Can someone help me with understanding this Japanese recipe?

For the recipe, it says u can use any meat u want but not too lean, will using chicken breast be good? im not too sure what lean meat is? also it says use dashi stock or any other soup stock. i don't have dashi stock, i still need to search for it in my asian area in my city, so will vegetable stock be good to use??





http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/cook/dishes/dishes06.html|||You can find little boxes of instant dashi stock in most any Asian foods market. "Vegetable stock" will definitely give a completely (and very un-Japanese) flavor. Why bother? And the recipe calls for beef. Why would you use chicken? There are other Japanese recipes for chicken.|||When I meat is lean, that means it is low in fat. Therefore, the leaner the meat, the less fat, and lower fat meats can end up being drier and sometimes tougher. Chicken breasts are very lean, but if you don't cook them longer than is necessary (until the juices run clear), you should be fine. If you have chicken thights, that would work well. You could use veggie broth, but since you are using poultry, chicken broth would be better. And feel free to alter the spices/herbs to season it to your personal taste.





Hope this helps.|||Actually the recipe says beef or pork, depending on the region in Japan. Since you don't like beef, try the pork. You should look for something like a thick cut bacon if you do. You could also do a veggie-only version. Chicken broth and soy sauce just doesn't sound appetizing, but you could always experiment. Try dark meat if you do.





Most Japanese cuts of meat for stewing look almost like bacon in regards to fat (and thickness), so whatever type of meat you use, look for good fat marbling. You can ask your grocer's butcher for advice on picking that if you're not used to looking for it.





Also ask them if they have dashi--who knows, it might be somewhere weird. I've never tried it straight so I'm afraid I can't give you advice on a substitute (fish stock perhaps?), but more and more mainstream grocers are carrying Asian ingredients. I mean, I've even found Japanese candy at Walmart. I gave a link for a dashi recipe, but obviously, if you could find bonito and kombo seaweed, that store would have pre-made dashi stock.





Anyways, good luck! You might like curry rice as well. It's a thick stew that can be done with chicken that's eaten on top of rice. Better yet, every grocery I've seen has the pre-made curry sauce. I like the Golden Curry brand myself...