3 Easy Ways to Cook Japanese Hot Pot Recipes for Cold Winter | Guidable - Your Guide to a Sustainable, Wellbeing-centred Life in Japan

3 Easy Ways to Cook Japanese Hot Pot Recipes for Cold Winter

By Guidable Writers Nov 20, 2017

This post is also available in: Spanish Chinese (Traditional)

It is getting colder and colder and I can’t go out without thick coat these days. I guess I will have Japanese hot pot (nabe) for tonight’ s dinner.

Nabe is one of the easiest to cook and the most delicious Japanese cuisines to warm you up during the cold winter. It is everyone’s favorite food!

Having Nabe at a restaurant can be expensive. But it is really easy to prepare by yourself at home and you will save a lot of money! Let me tell you some of my favorite Nabe recipes.

 

3 Japanese hot pot (nabe) recipes

Here are 3 easy to cook nabe recipes. The good thing about nabe is that you can put whatever you like and as much as you like!

So, why don’t you try adjusting these recipes to your taste buds and create your own favorite nabe?

 

1. Kimchi Nabe

 

Ingredients(3 – 4 people) :

☆<Sauce to marinade pork>

  • Sliced pork x 200g
  • Cooking Sake x 3 tablespoons
  • Miso x 1 tablespoon
  • Grated garlic x 1 globe
  • Grated ginger x 1 piece

 

★<Soup>

  • Cooking Sake x 1cup
  • Water x 2 cups
  • Soy sauce x 1 table spoon
  • Gochujang (Korean red chili paste) x 1 tablespoon
  • Chicken soup stock ( Torigara soup stock) x 2 teaspoons

 

Alternatively, you can buy ready made Kimchi nabe soup from any supermarket. But I recommend adjusting the taste by adding Gochujang even when you use the ready-made one.

 

  • <Ingredients to boil in soup>
  • Kimchi x 200 – 250g
  • Tofu x 1 pack
  • Hakusai ( Chinese Cabbage) x at least 5 – 6 leaves
  • Leek x 3
  • Chive x 1 bunch
  • Enoki mushrooms x 1 pack

 

Preparation:

  1. Marinade sliced pork in the ☆sauce.
  2. Cut ●ingredients into bite-sized pieces.
  3. Put a bit of Sesame oil on the pan and stir-fry Pork and Kimchi.
  4. Move stir-fried pork and kimchi to a nabe pot, and add the other ●ingredients on top of it.
  5. Pour ★soup into the nabe pot and boil.
  6. When you see chives get soft, it is ready to serve.
  7. After eating all ingredients, put some cooked rice into the nabe pot and enjoy Kimchi risotto!

 

2. Gyoza Nabe

 

Ingredients (3 – 4 people):

☆<Soup>

  • Dashi stock x 600ml
  • Mirin x 30ml
  • Salt x 1 pinch
  • Soy sauce x 10ml

 

★<Ingredients to boil in soup>

  • Gyoza dumplings x  12 (as much as you like)
  • Hokusai (Chinese Cabbage) x 5-6 leaves
  • Beansprouts x 1 handful
  • Leek x 2
  • Shiitake mushroom x 4

 

  • <Seasoning before eating>
  • Sesame oil
  • Sesame seeds

 

Preparation:

  1. Cut the ★ingredient into bite-sized pieces and put them in a nabe pot.
  2. Pour ☆soup into the nabe pot.
  3. Boil until vegetables get soft.
  4. Add gyoza and boil for further 10 minutes.
  5. When Gyoza are heated through, turn off the heat.
  6. Add ●some sesame oil and a sprinkle of sesame seeds before eating.

Making gyoza from the scratch is time-consuming but you can buy chilled or frozen ready-made gyoza at any supermarkets.

 

3. Sukiyaki

 

Ingredients(3 – 4 people):

  • Sukiyaki sauce 250ml
  • Egg x 4 (an egg per person)
  • Sukiyaki beef x 300g

 

★<Ingredients to boil in soup>

  • Shirataki noodles x 100g
  • Tofu x 1 pack
  • Enoki mushrooms x 1 pack
  • Shiitake mushrooms x 6
  • Spring Onion x 1
  • Hokusai (Chinese cabbage) x 1/2

 

Preparation:

Cut all ★ingredients into bite-sized pieces.

  1. Heat up a large pan and put some oil.
  2. Stir fry the thin strips of Sukiyaki beef gently.
  3. When the beef is almost cooked, add Sukiyaki sauce to the pan. ( Be careful not to overcook the beef!)
  4. Add the rest of ingredients and simmer for a few minute.
  5. Once all the ingredients are heated, dip them into raw egg and eat. (If you don’t fancy raw egg, you can boil it and put it in a pot.)
  6. After eating up all the ingredients, put Udon noodles to the leftover Sukiyaki sauce and enjoy Sukiyaki Udon!

 

Isn’t  Sukiyaki too expensive?

It is true that Sukiyaki is expensive and we don’t eat it as everyday food. It is more like an occasional food to treat yourself.

But mind you, if you eat Sukiyaki at a restaurant it usually costs around 10,000 yen per person or more. At a supermarket, you can find good beef from 500 yen to 700 yen per 100g. It is much more affordable and super easy to cook.

 

Tastes better when you eat with your friends!

 

The secret to enjoying Nabe the most is to share it with your friends. It is true that Nabe tastes better when you eat with other people. So, why don’t you throw a house party with Nabe this weekend? You can’t go wrong with nabe as it is very easy to prepare and you won’t even need to entertain your guests. keep them busy by letting them put their vegetables into the pot to boil and serve it by themselves. Trust me this is entertaining!

 

Sae/Japan