The Osechi (Japanese New Year’s food) menu is about preserving traditional recipes and celebrating the essence of food. Whether it’s for prosperity or good health, every dish plays a role in welcoming the new year. You’ll find simmered dishes such as Nishime (煮しめ) or sometimes called Chikuzenni (筑前煮), being served for its many auspicious significance. In this one-pot colorful stew, root vegetables and chicken are simmered in dashi broth seasoned with soy sauce, sake, and mirin. I’ve shared my regular stove-top Chikuzenni recipe before, but this year I decided to speed things up by using the pressure cooker function of the Instant Pot. It can make a big batch in a short time, perfect for entertaining a big group of family and friends!
What is Nishime?
Nishime (煮しめ) is a traditional Japanese vegetable stew sometimes prepared with chicken. The dish is the most popular nimono (煮物), or a simmered dish in English, and a classic representation of a Japanese home-cooked meal. It’s often served on special celebratory occasions and Japanese New Year because the ingredients have different meanings for joy, happiness, prosperity, and cleansing. The stew commonly includes root vegetables, starchy potatoes, konnyaku (konjac), kombu, deep-fried tofu, sometimes chicken, fish cake (chikuwa and kamaboko), and occasionally fish depending on the region. The cooking method where you simmer ingredients for a long time to reduce the cooking liquid is called Nishimeru (煮しめる), and shortened to Nishime (煮しめ). Sometimes it’s written as Nishime (煮染め) or Nishime (煮締め), or Onishime with an honorary “o.”
Decorative-Cut Ingredients
As a New Year’s dish, the vegetables and konnyaku are cut into fancy shapes to celebrate the occasion. Whether you want to cut the ingredients with decorative designs or not, it is entirely up to you. I have two reasons why it can be a nice thing:
Dress up for the New Year. This is the special time we put on fancy clothing and dress up our homes, why not do it for the Osechi too?A “wow” factor for this very humble dish, with root vegetables and other low-key ingredients.
Too much work? I agree, especially when you have to make so many other dishes for the New Year. But hey, that’s why I’m introducing the Instant Pot version.
Auspicious Ingredients
The following ingredients are included for auspicious reasons:
Carrot – Welcome spring by shaping a carrot into a plum (ume) flower.Lotus root – The holes of the lotus root present a clear and unobstructed future.Burdock root – A skinny, long root that grows straight down into the ground symbolizes stability for the house and family.Shiitake mushroom – It represents longevity when you cut the edges of the mushroom into a hexagon that resembles a turtle shape.Taro – Taro symbolizes fertility or descendants’ prosperity as you can find a lot of baby taros in one root.
Japanese Ingredient Substitutes
Vegetables: Many of the ingredients used in Nishime that can be found in Chinese and/or Korean grocery stores, and sometimes Southeast Asian grocers. If you are lucky, some of the major grocery stores like Whole Foods or local co-ops may carry these unique vegetables too. Konnyaku (Konjac): This, on the other hand, may be difficult to find. But you can skip it as konjac is included more for the texture and auspicious purpose. Dashi from Scratch: Of course, it’s best to make dashi from scratch. It is so simple and takes only half an hour or less to make dashi (or can be faster). You can’t make authentic Japanese food without dashi, so please try your best to make dashi instead of using other stock (unless I mention it). And may the New Year bring you and your family lots of happiness and new inspirations as you enjoy this Instant Pot Nishime together. Wish to learn more about Japanese cooking? Sign up for our free newsletter to receive cooking tips & recipe updates! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram. Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on December 25, 2018. It’s been republished in 2019.
