Nishime (Japanese Vegetable Stew) recipe

Wednesday was cause for celebration - my Saab (named Gwen) came home! She is running smoothly and happily. The gears shift easily. The engine purrs. AND I can get to places quickly again.

To celebrate I wanted to make nishime (Japanese vegetable stew.) I'd never made it before but I remembered Mama's version. Her nishime was one of the meals she made that I absolutely loved (there were several that made me want to throw up, but that's another story.) So, I had to try to reproduce it.

Preparing the vegetables take more time than cooking the meal. Peeling, chopping, slicing, and making matchsticks took me about 1 1/2 hours to do. The actual cooking time was only about 1/2 hour. So, the meal takes a short time to cook once you've got all the prep work out of the way.

I had far too many veggies for the size pan I had. I had to make a special trip just to buy a large stockpot. The enamel pot is hardly glamorous but it's functional and inexpensive and worked just fine.

I took some of the finished product over to Auntie's house. I called first to let her know I was bringing it. She said, "Nishime, humbug you know" (translation: You realize that nishime is a real pain to make, right?) I told her that, yes, nishime is humbug but I really love it and love to cook anyway, so it's okay. She called me the next day to tell me that she thought the stew was delicious. Yea, success!

Nishime (Japanese Vegetable Stew)

1 lb thinly sliced beef (or pork)
2 Tablespoons oil
7 cups water
2 packages Shiratake
2 36" Strips Nishime(not Dashi) Kombu(Kelp)
1 small daikon, cut into wedges (2 cups)
1 large carrot, cut into wedges
1 lotus root, peeled, quartered, and sliced
2 cans bamboo tips (takenoko), sliced lengthwise
2 stalks gobo, scraped with a spoon, placed in water, cut into matchsticks
12-15 Satoimo/Araimo/Dasheen(Japanese Taro), peeled and placed in water to cover
1/2 kabocha pumpkin, seeds scraped out, cut into cubes
1/2 lb shiitake mushrooms, quartered if large
1 Cup Soy Sauce
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Mirin
4 Tb Sake
1 Tsp salt
4 Cloves Garlic Minced

Wash kombu, and strip lengthwise if wider then 3 inches. Tie into knots at 2 inch intervals. Cut between the knots and soak in water for 20 minutes.

Heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic and beef and saute until light brown in color.

Add water, all the vegetables (except shiitakes), sugar, sake, and mirin. Bring to a slow boil and cook for 15 minutes.

Add shiitakes, soy sauce, and salt and simmer 15 minutes, or until cooked. Taste and make adjustments to flavoring.

Note: A friend sent an email reminding me that I can get all the nishime vegetables pre-prepped in the frozen section of most groceries in areas with large Asian populations.  Yeah, you can use the frozen stuff but I'm a food snob in many ways and think that the frozen dasheen/araimo/sato imo has the consistency of wet sponge, but hey, that's just my mouth.  Mama thinks there's no difference.  My friend thinks there's no difference. Maybe I'm the weird one.  No matter.  Use the frozen veggies to save yourself a ton of time. But as for me and my household, we'll shop/chop/slice fresh.