College Style Nikujaga

Nikujaga is a classic Japanese comfort food and a prime example of "mother's cooking". It is a food that is cooked commonly at home and reminds one of childhood and the coziness and warmth of home. I have always loved Japanese food and can definitely relate to how a dish can stir up the memories of family and home (my personal favorite is my mom's chinese beef brisket). The weather was pretty disgusting today with lots of thunder and rain and I wanted to make something delicious and warm. Nikujaga is a dish composing mostly of potatoes and meat simmered in a sweet soy based broth. I called this my college version of Nikujaga because I did not have many of the ingredients to make the sweet soy based broth yet I improvised with what I had in my pantry and it turned out amazing!

Serving: 2 people

Ingredients

- Stewing beef
- 1 onion
- 1 tsp of garlic
- Olive oil

For the broth 
- Soba dipping sauce
- Packet of udon soup seasoning (mine was seaweed and vegetable flavor)
- Soy sauce
- Sesame oil
Note: In traditional recipes dashi and mirin is used, I did not have these so I had to make do with what I found and thought fit the flavor profile of the dish.

Directions 
1) Dice up the onions and chop potatoes into small irregular pieces

2) Cut the pieces of stewing beef into small pieces, around 1 inch all around. Hint on buying good stewing beef: look for pieces of meat that have a even marbling of fat distribution amongst the meat. This will ensure that the beef is tender and not tough.

3) Brown the onions in the pan with some olive oil over medium heat. When onions are slightly translucent add the garlic and continue sautéing.

4) Season the beef slightly with some salt and then add into the pot. Turn up the heat slightly when the meat is added in order to achieve a nice browning of the meat.

5) Continue browning meat until the pieces are seared on the outside.

6) Add in the potatoes and stir around

7) Mix the udon soup mixture with a bowl of hot water (approx. 1 and a half cup of water, I eyeballed this sorry!), and pour into pot with beef and potatoes. Make sure there is enough water that all the meat and potatoes are covered. Stir.

8) Stir in 1-2 tablespoons of soy sauce (depending on how salty you like your food) and 1 tablespoon of soba noodle dipping sauce.

9) Stir everything until well mixed then turn the fire on low heat and put the lid on. Stew for around 2 hours or until the meat is tender and the broth has thickened slightly and has a rich flavor.

10) Check on it after 30-45 minutes to ensure that the broth is not boiling too quickly and that there is still a sufficient about of liquid left.

Yum.

11) Nikujaga is usually served with rice but I decided to serve it over soba noodles. It was absolutely delicious and I would definitely make it again!