Tostadas
Rick A. Martínez
478 ratings with an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars
478
1 hour
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Peel potatoes and cut each into 4 to 6 pieces, so they are relatively uniform in size. Bevel the edges of each piece with a vegetable peeler. Soak in cold water for about 10 minutes to remove some starch.
Cut carrots in rangiri: Hold the knife at a diagonal, and rotate carrot quarter turns to cut irregular, multifaceted chunks. Cut each onion into 6 to 8 wedges, about ¾ inch wide. Cut beef into 2-inch pieces.
Prepare a drop-lid for a 3- or 4-quart heavy-bottomed pot: Cut a circle of parchment paper about 1 inch smaller than the diameter of the pot, and cut a ½-inch hole in its center.
Drain and rinse potatoes. Add to pot with carrots, onions and 1½ cups water (it will not fully cover the vegetables). Tuck kombu (if using) into the water. Bring to a boil, then discard kombu. Add soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar. Add beef, stirring to distribute.
Place parchment lid directly on top of vegetables and liquid, and simmer — don’t boil — stirring occasionally, for 20 to 25 minutes, until potatoes are very tender. Turn off heat, discard parchment, and rest for at least 30 minutes (overnight is even better) to allow the potatoes to soak up the seasoning. Reheat, and serve with white rice, or a frosty beer.
When I visited overseas offices of the Japanese company once I worked at, the expats would take me to dinner at Japanese restaurants. They would order expensive food. I'd order the niku jaga, the very essence of home/soul/comfort food for Japanese households, along with curry rice, katsudon. My Japanese wife makes niku jaga, using ground pork instead of thinly sliced beef. She would add in shirataki (noodles made from konyaku/konjac) and add green peas for color and because I like them.
Instead of kombu, you can use a teaspoon of dashi powder - which is made from bonito (fish) and kombu stock. It would also be available at a Japanese (or probably a Korean or Chinese) market. It adds a very lovely savory flavor.
This was a surprisingly easy and tasty dish! A new favorite. I cooked for 2 hoping for leftovers. I halved the veggies/meat but kept the liquid the same because I wanted more of a soupy feel. I ended up adding additional meat because the butcher said 4oz was not a lot for 4 people. I also kept the kombu in a little longer. We got 4 meals but close to no meat in the last dish. Next time I will keep the meat at 8oz and halve the raw sugar and maybe aim to increase the broth a bit more.
In Japan (and other places) where meat was historically seen as a luxury, many traditional recipes use meat to flavor a dish rather than as the centerpiece.
Growing up, we had Japanese exchange students year after year. They would cook for us occasionally during their stay, and many of them cooked this dish. This dish tastes like home to me, because of the lovely memories it invoked. It was so good and such an easy preparation. A real crowd pleaser and an introduction to Japanese food for less adventurous eaters.
Is this really made with 5:1 potatoes to beef? Seems like not much meat for that much starch.
I've had this saved for several years, and just tried it tonight. LOVE IT! I would reduce the sugar by about a third, and make the dashi a bit more umami -- seep the kombu a bit longer and add a dried shiitake or two. I served it with spinach and dashi which was perfect. I also used American Wagyu boneless ribeye -- and the 30 minute freeze in advance of slicing was spot on. I'm not a fan of western stews (much to the woe of my British husband) but this is a winner!
It took a little longer than stated to get the potatoes to the right doneness (I probably added 15 mins before adding my regular lid in addition to the parchment drop lid to speed up the cooking process (careful, though, since mine accidentally go to boiling even on low heat!) I also doubled the meat with no issue, and used a teaspoon of hondashi instead of kombu as another tip suggested. Turned out great! Thinking about maybe boiling some udon noodles instead of rice for next time.
Delicious! I used konbu (although it was a bunch of smaller pieces) and followed the recipe as written. Use the best beef you can for this, but don’t expect it to fill you up. That’s what the potatoes are for. And it’s supposed to be sweet, so keep the sugar.
I ran out of parchment paper so I used foil instead! It worked!
Only 1 tsp sugar. Instead of carrots add portabellas, spinach and small squashes.
Don’t add sugar - watch carefully to be sure it doesn’t boil - very tasty! I used 1 lb beef, about 2.5 lb potatoes, and 2 carrots. 4 cups water and doubled flavor adds
The prep and cooking time seems a bit too optimistic.
This recipe is now a standard comfort meal for us. The sweet soy sauce is simply lovely. I did not use the dried kombu; I used Hondashi powder instead. I like that I don't have to saute beef, and using thinly sliced beef that can be gently simmered makes the beef go a long way. This is a great recipe!
Delicious made a stock from roasted beef shin bones and slow cooked short ribs in it after browning in a Dutch oven with the onions ginger garlic and seasonings adding potatoes pumpkin cloud ear mushrooms and carrot at the end for half an hour served over rice with fresh cilantro chilli and black vinegar
Very yummy. Doubled the meat. Bought at japanese market on great jones. Should double the soy sauce.
ofukuro no aji” (mom’s taste)! Very yummy. Doubled the meat. The mirin and sugar makes it very sweet. Double the soy sauce and add beef broth instead of water
Growing up, we had Japanese exchange students year after year. They would cook for us occasionally during their stay, and many of them cooked this dish. This dish tastes like home to me, because of the lovely memories it invoked. It was so good and such an easy preparation. A real crowd pleaser and an introduction to Japanese food for less adventurous eaters.
If this recipe had 6 stars I would award that ranking for taste and ease of preparation. I added 1 tsp of Dashi powder, and used 1/2 pound of H Mart Wagyu thin sliced brisket. Incredible.
I made this and it was lovely. I used bonito stock (couldn't find Kombu) and it was delicious. I was also lucky to find very thinly sliced beef at Trader Joe's (16oz) and added it all to the soup! Very delicious and nourishing. Will be making again.
I love this recipe! I’ve made it a couple times mixing up the root vegetables with whatever I had. One time, I had half a can of plain pumpkin purée leftover from making a pumpkin pie and added it to the pot. The pumpkin gave it a really nice sweetness!
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