Nikujaga

Japan's answer to beef stew: thinly sliced beef and crumbling potatoes braised in dashi with soy, mirin, and sake until the broth darkens and the potato collapses at the edge: the navy cook's dream that became the most nostalgic home-cooked dish in Japan, the taste every Japanese person associates with their mother's kitchen

Origin: Japan

From the journey of Potato.

Nikujaga (肉じゃが, literally 'meat and potato') is Japan's most beloved home-cooked comfort food and one of the clearest examples in the world of a Western-influenced dish being completely absorbed into a non-Western culinary tradition. The most popular origin story attributes the dish to Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō, who in 1905 led Japan's navy to its decisive victory over Russia at the Battle of Tsushima. As a young officer in the 1890s, Tōgō had tasted beef stew during a naval training visit to Britain and instructed his cooks in the naval base at Kure (Hiroshima) and Maizuru (Kyoto) to recreate it using Japanese ingredients, the result was nikujaga: Western stew technique applied through a completely Japanese seasoning system of dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and sake. Whether the Admiral Tōgō story is accurate or apocryphal, nikujaga is clearly the product of the Meiji-era (1868–1912) project of selective Westernisation: Japanese society was consciously adopting Western technology, institutions, and to some extent diet (the Meiji Emperor famously ate beef publicly to encourage its consumption in a country where Buddhism had prohibited meat-eating for over a millennium). The potato, introduced to Japan via Batavia (Jakarta) by Dutch traders in the early 17th century, became central to nikujaga and to Japanese home cooking generally: not as a side dish but as a principal ingredient braised with the meat in the sweet-savoury dashi broth.

Ingredients

Meat

  • 400 g thinly sliced beef (sukiyaki-cut, 2–3mm slices of rib-eye, sirloin, or chuck), or pork if preferred (the Kansai/Osaka version often uses pork)

Potatoes

  • 600 g potatoes (medium-starchy, Japanese May Queen variety preferred; substitute Charlotte or Yukon Gold), peeled and cut into large 4–5cm chunks

Vegetables

  • 2 medium white onions, cut into wedges (6–8 per onion)
  • 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into diagonal 2cm slices

Noodles

  • 100 g shirataki noodles (konnyaku noodles, optional but traditional; adds a chewy, gelatinous element)

Stock

  • 300 ml dashi stock (from kombu and katsuobushi, the essential Japanese flavour base)

Seasoning

  • 3 tbsp soy sauce (koikuchi, regular Japanese soy sauce)
  • 3 tbsp mirin (sweet rice wine)
  • 2 tbsp sake (dry rice wine or dry sherry)

Sweetening

  • 1 tbsp sugar

Fat

  • 1 tbsp neutral oil

Accompaniment

  • Steamed short-grain rice, to serve

Garnish

  • Spring onion (scallion), thinly sliced, to garnish

Method

  1. Make the dashi: in a pot, combine 500ml cold water with a 10cm piece of kombu (dried kelp). Bring slowly to just below boiling (about 60°C). Remove the kombu. Add 15g katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) and steep for 5 minutes. Strain. Alternatively, use 1 tsp dashi powder dissolved in 300ml hot water.
  2. Heat the oil in a wide pot over medium-high heat. Add the beef slices in a single layer: cook briefly until just browned (30 seconds per side). Remove and set aside.
  3. In the same pot, add the onion wedges and cook for 2 minutes until they begin to soften and the pot is fragrant. Add the potato chunks and carrot slices. Pour in the dashi, soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar. Bring to a simmer.
  4. Return the beef to the pot. Add the shirataki noodles if using (drain and rinse them first, they have a distinctive smell straight from the packet that disappears with rinsing and cooking). Cover with a drop lid (otoshibuta, a lid slightly smaller than the pot diameter, placed directly on the ingredients to keep them submerged and encourage even flavour absorption) or a piece of baking parchment.
  5. Simmer over medium-low heat for 20–25 minutes until the potato is completely tender (it should be just beginning to crumble at the edges) and the onion has softened almost to translucency. The broth will have reduced and darkened slightly.
  6. Serve in deep bowls with the broth, topped with sliced spring onions. Serve with steamed rice on the side: the broth-soaked rice is often the best part. Nikujaga is a one-pot meal that improves dramatically the next day.

Notes

The city of Kure (広島県呉市) in Hiroshima Prefecture and the city of Maizuru (舞鶴市) in Kyoto Prefecture both claim to be the birthplace of nikujaga based on the Admiral Tōgō story, and both have turned the claim into a local tourism and food identity asset. Kure's version uses beef; Maizuru's uses pork (reflecting local ingredient availability). Both cities have 'nikujaga pilgrimages' for food tourists. The rivalry between the two cities over nikujaga's origin is a charming example of how food mythology becomes part of local and national identity.

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