいしかたです！
Hi Erica! I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for writing your kind feedback. よかった！ありがとう！
Hi Nami, thank for sharing such a wonderful recipe. My husband and daughters love them very much. Have been cooking it couples of time……thank you very much!! ????
Hi Wai! So happy to hear your family enjoy this dish! It’s very Japanese “home cook” dish. I’m excited that your family liked it! Thank you for your kind feedback!
I made it to the recipe and it tastes fantastic! The homemade dashi stock is an especially good
Hi Robert! Really happy to hear that you enjoyed this dish! Thanks for writing your kind feedback. Yes, homemade dashi makes a huge difference in cooking (compared to dashi powder or no dashi). 🙂
Hi Nami!
Thank you for this recipe! It looks much more appetizing than other nikujaga recipes I have seen. I make the original version for my husband. I don’t eat meat so I use marinated tofu for myself. It’s not original, but still tastes good (for me at least).
I didn’t get the white shirataki, only the brown this time. Can I use those too?
It won’t look as pretty, but maybe it’s ok for the taste?
Hi Miya! Thank you for your kind words. I hope you enjoy this recipe! Marinated tofu sounds wonderful too. 🙂
Now regarding shirataki, it’s almost same, so for the texture, you can use it (or skip it if you’re not into it). 🙂
Wow, you’re always sooo fast replying, thank you!
Yes, I made it before, it was really good 🙂 But I think for someone who eats meat, the “real” version is better.
I love shirataki (and any type of konnyaku), just wasn’t sure, if the brown would work, since they only had those this time at the store.
…and now I just looked at the package and there is a Nikujaga recipe on the back (^-^; I will stick to yours, but could have saved the question.
Thank you for all the tasty recipes and all the time you take for photos and videos!
Hi Miya! Hope you enjoy the recipe! I’m glad you enjoy my recipes and videos. 🙂
Konnichiwa Nami,
Chotto shitsumon ga arimasu. I have some frozen ground beef and was wondering if I can use that to replace the sliced beef. Should I try doing it with less time (to prevent beef from turning too old) , or use the same amount of time for simmering?
arigatougozaimasu ! J
Konnichiwa J! You can use ground beef. It’s more of cooking the potatoes. Meat goes in first to cook, and then simmer all the ingredients with meat until potatoes are cooked through (meat will stay in even though it’s been cooked already). To improve the flavor, you can set aside to let the ingredients absorb more flavors at room temperature (for 2 hours) and reheat to enjoy it. That would be ideal if you have time to cook ahead. Hope that helps!
Thank you Nami! It turned out delicious with the ground beef. Although I would choose beef that is more lean next time.
Thank you! 🙂
Hi J! Thanks so much for letting me know. I’m glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe! 🙂
Hi i noticed that ure in pressure cooker nikujaga recipe u added 1 cup dashi stock with 3tbsp soy sauce but for the stove top version is 2 cups dashi stock with 4tbsp soy sauce. So does that mean the pressure cooker version is saltier? I have tried the stovetop version & it’s a lil sweet on the tastebuds. So would the pressure cooker version be more savoury? If i follow the pressure cooker version but cook it as normal on a stove is this ok? Or will there be not enough liquid to cover the ingredients? Please help.
Hi Lilian! Water/Liquid does not evaporate in pressure cooker recipes, so you need to think that in consideration when you swap the methods. Everyone’s nikujaga is different, but in general, it is not a “salty” dish and rather “sweeter” note to that taste. Of course, you can adjust the amount of sugar to make it less sweet, but we still consider Nikujaga is a savory dish (with a hint of sweetness). If you’re cooking on the stovetop, I’d use my regular nikujaga recipe and adjust the seasonings. Hope that helps!
Yes, yes, yes! I’ve made Nikujaga so many times and it was DULLLLL. Now I know the secret! 秘密
Hi Don! Thanks for your kind words! So happy to hear you like Nikujaga. 🙂
What kind of potatoes do you use?
You can use russet potato (easily break into smaller pieces) or yukon gold potatoes (more firm). I like the texture of russet potatoes but for the look, it might be nicer with yukon gold… 🙂
So easy and delicious. I was surprised to find shirataki noodles at the non-Asian grocery store near me so I thought it’d be perfect to try this recipe. So simple to put together and the broth is incredible. I could drink the broth alone if it was just a cold day and I needed a delicious way to warm up. Adding this to my regular dish rotation!
Hi Vivi! Thank you for trying this recipe! I think a lot of non-Asian people eat shirataki as zero calorie noodles (healthier alternative). I’m so happy to hear you enjoy this recipe and thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂
Thanks for the Nikujaga recipe! From Kansai, our family likes it sweeter, and with more dashi, so I adjusted for that. We wanted to suggest shiitake mushrooms, though! It just doesn’t feel complete without them.
Thanks Nami-swaaaaaan!
Hi Kelley! Thank you for your suggestion! I like mine to be sweeter too, especially when it’s in bento next day or eaten at room temperature or chilled. 😀 Thanks for trying this recipe! xo
Delicious recipe and quick enough for a weeknight meal. Will be making this again!
Hi Wendy! Thank you for trying this recipe! I’m so happy you enjoyed it. Thanks for your kind feedback. xoxo
Hi Nami! Sorry to hear you are not yet recovered, and really hope you are feeling much better as I type! I made nikujaga and it was very tasty – thank you so much for the lovely recipe! However, I had to use a pan for which the lid wasn’t an absolute tight fit, so most of the broth had dried out by the end : ( Whilst this gave some of the potatoes and meat a nice sear, it wasn’t really what I was aiming for, of course…! Next time, do you think it would work to just add in more dashi broth at the start? Also, would you have any suggestions for what kind of otoshibuta lid can be used in a non-stick pan? I was a bit worried about using tin foil in case it scratched the pan, so I used one of the Japanese sheets used to remove oil from the surface of soups. It had a cross cut in the middle so looked a bit like your foil otoshibuta lid : ), but seemed a bit unconventional. I did wonder if it might’ve shed a little fluff into the food after 10 mins’ use, and maybe contributed to the dashi broth drying out? Warm thanks for any insights! : ) Feel better soon 🖤
Hi J2! Thank you for your kind words. I’m much better now. 🙂
Hmm you can always get a wooden otoshibuta, but that’s a fixed size. If you’re going to always use the same pan for cooking various simmered food, a wooden one maybe a good choice. Usually, otoshibuta can be a bit smaller than the pan and stays on top of the food, so no scratch should be involved.
As for the evaporating, I wrote “Place otoshibuta and simmer on medium”… Maybe I’ll change to medium-low heat. It has to keep simmering but should not be boiling (which will break potatoes etc). You can increase the dashi but should increase the seasoning too so the flavor won’t change. 🙂
Success! : ) I lowered the heat, used a smaller foil otoshibuta lid, and just to be safe, added more dashi + seasoning. It came out great, and I had quite a bit of delicious broth left this time! Thank you so much for your speedy reply leading to a big improvement in my results in under one week, Nami! : ) Glad to know you’re better – stay healthy and happy!
Hi J2! I’m so glad to hear your success story! Thank you for sharing your update. 🙂
Hi Nami,
I just want to say thank you for creating this site! It is a bible to me and has helped me to connect to my Japanese roots. The layout of your recipes are so easy to follow and I love the accompanied images. Truth be told I have always been intimidated by Japanese cooking, as it’s such an important part of the culture, however, now I have my kitchen stocked full of all the basics and your website, I have enjoyed experimenting and perfecting and I look forward to being able to cook for my Ojiichan and Obaachan when I next visit Japan.
Hi Selina! Aww I’m so happy to hear my recipes are helpful and you enjoy cooking Japanese food at home. Thank you so much for your kind feedback, Selina!! I’m sure your Ojiichan and Obaachan will be so happy to see and eat your home-cooked food! 🙂
Hi Nami, I’m so glad that you post great step-by-step recipes for dishes I love. I especially like making nimono, so nikujaga is definitely up my alley. My only problem right now is I have every ingredient except for the shirataki noodles/ konyaku noodles. Is it still doable even without this ingredient, I feel like I’m just going to be missing the texture of the dish?
Hi Vanessa! Yes, I sometimes make nikujaga without shirataki. It’s more of add-on ingredient (not the main ingredient like potatoes) so it’s good!
Hi, Nami, thanks for this recipe and all the tips! I tried it last week and it went down well with my family. Plus, it was easy to cook. I used shabu shabu beef, and I laid a few extra strips over the top of the stew. They acted like a kind of otoshibuta! Thanks again, and I hope you’re healing well.
Hi shl! Thank you so much for trying this recipe. I’m so glad your family enjoyed this dish! I like your idea on shabu shabu beef otoshibuta! Awesome. Thanks so much for sharing your tip! And thank you for your well wishes. xoxo
Hi Nani
I was wondering if it’s possible to have a vegetarian version of nikujaga by substituting the meat with shitake mushrooms and tofu? What adjustments would I have to make please? Any advice would be very helpful! Thanks so much
Hi Sharon! Yeah, shiitake mushrooms, king oyster mushrooms (always great meat sub), portobello mushrooms (great meat sub) are good for mushroom portion. Tofu releases water, so it might dilute the flavor, so unless it’s the deep fried tofu, I won’t use it. Deep fried tofu will absorb flavors and it’ll be delicious and it’s firm enough to cook with root vegetables and won’t crumble. 🙂
I have never tried or made this dish before but the recipe just looked so good, i had to try it. I’m not sure if I got the right flavor, but it tastes similar to sukiyaki but with a milder flavor. My family loved it! Thanks for making recipes like these for people who want to try making Japanese dishes. Looking to make more of the recipes in this website. Keep it up! <3
Hi Candyd,
Yes, Nikujaga is a very similar flavor to Sukiyaki. It is a savory dish with a hint of sweetness. I hope you like Nami’s Nikujaga!🙂
Hi, Nami! I made nikujaga 2 days ago, we had it yesterday & I found it a bit bland – I think it’s because I used 1 carrot & 2 large potatoes, so the soy-mix seasoning was probably over-diluted… I have eaten many times nikujaga before, so I know I made it too bland. When I reheat the rest for dinner today, would it be ok to add a bit more of the seasoning and, if so, at which point woukd it be best to do so & how much should I add (to avoid the taste becoming too strong)? Thank you & take care !! (^_^)
Hi Rea,
Thank you so much for trying this recipe!
To adjust to your taste, we recommend adding the Dashi stock and Seasonings 1 Tbsp at the time and bring to a boil then simmer on medium-low heat for few minutes. I hope this helps😊
It worked! Thank you, Nami, for saving our dinner 💕
Hi Rea, My pleasure!😊