Adventures with Nabe

It was cooling that evening, a welcomed respite from the recent hot and humid weather we were having here. And it made me lazy LOL… I didn’t want to do a 3 dish affair, so a “one-pot” dinner it was! Plus what better time to have steamboat (hotpot) than in such beautiful weather! Instead of doing it the chinese way, and breaking out our trusty rice cooker (substitute hotpot), I tried the japanese way instead.

Nabe (short for nabemono) is a japanese steamboat dish. For the soup-base, I prepared 2 cups of dashi mixed with 1/4 cup mirin and 1 tsp soy sauce. Ingredient-wise, I went for the “everything goes” principle and put in whatever I fancied – cabbage, chicken, meatballs, crabsticks, mushrooms, egg-tofu, carrots and even corn. I did not own the traditional clay pots so I substituted it with a vision pot instead. The ingredients were arranged in the pot, cabbage on the bottom and everything else neatly on top. Then i poured in the soup, covered the lid and bring to a boil. When it’s still boiling, I cracked an egg on top and served it with udon noodles.

It was a simple and healthy but satisfying dinner that I’ll definitely do again.