How to cook SHABU SHABU 🍲 (Hotpot) 〜しゃぶしゃぶ〜 | easy Japanese home cooking recipe

Welcome to Taiji's Kitchen. Today I'm going to show you how to make shabu-shabu. So shabu-shabu belongs to this type of dish called nabe or hot pot where you cook on a big pot and boiling water on the table. So it's kind of like fondue where you cook your ingredients on the table in a boiling water or a different kind of broth or soup in some cases. We make this quite often in the winter because you're eating directly from the boiling water so it just really warms you This is also very very easy to make because you don't have to cook anything prior to bringing to the table. You just have to cut up the ingredients and then bring to the table and you cook there. So the name shabu-shabu comes from this motion where you have your thinly sliced meat and you dip it in the water and then go shabu-shabu-shabu-shabu. Then let's get started. Here are the ingredients for shabu-shabu. Here I have quite a lot of ingredients. You don't have to have all this I'm just going to show you different variations. And today I'm also going to show two types of typical shabu-shabu sauce. One is ponzu sauce which is made from citrus juice and soy sauce and the other is sesame sauce making from tahini. Beef. So here I have very thinly sliced beef meat. For shabu-shabu it does need to get really thinly sliced so what I do is I go to butcher shop and ask them to cut them for shabu-shabu or ask them to cut as thin as possible like prosciutto. And we also sometimes make pork shabu-shabu which is also very very delicious. And then for the vegetable I have napa cabbage, bok choy, scallion, carrots, shiitake mushroom, and here are oyster mushrooms. And I have here pressed tofu. Tofu should come in these kind of form with water inside. If you have a kind of spongy tofu that is really not tofu so don't buy those unless you like them. Actual authentic tofu should come in these kind of package and should be floating in water like this. I don't know if you can see but it's floating in water. And also here I have a strip of kombu. I'm going to use it to make the broth. And for the ponzu sauce I'm going to be using lemon, soy sauce, and a little bit of sugar. For the sesame sauce I'm going to be using sugar and tahini. So tahini is a sesame paste. And vinegar. Here I have rice wine vinegar but you can also use other vinegar like white wine vinegar or apple vinegar. Here I have sake. If you don't have sake then you can just substitute it for the same amount of water. I'm also going to use a bit of ground roasted sesame. If you don't have this you can just use regular roasted sesame seeds that's also fine. But when it's grounded then it just gives more aroma to the flavor. So the first thing you want to do is make the broth. So here I have the nabe for the hot pot. So this is called nabe. Well actually nabe just means pot in Japanese and these are just kind of typical pot that we use to make nabe dishes. Here I'm going to put in two cups of water and then put in the kombu. And we're going to leave it like this for preferably at least an hour or so. But if you don't have time then you can just bring it to right before boil and then take it out. And then we're just going to leave it at that. So let's prepare the ingredients. So the goal of this is to make kind of each ingredients into bite-sized pieces. So the oyster mushroom I'm just going to need to kind of rip it apart like this with hands into whatever size that you feel comfortable eating. And the mushroom gonna cut the little dark part off. You don't have to take all the stem off. They're also very delicious. And then what I'm gonna do is I'm just gonna get a little incision so they look kind of neat. And the carrots just gonna take away the damaged parts. And there's no really set rule for this but I'm just gonna cut a diagonal so that they kind of look neat. Let's cut the napa cabbage. So a lot of people just cut them up in pieces and that's also fine but I like to separate the stem part and the leaf part because they cook differently and I like the stem part softly cooked and the leaf part really still crunchy still a little half raw. But that's just a preference thing. Maybe one more. So I'm just gonna take the leaf part and I kind of like to cut it diagonally like this so they have a little neat shape. So cut these up in half. For nabe, you want to try to find scallions that are a little thicker like this. In Japan, they have scallions that are like this thick. But that kind of scallion, it's hard to find it outside of Japan. So try to find scallions that are as thick as possible. And for scallions, I'm just gonna kind of cut it diagonally also. So for the bokchoy, I'm sure there are different ways to cut this. What I like to do, I'm just gonna separate the top part and the bottom part off and then just kind of cut into like this way so that they don't flare out and get separated. And for the bokchoy, make sure that you wash it good because inside here you may have a little dirt left. So I'm gonna wash these again. So lastly, tofu. So like I said, real tofu should be kind of floating in water. Oops. So real tofu should be floating in water like this. Let me just throw this away. And then real tofu should be kind of jiggly like this. So there are two types of tofu. One is firm tofu. This is firm pressed tofu or in Japanese, they're called momen tofu. There's another kind of tofu which is softer and those are called silk tofu in Japanese, kinugoshi tofu. For the nabe, I would recommend using firm tofu but some people prefer the soft tofu. That's also just a preference thing. So today, I'm just gonna use half of this. And if you have a leftover tofu like this, you want to give it some water so that it'll be floating in water and then and of course you have to save it in fridge. And tofu doesn't last that long when it's open so you want to make sure that you finish it in the next couple days. So this is finished preparing all the ingredients. So let's make the two sauces. I'm gonna start with the ponzu sauce. So I'm just gonna squeeze the lemon. If you don't like the pulp, you can just throw this away. I like with the pulp so I'm just gonna put these back in the juice. So let's see how much juice that is. The point for the ponzu sauce is that you have the same amount of soy sauce to the lemon juice or whatever citrus juice you have. One, two and a half. So I'm gonna give the same amount of soy sauce which is two and a half. Put a little taste. This is good. You can just finish up like this and some people put dashi in this. I like to put in like a half teaspoon of sugar to it. Just kind of take the edge off from the sourness. So this is finished for the ponzu sauce. Then let's make the sesame sauce. I'm gonna put in two tablespoons of tahini. So before using tahini, you want to kind of give it a little mix so all the part is kind of oil part and the sesame part is kind of evenly mixed. So then two tablespoons. One. Then in here, two tablespoons of soy sauce, two tablespoons of vinegar, and two tablespoons of sugar, and then one tablespoon of sake. Then I'm gonna give it a mix. Here I'm gonna put in one tablespoon of sesame seeds. So I'm gonna have a little taste. Oh my god, this is good. Oh, this is so good. Oh, this is such a great sauce. So we have two types of sauce, ponzu and sesame sauce. Then let's go to table and cook shabu-shabu. Okay, let's start cooking. Oh, so the kombu has soaked up the water and has grown so big. So I'm gonna turn the heat to high and then wait until the water comes to, right before to boil, and then we're gonna take out the kombu. So this is about to boil. I'm gonna take out the kombu at this moment. Then in here, I'm gonna put in the ingredients that take a little bit longer time to cook, such as the stem part of the napa cabbage, the bottom part of the scallion, and also the carrots and the shiitake mushroom, because they need to be cooked thoroughly. And then we're gonna wait until it comes to boil. So this has come to boil. And as you see here, some scum building. If you don't like these, you can take them out. But if you don't care, then it's not that big of a problem. And then here, I'm gonna put in the tofu, oyster mushrooms, and also the bottom part of the bok choy. So it has come to boil again. I'm gonna take out the scum. I don't have to be picky about this, but I kind of prefer taking it out. So then, I put in the meat. So the word shabu-shabu comes from this motion of dipping the meat in the broth. So I'm gonna go like this, shabu-shabu-shabu, like this. And this is good. So let's eat this. I'm gonna eat it with ponzu first. Itadakimasu! Oh, this ponzu sauce is perfect for the shabu-shabu. So then, like so, shabu-shabu-shabu. And then I'm gonna eat it with this sesame sauce. Oh, that looks so delicious. Itadakimasu! Oh my god. Oh, this sauce is amazing. Sesame matches this beef off so perfectly. Shabu-shabu-shabu. Let's eat with the sesame sauce again. Oh, oh, look at that. Oh, you just really have to try this yourself. I'm gonna have some of the vegetables, scallion, tofu, shiitake mushroom, and this oyster mushroom, carrots, and of course the napa cabbage. Oh, let's see. Let's start with the napa cabbage. Look how soft they are. Itadakimasu! Oh, this is hot. Oh, this is so delicious. Oh, the carrots are also good. Oh, this bottom part of the scallion is so good. So scallion gets sweet when they get heated, so the contrast of the sweetness of the scallion to the sourness of the citrus juice is so good. Two kinds of mushrooms. Oh, shiitake is so good. This oyster mushroom has also great savoriness and it just matches really well with the ponzu sauce. So if you get a really good tofu, then you can really taste the sweetness and the depth and the savoriness of the soybeans. Now let's have the same ingredients, but this time with the sesame sauce. So that's another thing that you can enjoy with the same ingredients, but a little different flavor with different types of sauce. Let's start with the napa cabbage. Oh, this is also delicious, but I actually prefer the napa cabbage and the ponzu sauce, but nonetheless, it's still delicious. And the bok choy. Oh, the mushroom with the sesame sauce is also great. So good. So the tofu with the sesame sauce. Be careful when you're eating tofu that inside is still really hot. Oh, but it tastes so good. Oh, it's so delicious. Oh, this is so delicious. And with nabe, you have to have rice, of course, both ponzu sauce and the sesame sauce goes so well with the rice. It's so good. Oh, I forgot to put in the leaf part of the napa cabbage or also bok choy. These are also great. And make sure you don't overcook these parts. Oh, yeah. And the top part of the scallion. When you see that the water is too little, then you can just add in a little more water to it. So the leaf part of the napa cabbage or bok choy doesn't need to be cooked that much. So I'm just going to eat right now. Oh, that looks so good. So delicious. So the ponzu sauce is really subtle, so you can really taste the savoriness of the vegetable itself. So you really don't have to do that much to the vegetable. So with this, you can really enjoy the vegetable. This is also good, but the napa cabbage, I actually enjoy the ponzu sauce better because the sesame sauce is a little bit too strong and just kind of cancel out the flavor of the napa cabbage. But the bok choy, I like it with the sesame sauce because bok choy leaves have a little bit tanginess, a little bit of bitterness to it. And with the ponzu sauce, it still tastes the bitterness. But with the sesame sauce, it kind of smooth out this edge of the bok choy leaves. So also another good thing about nabe is that you can decide for yourself if you want to have your meat or your vegetable well cooked or slightly raw. You can just eat it at the timing that you want to eat it. I forgot, but if you want to put it in the ponzu, a little bit of chili, that's also great. This chili adds a little kick and spice to the ponzu sauce, also great. So good. And also this kombu that you took dashi out of, don't throw these away. These are still delicious. So what you can do is just kind of get a little strip like this and eat these as an ingredient and with whatever sauce you like. So these kombu still taste really good, even after it's given broth the flavor. So as you can see, shabu-shabu or nabe, there's so many ways you can enjoy this. I really hope you give it a try. Shabu-shabu is so delicious and just warms up from inside. This is perfect for long, cold winter. Oh, that was totally savory, totally delicious. So as you saw, making and preparing shabu-shabu is really not that difficult. And you can be creative with what you put in the ingredients and just try different things. Today I used thinly sliced beef, but like I said, you can also use thinly sliced pork meat. And you can pretty much any meat or fish in this. Or if you're a vegetarian, you can make this without any meat. Then you have vegetarian shabu-shabu. If you like what you saw, please hit that like button. And if you have any feedbacks, please write anything in the comments below. I'm always so happy to hear your feedbacks on my videos. Then I look forward to see you in the next video. Bye.