Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.

Beef - Top tip: it is much easier to slice beef thinly if you put it in the freezer for half an hour before you slice it. This is the first thing I do before making a Niku Jaga.

Make the seasoning: simply add the soy sauce, cooking sake and mirin to the sugar and stir to mix. The sugar will dissolve as you prepare the rest of the stew.

Dashi stock: stir the dashi powder into the water and stir well to mix. I use the two attached pouches per 1 litre of water.

Prepare all the stew ingredients:

Potatoes - cut the peeled potatoes into quarters and smooth the edges of the potatoes by trimming the sharp edges. This Japanese cutting technique is called mentori. Soak the potatoes in water to remove starch.

Onions - cut each peeled onion half and then each half into 6 wedges.

Carrots - cut the peeled carrots in half lengthwise and chop into rolling wedges.

Snow peas/green beans - cook in boiling water for 10 seconds and take them out.

Shirataki noodles - drain and rinse the shirataki noodles. Add the shirataki noodles to the boiling water you cooked the snow peas in and cook for 1 minute. Drain well and cut in half.

Beef – thinly slice the beef.

Cook the Niku Jaga:

Using a large pot, heat the oil on medium and sauté the onion for 5 minutes until lightly caramelised.

Add the beef and cook until no longer pink; just a couple of minutes.

Rinse the potatoes and add to the onions and beef along with the carrots and shirataki noodles – do not mix the ingredients

Pour in the seasonings and the dashi stock. Bring gently to the boil.

Simmering gently, skim the scum from the surface and discard.

Meanwhile using the lid of your pot as a size guide, make an ‘otoshibuta’ (drop lid) out of aluminium foil. (See pictures above.)

When the stock is as clear as you can make it, make sure as many ingredients as possible are submerged. Cover with the ‘otoshibuta’ and a lid

Cook for 15-20 minutes or until all the vegetables are cooked through. Turn off the heat and let it stand for 30 minutes before serving so the ingredients can further absorb the flavours.

NB - I cook mine for 20 minutes because we like the potatoes very soft – cooking for 15 minutes is perhaps slightly more traditional. However cooking time will also depend on the size and type of your potatoes.

When you heat it up again prior to serving, pour the soup on top of the ingredients with a spoon a couple of times. When it’s almost ready, toss in the snow peas to warm them through. Make sure all the ingredients are piping hot before you serve.

I like to serve my Niku Jaga either on or with rice on the side to absorb all the delicious stock. Although my photographs show chopsticks, I also use a spoon to catch all the wonderful flavours!