← Nouns Cooking · Japanese

Ingredients

• 1 piece kombu (about 10 x 10 cm)
• 1.5 l Water
• 500 g very thinly sliced beef (ribeye or sirloin, shabu-shabu cut)
• 350 g Napa (Chinese) cabbage, cut into 5 cm pieces
• 400 g medium-firm tofu, cut into 8 cubes
• 1 leek or Japanese long onion, sliced on the diagonal
• 200 g enoki mushrooms, root trimmed, pulled into clumps
• 4 Shiitake mushrooms, stems removed
• 1 Carrot, thinly sliced
• 100 g shungiku (chrysanthemum greens) or spinach
• 120 ml Ponzu (citrus soy sauce)
• 3 tbsp Japanese sesame paste or tahini
• 2 tbsp Soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• 1 tsp white miso
• 5 cm piece Daikon radish, finely grated, to serve
• 2 Spring onion, finely sliced, to serve
• 2 portions of udon, to finish (optional)

Method

1. Put the kombu in a wide pot or donabe with the water and leave it to soak for 30 min.
2. Meanwhile, arrange the beef on one platter and the vegetables, mushrooms and tofu on another. For the sesame sauce, whisk the sesame paste, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and miso, adding a spoonful or two of water until it is pourable.
3. Set the pot on a tabletop burner and heat it over medium heat. Lift out the kombu just before the water boils, so the broth stays clean-tasting.
4. Add the cabbage stems, carrot, tofu, leek and shiitake first, since they take longest. Simmer gently for 5 min, skimming off any foam.
5. Each person picks up a slice of beef with chopsticks and swishes it through the simmering broth for 10–20 seconds, until it just turns from red to pale pink, then dips it in ponzu with grated daikon and spring onion, or in sesame sauce.
6. Keep adding cabbage leaves, greens and enoki as you go, which cook in about 1 minute. Skim the broth now and then.
7. To finish, boil the udon in the rich leftover broth, season with a little salt and ponzu, and share it out.

Tips

• Ask the butcher for shabu-shabu slices, or half-freeze a steak for 1 hour so you can slice it paper thin.
• Using thinly sliced pork instead? Cook each slice until no pink remains.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Just One Cookbook RecipeTin Japan Japanese Cooking 101