Recipe from Saori Kurioka and Cheiko Kumagai
Adapted by Hannah Kirshner
- Total Time
- 45 minutes, plus resting
- Rating
- 4(305)
- Notes
- Read community notes
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
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
282 calories; 2 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 1 gram monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 49 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams dietary fiber; 12 grams sugars; 14 grams protein; 648 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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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
305
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Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Bruce McLin
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.
Diane
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.
Sherry
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.
KenG
In Japan (and other places) where meat was historically seen as a luxury, many traditional recipes use meat to flavor a dish rather than as the centerpiece.
Marissa
Growing up, we had Japanese exchange students year after year. They would cook for us occasionally during their stay, and many of them cooked this dish. This dish tastes like home to me, because of the lovely memories it invoked. It was so good and such an easy preparation. A real crowd pleaser and an introduction to Japanese food for less adventurous eaters.
Travler
Is this really made with 5:1 potatoes to beef? Seems like not much meat for that much starch.
Cat
It took a little longer than stated to get the potatoes to the right doneness (I probably added 15 mins before adding my regular lid in addition to the parchment drop lid to speed up the cooking process (careful, though, since mine accidentally go to boiling even on low heat!) I also doubled the meat with no issue, and used a teaspoon of hondashi instead of kombu as another tip suggested. Turned out great! Thinking about maybe boiling some udon noodles instead of rice for next time.
L.M.
Delicious! I used konbu (although it was a bunch of smaller pieces) and followed the recipe as written. Use the best beef you can for this, but don’t expect it to fill you up. That’s what the potatoes are for. And it’s supposed to be sweet, so keep the sugar.
pandesal666
I ran out of parchment paper so I used foil instead! It worked!
colleen
Only 1 tsp sugar. Instead of carrots add portabellas, spinach and small squashes.
Rebecca
Don’t add sugar - watch carefully to be sure it doesn’t boil - very tasty! I used 1 lb beef, about 2.5 lb potatoes, and 2 carrots. 4 cups water and doubled flavor adds
Dana
The prep and cooking time seems a bit too optimistic.
Olivia
This recipe is now a standard comfort meal for us. The sweet soy sauce is simply lovely. I did not use the dried kombu; I used Hondashi powder instead. I like that I don't have to saute beef, and using thinly sliced beef that can be gently simmered makes the beef go a long way. This is a great recipe!
Natalie
Delicious made a stock from roasted beef shin bones and slow cooked short ribs in it after browning in a Dutch oven with the onions ginger garlic and seasonings adding potatoes pumpkin cloud ear mushrooms and carrot at the end for half an hour served over rice with fresh cilantro chilli and black vinegar
Greg
Very yummy. Doubled the meat. Bought at japanese market on great jones.Should double the soy sauce.
Greg
of*ckuro no aji” (mom’s taste)! Very yummy. Doubled the meat. The mirin and sugar makes it very sweet. Double the soy sauce and add beef broth instead of water
Marissa
Growing up, we had Japanese exchange students year after year. They would cook for us occasionally during their stay, and many of them cooked this dish. This dish tastes like home to me, because of the lovely memories it invoked. It was so good and such an easy preparation. A real crowd pleaser and an introduction to Japanese food for less adventurous eaters.
David Wasserman
If this recipe had 6 stars I would award that ranking for taste and ease of preparation. I added 1 tsp of Dashi powder, and used 1/2 pound of H Mart Wagyu thin sliced brisket. Incredible.
Sarah
I made this and it was lovely. I used bonito stock (couldn't find Kombu) and it was delicious. I was also lucky to find very thinly sliced beef at Trader Joe's (16oz) and added it all to the soup! Very delicious and nourishing. Will be making again.
elise
I love this recipe! I’ve made it a couple times mixing up the root vegetables with whatever I had. One time, I had half a can of plain pumpkin purée leftover from making a pumpkin pie and added it to the pot. The pumpkin gave it a really nice sweetness!
BaltimoreBrian
I loved this. Even my husband who doesn't love asian dishes really enjoyed this one. I thought the flavor was so good, but I'm not sure I noticed the kombu. Maybe I'd miss it if I'd left it out. Word of warning - I use the mirin off the shelf in the international section of my decidedly not-international grocery store. it is already sweetened so I did not add any sugar.
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