Japanese-Style Beef Stew (Recipe)

Tantalize your senses and nourish your body with Japanese-Style Beef Stew!

With the warming notes of soy, ginger, and lemon plus a bit of sweetness, it is irresistible.

Made with flavorful, economical Beef Stew Meat, this satisfying dish has a unique flavor profile that works magic on your palette.

Farmer Martin prepared this stew for us last week and since I wasn’t cooking I kept finding reasons to leave the house and come back in – just to luxuriate in the delightful aromas wafting from the kitchen.

Tantalizing is really the word I keep coming back to when I think of this lovely stew.

I even hid the leftovers in the back of the fridge and made sure I dished myself the last helping for lunch ;)

This recipe is brought to you by guest-chef Farmer Martin. If the results of his previous recipes are anything to go by, I’m sure it will become a favorite!

Japanese Style Beef Stew

Ingredients

2 lbs Beef Stew Meat
2 T oil
2 C chicken broth
¼ C Tamari soy sauce
¼ C honey (or mirin or sugar)
10 nickel-size slices of ginger
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
1 lemon
1 ½ lbs peeled sweet potatoes in 1” cubes (or winter squash)

Directions

Cut beef stew meat into bite sized pieces, as needed. Approximately 1 – 1 ½ “ cubes.

Preheat a kettle over medium high heat, add oil, then add beef cubes and sear until browned on one side (about 5 minutes). The pan will be fairly crowded so not all of the meat will brown. For a more uniform browning effect you can choose to sear meat in multiple batches.

Add chicken broth to the kettle and scrape up any bits stuck to the bottom of the skillet.

Add soy sauce, honey, ginger, and several good grinds of black pepper.

Peel the lemon in strips and add the peel to the kettle.

Juice the lemon and set juice aside.

Cover and cook for 30 minutes, reducing the heat to maintain a simmer. Stir.

Cook an additional 15 minutes, stir, and check the meat. You want it nearly tender. Cook an additional 15 minutes if necessary.

Stir in sweet potatoes or squash and cook about 15-20 minutes until the sweet potatoes are tender but not mushy.

Taste. Add salt as necessary. Stir in lemon juice and serve.

*Using the full ¼ C of honey makes this recipe fairly sweet. Reduce by up to half, depending on your preferences.

Click here to get Beef Stew Meat.

Based on the recipe by Mark Bittman.