Braised and Simmered Foods

Ni Mono

Appears in
At Home with Japanese Cooking
At Home with Japanese Cooking

By Elizabeth Andoh

Published 1986

  • About
Tender, moist and intensely flavored, braised and simmered foods are the mainstay of Japanese cooking. Sometimes vegetables, meat, or seafood are lightly sautéed first, while at other times the ingredients are simmered from the start in variously seasoned shallow liquids. In most cases the cooking broth is allowed to reduce entirely and a final few moments of exposure to high heat semi-glazes the food.

Here also are the one-pot dinners, called nabé mono. Most of these dishes are meant to be prepared at the table, and the justly famous Braised Beef and Vegetables known as sukiyaki leads the list. Lesser known, but equally delicious are the seafood, pork and chicken nabé mono that follow. Then there are slow-simmering stews, a meaty pot roast, a poached and pungently sauced fish dish and several meat and vegetable combinations to provide you with a variety of main-course possibilities. Sweet but spicy chicken livers and bite-size beef and scallion rolls make lovely hors d’oeuvres. Finally, there is a selection of cooked fresh and dried vegetables that make wonderful side dishes to steamed, grilled or fried meat and fish courses.