Beef, Bamboo Combine in Simple, Simmered Dish; Less Than 10 Minutes for Meal Embodying Freshness of Spring

By Yasuto Akaike / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

12:30 JST, May 18, 2025

Wakatake-ni, a dish made with bamboo shoots and seasonal wakame seaweed, is a treat bursting with the freshness of spring. Akihiko Murata, owner of a Japanese restaurant, adds beef to this popular dish to increase its richness. I found the dish to be both elegant and energizing.

Bamboo shoots, which have a pleasant texture and a distinctive mild aroma, are an invaluable ingredient for Murata at his restaurant this time of year. The gyuniku no wakatake-ni (wakatake-ni with beef) is often served at the end of a multicourse meal at his restaurant.

Making the dish is simple. Cut up the ingredients, add to the dashi broth in order and simmer. The whole process takes less than 10 minutes. The important thing is to bring out the individual flavor of each ingredient.

“The umami of the wakame and beef can add depth to dishes. But in this dish, the umami should not be transferred to the bamboo shoots,” Murata said.

I think the cooking method employed in this dish is somewhere between taki-awase, in which ingredients are cooked separately and served in the same bowl, and nimono, in which the flavors of the ingredients are mixed by cooking them together.

Murata started cooking by simmering the bamboo shoots. The bamboo shoots almost seemed to be swimming in the dashi.

“In Japanese cooking, ingredients are simmered in plenty of dashi,” Murata said. “If there is not enough dashi, it tends to simmer down and the dish’s flavor will lack consistency.”

Simmering in a large amount of dashi may seem a bit wasteful for home cooking, but “you can boil vegetables, such as spinach and komatsuna [Japanese mustard spinach], in the leftover dashi. It makes a great side dish,” Murata said.

He then added wakame, and then beef and fuki Japanese butterbur, simmering all the while. The intervals between adding each ingredient are short, so using a clock to time it can help avoid mistakes. The temperature will drop slightly after adding the beef, so increase the heat to compensate. The scum from the beef does not need to be carefully skimmed off, except for any big lumps that form.

I was served the freshly cooked dish. The bamboo shoots had a pleasant crunch. Its light aroma and sweetness spread throughout my mouth. The richly flavored beef was satisfying. The Japanese butterbur was slightly crunchy, refreshing my palate. The natural flavors of the ingredients were brought out effectively by letting them soak up just the right amount of dashi. This dish would go well with both sake and rice.

Wakatake-ni with beef

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 200 grams bamboo shoots (2 tips)
• 70 grams fresh wakame
• 150 grams beef (thinly sliced)
• 50 grams fuki Japanese butterbur
• 400 milliliters dashi stock
• Kinome (leaf of Japanese pepper) as required



Directions:

1. Cut both of the bamboo shoot tips into 6 wedges. Cut the Japanese butterbur into segments about 4 centimeters long.

2. Add 30 milliliters each of sake, mirin and soy sauce in a frying pan, along with the dashi and bamboo shoots. Cook over high heat.

3. When the liquid comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes.

4. Add the wakame and simmer for 1 minute.

5. Add the beef and Japanese butterbur, turn up the heat slightly and simmer for a further 1 to 1½ minutes. Skim off any large lumps of scum that form while cooking.

6. Place the ingredients in a bowl in order. Arrange the beef in layers, then angle the bamboo shoots nicely in various directions next to the beef. Add the wakame and Japanese butterbur. Garnish with the kinome leaf.

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  The Yomiuri Shimbun
  Cut both bamboo shoot tips into 6 wedges.

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  The Yomiuri Shimbun
  Add bamboo shoots to a frying pan containing sake, mirin, soy sauce and dashi.

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  The Yomiuri Shimbun
  Add wakame.

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  The Yomiuri Shimbun
  Add beef and Japanese butterbur.

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