Niku Jyaga (Japanese Simmered Beef & Potatoes)
Niku Jyaga is a regular dish that my mom made for us and it was definitely a family favorite when I was growing up. It’s the Japanese equivalent of America’s meat and potatoes.
I’m not sure what it is about men and their meat and potatoes but my dad LOVES this dish, and so does bebe dada. It’s light enough however, that it will even suit the palate of young kids and possibly even women who don’t care for meat and potatoes.
Last night I decided to make niku jyaga for dinner. Comfort food.
I like to store shabu-shabu beef which is thinly sliced and very tender, in our freezer. I also like to keep a pack of ito konyaku in the fridge, which might seem like a random item to have on hand, but it keeps really well and big onechan and I love this stuff.
My mom’s niku jyaga consists of thinly sliced beef, onions, potatoes and ito konyaku.
Mom’s Niku Jyaga
- 3 small red potatoes (or 2 small Idaho potatoes)
- 1 small onion
- 1/3 pound shabu-shabu (very thinly sliced) rib-eye beef
- 8 oz ito konyaku (yam noodles)
for simmering sauce:
- 2 cups water
- 1 ¼ teaspoon katsuo dashi (bonito seasoning base)
- 5 to 6 tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce), to taste
- 2 tablespoons cooking sake
- 2 tablespoons mirin (sweet sake)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
1) In a medium pot, combine simmering ingredients and bring to a boil, reduce to medium-low heat.
2) Peel and cut potatoes and let soak in water. They’ll turn reddish-brown if you don’t soak them.
3) Cut onions vertically to make rough chop pieces.
4) Drain and rinse ito konyaku (yam noodles). Using kitchen shears, cut ito konyaku into shorter pieces. Note: If you don’t cut them you might find 10″ noodles you’ll need to wrangle with when you eat.
5) Slice beef into bite-sized pieces.
I used to buy shabu-shabu meat in West Los Angeles from a Japanese market called Safe & Save, but they sadly went out of business. They had the thinnest, most tender, most delicious shabu-shabu beef.
6) First, add the beef and onions to the simmering sauce and cook for 5 – 7 minutes until cooked.
7) Next, add ito konyaku to the simmering sauce and cook for about 10 minutes. It takes a bit of time for the konyaku to absorb the flavor of the simmering sauce.
8) Finally, add the potatoes to the simmering sauce and cook for 10 – 15 minutes until potatoes are tender. Note: Be careful not to over-simmer the niku jyaga else the potatoes will begin to disintegrate. Also, if you over-simmer the ingredients, your dish will become saltier as the shoyu (soy sauce) cooks down.
Judy | bebe mama
- 3 small red potatoes (or 2 small Idaho potatoes)
- 1 small onion
- ⅓ pound shabu-shabu (very thinly sliced) rib-eye beef
- 8 oz ito konyaku (yam noodles)
- FOR SIMMERING SAUCE:
- 2 cups water
- 1 ¼ teaspoon katsuo dashi (bonito seasoning base)
- 5 to 6 tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce), to taste
- 2 tablespoons cooking sake
- 2 tablespoons mirin (sweet sake)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- In a medium pot, combine simmering ingredients and bring to a boil, reduce to medium-low heat.
- Peel and cut potatoes and let soak in water. They’ll turn reddish-brown if you don’t soak them.
- Cut onions vertically to make rough chop pieces.
- Drain and rinse ito konyaku (yam noodles). Using kitchen shears, cut ito konyaku into shorter pieces.
- Slice beef into bite-sized pieces.
- First, add the beef and onions to the simmering sauce and cook for 5 - 7 minutes until cooked.
- Next, add ito konyaku to the simmering sauce and cook for about 10 minutes. It takes a bit of time for the konyaku to absorb the flavor of the simmering sauce.
- Finally, add the potatoes to the simmering sauce and cook for 10 - 15 minutes until potatoes are tender.
- Note: Be careful not to over-simmer the niku jyaga else the potatoes will begin to disintegrate. Also, if you over-simmer the ingredients, your dish will become saltier as the shoyu (soy sauce) cooks down.
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