It’s starting to get damn cold here in Chicago. In Japan, when it gets cold out, they start eating Shabu-shabu which is a Japanese hotpot. It’s called Shabu-shabu because of the sound the thinly sliced meat makes when you slosh it around in the broth to cook. I didn’t make this one, this dish is one of my wife’s responsibilities.
To start, she had to make the broth. Typically it’s Konbu (kelp) boiled in water. We didn’t have any Konbu, so she used Niboshi, dried anchovies. A good handful boiled in water for a bit and you get a really nice healthy broth.
To the broth she added shiitake and enoki mushrooms, green onion, and shanghai cabbage. That was left to cook for about 10 minutes in the boiling broth. If I hadn’t forgotten carrots at the store she would have added them as well. Daikon also makes regular appearances in Shabu-shabu.
After the veggies cooked a little she added tofu and konnyaku, a firm gelatinous cake-like ingredient made from yam starch. Then the pot was brought to the table and left to simmer on our table-top propane burner (something every Japanese household has).
In our bowls we poured a little ponzu, a soy sauce product with yuzu citrus juice and a little vinegar mixed in, and a couple ladles of the broth. Then we picked and chose which veggies we wanted and dipped them in our bowls before eating. All the while taking slices of the pork (we picked up some thinly sliced kurobuta pork at Mitsuwa) and sloshing them around the broth to cook. A side of white rice to complete the chow.
This a the perfect winter dish to have with a cold beer. It’s fun, delicious, and very healthy since there are no added oils or anything. Just make sure your meat, whether using pork or beef, is very thinly sliced so that it cooks quickly in the broth.
Dan Bites 
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