Japanese stews are similar to Japanese curry in the way they are prepared and served. They combine vegetables, meat or other ingredients simmered in a thick sauce and are generally served with rice.
They differ mainly in their flavours: white shichū has a mild, creamy sauce, brown shichū has a richer flavour, while hayashi rice combines beef and onions with a brown sauce containing tomato.
Like Japanese curry, these dishes are often prepared using roux blocks, which make it easy to achieve the characteristic texture of their sauces.
White shichū (シチュー), sometimes called cream stew, is a Japanese stew with a light-coloured, creamy sauce. Inspired by Western cooking and later adapted to Japanese tastes, it generally combines vegetables such as potatoes, carrots and onions, with chicken or other ingredients sometimes added. The mild, creamy sauce coats the ingredients without the spicy character of a Japanese curry. It can be served on its own, with bread or with rice.
Brown shichū is based on a darker, richer sauce with plenty of umami. It is generally prepared with beef, onions, carrots, potatoes or mushrooms, then simmered until it develops a thick sauce reminiscent of Western stews. Japanese preparations make it easy to recreate this texture and provide a base that can be adapted with the vegetables and meat of your choice.
This simmered dish is thicker than zosui cooked in broth and is often served with Japanese rice.
Hayashi rice is prepared with thin slices of beef and onions cooked in a brown sauce with notes of tomato and demi-glace. Despite its appearance being similar to Japanese curry, the sauce is not normally spicy and has a milder, slightly tangy flavour with plenty of umami. It is almost always served beside or over a portion of white rice, in the style of a donburi rice dish.
Hayashi rice is one of the dishes known as yōshoku, Western-inspired recipes reinterpreted in Japan since the late 19th century.
