Sukiyaki
Sukiyaki is a fun and festive Japanese hotpot of sliced beef, cabbage, mushrooms, hearty greens, tofu and noodles that are served nabemono style, meaning everything is served together in a pot at the table. Kansai-style sukiyaki calls for searing the thin slices of beef over high heat in a traditional Japanese cast-iron pot beforehand, whereas this Kanto-style version calls for cooking the beef over low heat, which slowly releases the fat, helping create a rich and flavorful broth. (This means you can cook Kanto-style sukiyaki in a clay donabe without risk of damaging the pot.) Once the beef is cooked, the rest of the ingredients are added to the pot and brought to the table so diners can serve themselves. Each person gets their own small bowl of warishita sauce, a mixture of soy sauce, sugar and sake, plus a runny egg for dipping. It’s a perfect meal for a chilly day.
- Preparation:
- Cooking:
- Total:
- Serves: 4 persons
Ingredients
- 1tablespoon instant dashi powder (such as Hon Dashi), or 3 cups of homemade dashi
- ¾cup mirin
- ½cup low-sodium soy sauce
- ¼cup sake
- 2tablespoons brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1(4-ounce) burdock root, peeled (see Tip)
- 1pound frozen and thawed presliced fatty beef, or boneless, well-marbled rib-eye, very thinly sliced
- Unsalted butter, if needed
- 3medium scallions, dark greens thinly sliced and remaining sliced on an angle into 2-inch pieces
- 6cups napa cabbage, chopped into 2-inch pieces
- 12ounces enoki mushrooms, trimmed
- 6ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed
- 4cups chrysanthemum greens or watercress, trimmed and cut in half crosswise
- 1pound firm tofu, drained and cut into 8 cubes
- 1(7-ounce) package shirataki noodles, drained
- 1(1 1/4 pound/600 gram) package fresh udon noodles, or thawed frozen (optional)
- 4uncooked eggs (see Tip)
Instructions
Step 1
In a small saucepan, bring 3 cups of water to a boil over medium-high heat. Carefully pour into a medium bowl or measuring cup and stir in dashi powder until fully dissolved.Step 2
Make the warishita sauce: Using the same saucepan, add the mirin, soy sauce, sake and brown sugar. Whisk until sugar is combined and bring to a simmer over medium heat, about 4 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside.Step 3
Peel the burdock root and cut it into two segments if it is long. Each piece should be about 6 inches long. Using a vegetable peeler, thinly shave off pieces to create ribbons. Place the ribbons in a bowl of cold water.Step 4
In a 9-inch donabe or large (4-quart) heavy-bottomed pot over low heat, add the sliced beef. Cook until the beef turns gray-ish and there’s a good amount of fat in the donabe, about 5 minutes. (Depending on how fatty the beef is, the amount of fat might vary; if it is less than 1 tablespoon, make up the difference with unsalted butter.) Drizzle in 3 tablespoons of the warishita sauce. Flip the beef and cook the other side for an additional minute. Using tongs or chopsticks, transfer the beef to a medium bowl. Add the scallion whites to the donabe and cook until softened, about 2 minutes.Step 5
Ladle or pour in the hot dashi broth and increase the heat to medium. Scrape up any brown bits with a wooden spoon. Once the broth reaches a simmer, scatter the cabbage in an even layer. Drain the shaved burdock root and discard the water. On top of the cabbage, add the enoki mushrooms, pressing down and slightly overlapping, if necessary. Add the shiitake mushrooms, chrysanthemum greens, burdock, tofu and shirataki noodles in individual sections, leaving a small gap in the center for the beef to be added later. Drizzle with ¼ cup of the warishita sauce and cover with a lid. Simmer until mushrooms are softened, greens have wilted and tofu is warmed through, about 6 minutes. Remove the lid and nestle the beef slices and any of their collected juices in the center. Simmer, uncovered, until the beef is fully cooked, about 2 minutes.Step 6
Transfer the sukiyaki to a trivet on the dining table. Scatter scallion greens on top. Divide the remaining warishita sauce evenly into smaller bowls for dipping. Crack the eggs into individual serving bowls for each guest to break the yolk and use as an additional dipping sauce.Step 7
If using udon, add the noodles to the donabe when most of the beef and vegetables have been eaten, returning the broth to a boil. When noodles are warmed through, divide among individual bowls and drizzle with additional warishita sauce, if desired.