Niku Jyaga (Japanese Beef and Potato Stew)

Name: Niku Jyaga (Japanese Beef and Potato Stew)
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Cuisine: japanese
Ingredients: 5 medium waxy potatoes, such as Yukon Gold (about 2 1/2 pounds); 2 medium carrots, peeled; 2 small onions (about 1 pound), peeled; 1 piece dried kombu, about 8 inches by 5 inches, broken in half (optional); 1/4 cup soy sauce; 3 tablespoons mirin; 3 tablespoons sake; 3 tablespoons raw or turbinado sugar; 8 ounces thinly sliced, well-marbled beef (see note)

Recipe from Saori Kurioka and Cheiko Kumagai

Adapted by Hannah Kirshner

Niku Jyaga (Japanese Beef and Potato Stew) — Karsten Moran for The New York Times

Total Time: 45 minutes, plus resting
Rating: 4(405)
Comments: Read comments

There’s nothing extraordinary about meat and potatoes stewed in a sweet soy broth, and yet it’s easy to find yourself taking just one more taste until half the pot is gone. Patience pays off though: niku jyaga tastes better the second day, when the potatoes are saturated with sauce. Every household makes it a little differently in Japan, and so the flavor is affectionately called “mother’s taste.” Saori Kurioka, a private chef in Brooklyn, cooks hers the same minimalist way her mother and grandmother did in Kobe, with just beef, potatoes, onion and carrot. She uses a wooden otoshibuta, a drop-lid that fits inside the pot, so the vegetables simmer and steam evenly as the broth slowly concentrates, but the same thing can be achieved with parchment paper. Beveling the edges of the potatoes with a peeler keeps them from crumbling as the jostle around the simmering pot, but skip it if you’re rushed or impatient. —Hannah Kirshner

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Ingredients

Yield:4 to 6 servings

5medium waxy potatoes, such as Yukon Gold (about 2½ pounds)
2medium carrots, peeled
2small onions (about 1 pound), peeled
1piece dried kombu, about 8 inches by 5 inches, broken in half (optional)
¼cup soy sauce
3tablespoons mirin
3tablespoons sake
3tablespoons raw or turbinado sugar
8ounces thinly sliced, well-marbled beef (see note)

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Peel potatoes and cut each into 4 to 6 pieces, so they are relatively uniform in size. Bevel the edges of each piece with a vegetable peeler. Soak in cold water for about 10 minutes to remove some starch.
Step 2
Cut carrots in rangiri: Hold the knife at a diagonal, and rotate carrot quarter turns to cut irregular, multifaceted chunks. Cut each onion into 6 to 8 wedges, about ¾ inch wide. Cut beef into 2-inch pieces.
Step 3
Prepare a drop-lid for a 3- or 4-quart heavy-bottomed pot: Cut a circle of parchment paper about 1 inch smaller than the diameter of the pot, and cut a ½-inch hole in its center.
Step 4
Drain and rinse potatoes. Add to pot with carrots, onions and 1½ cups water (it will not fully cover the vegetables). Tuck kombu (if using) into the water. Bring to a boil, then discard kombu. Add soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar. Add beef, stirring to distribute.
Step 5
Place parchment lid directly on top of vegetables and liquid, and simmer — don’t boil — stirring occasionally, for 20 to 25 minutes, until potatoes are very tender. Turn off heat, discard parchment, and rest for at least 30 minutes (overnight is even better) to allow the potatoes to soak up the seasoning. Reheat, and serve with white rice, or a frosty beer.

Tip

Thinly sliced beef is available from Japanese and Korean markets. To prepare it yourself, buy a well-marbled cut like chuck or boneless rib-eye and freeze for 30 minutes, until firm. Slice it as thinly as you can perpendicular to the grain. (Most American butchers will not slice it thinly enough.)

Ratings

4 out of 5

405 user ratings

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Comments

Bruce McLin6 years ago

When I visited overseas offices of the Japanese company once I worked at, the expats would take me to dinner at Japanese restaurants. They would order expensive food. I'd order the niku jaga, the very essence of home/soul/comfort food for Japanese households, along with curry rice, katsudon. My Japanese wife makes niku jaga, using ground pork instead of thinly sliced beef. She would add in shirataki (noodles made from konyaku/konjac) and add green peas for color and because I like them.

Diane6 years ago

Instead of kombu, you can use a teaspoon of dashi powder - which is made from bonito (fish) and kombu stock. It would also be available at a Japanese (or probably a Korean or Chinese) market. It adds a very lovely savory flavor.

Sherry6 years ago

This was a surprisingly easy and tasty dish! A new favorite. I cooked for 2 hoping for leftovers. I halved the veggies/meat but kept the liquid the same because I wanted more of a soupy feel. I ended up adding additional meat because the butcher said 4oz was not a lot for 4 people. I also kept the kombu in a little longer. We got 4 meals but close to no meat in the last dish. Next time I will keep the meat at 8oz and halve the raw sugar and maybe aim to increase the broth a bit more.

Kaz3 weeks ago

I really like this dish! Once you have the basic seasoning ingredients in the pantry, they last forever, and it's quick and easy enough for a weeknight. It's very flavourful and satisfying. I love subbing in other root veg, like daikon, lotus root, water chestnut. I like to serve it with white rice and a simple lettuce salad with sesame dressing.

lj3 months ago

I made it according to the recipe except for two things: 1. I reduced the sugar to one third of its original (kept the mirin as per recipe) 2. I cut some of the fat off the beef and added just the fat to the stew where it says to add the beef (so it would render) then added the beef itself much later as it cooks so quickly. Overall it had a nice flavour, but was quite subtle. It was really quick for this kind of dish (which can often take 2 or 3 hours), so I am happy.

Riley A Vann4 months ago

I'm a huge fan of beef stew with more stock than this makes, so I doubled the liquids and it turned out beautifully.

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