Slow Cooker Japanese Beef and Potato Stew

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

Nikujaga is Japan's ultimate comfort dinner: tender beef, soft potatoes and sweet carrots in a glossy soy-mirin broth. Everything goes into the slow cooker in one go — no browning, no fuss — and after a long, gentle simmer the potatoes soak up all that savoury-sweet sauce. Serve it over steamed rice with a scattering of scallions.

Ingredients

• 1.5 lb beef chuck, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1.5 lb Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
• 3 large carrots, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 large yellow onion, cut into thick wedges
• 1.5 cups beef broth
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup mirin
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely grated

• 3 scallions, thinly sliced

Instructions

1. Scatter the onion wedges over the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker, then add the potatoes and carrots in an even layer. Keeping the vegetables low means they cook through in the liquid.
2. Add the beef chuck pieces on top of the vegetables, spreading them out so they aren't clumped together. Do not brown the beef — it will become fork-tender in the slow cooker.
3. In a measuring jug, stir together the beef broth, soy sauce, mirin, brown sugar and grated ginger until the sugar dissolves, then pour it evenly over everything in the cooker.
4. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours or HIGH for 4 hours, without lifting the lid, until the beef shreds easily with a fork and a potato chunk offers no resistance to a knife.
5. Skim any fat from the surface with a spoon, then stir gently once to coat everything in the sauce. Ladle into bowls over steamed rice and top with sliced scallions.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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