Beef & Potato Nikujaga

📝 Ingredients

• 500 g beef rump steak
• 4 waxy potatoes (about 150 g each)
• 2 carrots (about 100 g each)
• 1 large brown onion (about 200 g)
• 200 g green beans
• 1 tsp dashi powder + 400 ml hot water
• 4 tbsp soy sauce + 3 tbsp mirin + 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• 240 g sushi rice

🍴 Utensils

• Large sauté pan with lid
• Saucepan with lid
• Colander
• Chef's knife
• Chopping board
• Baking paper

📖 Steps

1. Put the rump steak in the freezer for 30 min to firm it up, then cut it against the grain into very thin slices (2 to 3 mm) and cut these into 5 cm pieces. The thinner the slices, the more tender the meat will stay.
2. Rinse the sushi rice in a sieve, rubbing it, until the water runs almost clear. Put it in the saucepan with 290 ml cold water, bring to the boil, cover and cook for 12 min over a very low heat, then leave to stand for 10 min without lifting the lid.
3. Peel the potatoes and cut them into quarters, the carrots into 3 cm chunks and the onion into 8 wedges. Rinse the potatoes in cold water to remove the surface starch. Top and tail the green beans and cut them in half.
4. Dissolve the dashi in the hot water. Heat the oil in the sauté pan over a medium-high heat, fry the onion for 2 min, then add the beef and sear it for 1 to 2 min, separating the slices, just until it is no longer red.
5. Add the potatoes and carrots, stir for 1 min to coat them, then pour in the dashi stock: it should come three quarters of the way up the vegetables. Bring to the boil and skim off the grey foam that rises to the surface with a spoon.
6. Add the sugar and mirin, then the soy sauce. Place a disc of baking paper with a hole in the centre directly on top of the ingredients and simmer for 15 min over a medium-low heat, without stirring so the potatoes don't break up.
7. Lift the paper, lay the green beans on top, replace the paper and cook for another 6 to 8 min. The tip of a knife should go through the potatoes without resistance and the broth should have reduced by about half.
8. Turn off the heat and leave to stand, covered, for 10 min: the vegetables soak up the broth and take on a lovely amber colour. Serve in deep bowls with a little of the cooking liquid, with the rice on the side.