Shabu Shabu Dinner

The other day when we went to Nijiya Market we were actually there to show our Tokyo friends a different market in case they ever wanted a change from Don Quixote by Ala Moana.

We thought we were there just to check out the place, little did we know they had a whole plan mapped out. At Nijiya Market they were picking up the ingredients to make us a great shabu shabu dinner that night!

After shopping and back at their place, the shabu shabu dashi was being prepared: One large piece of konbu (cut into 3 smaller pieces) simmered in a pot of water.

While that was going we had some drinks and tsukemono (Japanese pickles) to start off with.

Takuan

and Narazuke

During this time, the shabu shabu ingredients that were picked up at Nijiya Market were also being prepared.

Kobe style shabu shabu beef
Soft Tofu, cubed
Shirataki noodles, cut into 5-7 inch lengths
Green onions, cut into 2-3 inch pieces
Chinese cabbage, cut into 2-3 inch pieces
Enoki mushrooms, broken into smaller clusters
Shungiku (Chrysanthemum leaves), cut into 4-5 inch pieces

This is how it was all arranged on the platter.

Once it was dinner time, the konbu dashi was poured into an electric hot pot. Then a little of everything was added in to the hot broth.

To eat, we just grabbed from the pot and dipped the food into a little dish of ponzu sauce slightly diluted with konbu dashi water from the pot.

Here’s a piece of that Kobe style beef, it was so soft!

And some shirataki noodles with shungiku.

When all of the food in the pot was eaten, we’d add another round of meat and veggies into the hot pot. We did this about 3 or 4 times until everything on the platter was gone.

After that we turned up the hot pot to high and boiled down the dashi that now had lots of delicious flavors from the meat and vegetables. When the broth became more concentrated we added in a little shoyu, katsuo dashi, udon noodles and some green onions.

We emptied our ponzu sauce and used the bowl to have a helping of udon and soup. To the broth we also added some yuzu seasoning (tastes sort of like lemon, salt, and wasabi mixed together).

This is what the bottle looks like…

A little goes a long way with this. We used maybe 1/8 teaspoon for each bowl. But even with that little bit, it really makes a big difference brightening up the flavor!

This was so good, definitely the best nabe I’ve ever had!