Hi there
Japanese homecook dishes can be very simple yet delicious, and does not even put a hole in your pocket too. I personally love this Japanese stew dish which is called Nikujaga. Niku stands for meat while Jaga stands for potato in Japanese, so combined and it is potato meat stew. 🙂
This dish only require a pot and ingredients you probably already have it at home, and of course one of my favourite sauce Soba sauce, which I got from Daiso for just $2 a bottle. 🙂
I have created 2 versions here, so you can try out the difference, the only difference I have is I have added konyaku in the dish to give it more bite. 🙂
Ingredients Needed to feed a family of 4 🙂
- Pork Belly or Mince Beef or Mince Pork x 1 pack
- Onion x 1
- Potato x 1
- Carrot x 1
- Green Pea x 1/2 cup
- Spring Onion x 1 stalk
- Soba Sauce x 6 tablespoon
- Soya Sauce x 1 tablespoon
- Mirin Japanese Cooking Wine x 1 tablespoon
* All chopped to pieces like below pic 😀
Directions :
- Brown onions for about 30 secs, point is to brown onions until is transparent, just half cooked will do
- Brown meat and pour in the cutted potatoes & carrots
- Pour the soba sauce / soya sauce / japanese cooking wine and mix it, cover and cook under low fire
- Once the potatoes and carrots start to soften, you can throw in the frozen green peas and let it steam for about 2 mins
This dish has both meat and vegetables in it, so you can just serve this with rice and you can have a complete meal. 🙂
Not counting how colorful this dish is, my son who do not like to eat green pea actually enjoyed this dish, because the green pea give it a good bite.
As for the potatoes, I usually use the US Rusett potatoes, as it is more fluffy after cooked.
You can also adjust the soba sauce and soya sauce level, I have tried in a Japanese BBQ restaurant where they cook it with a much savory version, it tasted great but may be good for adults to go with beer, however not very suitable for kids, as it is quite salty, no matter how good it taste 🙂 so this version is more family friendly.
Another of my favourite is the konyaku, these Japanese konyaku cost around $2 over and it comes in strain of konyaku. This get cooked up very quickly. You can usually find it a Japanese supermarket or Cold Storage like a Takashimaya, they are usually located at the tofu section, or the miso paste section. It comes with various shapes like strands or in a full block and also few colors like white or grey, both taste good as well. 🙂
It has this chewy yet bouncy texture, which is so addictive! I like to add this because this can replace rice as well, and konyaku as you probably know is very good as a low calorie alternative, very popular among Japanese ladies. 🙂
You can also try it with steamboat too, So you can try out this version as well, my son loves this too, because of the texture of the konyaku noodles. 🙂
QUICK & SIMPLE JAPANESE HOMECOOK STEW RECIPES – NIKUJAGA MEANS MEAT POTATO STEW IN JAPANESE 肉じゃが
Happy Cooking!
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Cheers,
Dawn