My First Attempt at Japanese Cooking in My Apt

A few weeks ago, I was really in the mood for Japanese food, but not take out --- homemade. The one problem? I was in my apartment, not home with mom. For this reason, I decided that it was time to crack open my Japanese cookbook and try my hand at Japanese cooking! *Fingers crossed*

What did I decided to make? Nikujaga, except I didn't use potatoes. Nikujaga is essentially " a
Japanese dish of meat, potatoes and onion stewed in sweetened soy sauce, sometimes with ito konnyaku and vegetables.[1] Generally, potatoes make up the bulk of the dish, with meat mostly serving as a source of flavor.[citation needed] It usually is boiled until most of the liquid has been reduced.[citation needed] Thinly sliced beef is the most common meat used, although minced/ground beef is also popular." (from Wikipedia)

Trying to be healthy, I opted out of the carbs, thus no potatoes. It was a bit of a challenge, since I hadn't really worked with these ingredients before, however, I am delighted to report that the meal came out DELICIOUS!

Ingredients:
- sake, 100 ml
- fish stock, 400 ml
- mirin, 30 ml
- vegetable oil, 1 tbsp
- sugar, 3 tbsp
- soy sauce, 50 ml
- VERY thinly sliced beef, 200 g
- shirataki (thin yam noodles), cut up
- frozen edamame, about 1 cup
- lotus roots, cut into bite sized pieces
- carrots, cut into bite sized pieces
- enoki mushrooms, chopped up
- fresh daikon radish, cubed
- bamboo (packaged), cut into bite sized pieces


Directions:
1. Peel and cube daikon radish. 
2. Clean the lotus root and slice thinly. 
3. Prepare the pre-boiled and packaged bamboo. Slice in half. 
You will see some white buildup inside the bamboo, clean this out as best as possible. 
Cut into bite sized pieces. 
4. Gather the daikon, bamboo, and lotus roots.
Boil until soft.
5. Mix the sake, mirin, fish stock, sugar, and soy sauce. 
6. Clean and drain the shirataki. Cut up noodles. 
7. Tear up the beef into bite sized pieces.
8. Remove the boiled vegetables.
9. Boil more water and add the shirataki. 
Boil for a few minutes. 
10. Heat the vegetable oil in a pan. 
11. Add the vegetables. (Daikon, lotus roots, bamboo, and carrots.) 
12. Once the vegetables are slightly browned, add the enoki mushrooms.
13. Once the vegetables are cooked, add the beef.
14. Add the shirataki.
15. Add the edamame.
16. Let sit until everything is cooked.
ET VOILA!

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