Niku Jaga (Japanese Beef Stew in the Crock Pot)

Tasty casserole, the sweetness of the sugar gave this dish a nice flavour. I didnt use as much water as was stated as it was getting quite 'liquidy' (used 1/2 cup water) and one hour prior to finishing I thickened with some cornflour and water mixed together. I used cross cut blade steak. Thanks for a lovely family meal.

My Japanese "daughter", Tsukasa, prepared Niku Jaga on occasion when our family hosted her as an exchange student many years ago. I'd almost forgotten until I ran across Diggy's recipe. Niku means "meat" and jaga means "potatoes" in Japanese. When prepared according to the recipe, Niku Jaga is an authentic staple from the Japanese family table. I think if you take the words Japanese "Stew" too literally, you lose something wonderfully and uniquely Japanese about the quality of the dish. Unlike American stew, Niku Jaga is traditionally brothy in texture, much like that of Gyu Don (translation: "beef bowl"), a similar Japanse dish. Thanks for bringing back a flood of happy memories, Diggy! Btw, Tsukasa quartered her onions; cut her potatoes into halfs, quartering each half; and cut her carrots into halfs lengthwise, then across into thirds; the way her mother taught her. This makes the dish appear just as hearty as it truly is.

My family thought this was fantastic! I doubled the recipe. I used white wine instead of sake. Was great served over rice. Even better the next day.

Delicious! The meat came out so soft. I was worried that the potatoes would melt away so I made sure to use Yukon Potatoes and I also added some Shitake Mushrooms which absorbed all of the flavor nicely!

This is easy to make and quite tasty. I used a grass-fed chuck roast and it came out great. I also added a little bit of Napa cabbage around 2 hours before the end, which was a nice addition.