Swish Swish Your Way to a One-Pot Meal
What if I told you that dinner tonight could be on the table in 20 minutes, would include vegetables, beef, and soup, you could eat at a leisurely pace, and it just might entice the kids to sit down at the dinner table for a change. No guesses? Here’s one more: the name of the dish is onomatopoeic. Perhaps that last hint wasn’t so easy. But at least the dish is! Allow me to introduce the Japanese one-pot dinner called shabu shabu.
Shabu shabu literally means “swish-swish” in Japanese (onomatopoeia are words that are spelled like the sounds they are describing). The name refers to the main cooking action, when thinly slice meats or vegetables are swished in a pot of boiling hot broth to cook it, usually at the table.
Shabu shabu is a type of hot pot, or one dish meal, typically cooked communally at the dinner table. It is a cousin of sukiyaki, another Japanese communally cooked meal. But whereas sukiyaki is slightly sweet and more of a stir-fry, shabu shabu, with its resulting rich broth eaten as soup at the end of the meal, is better suited for these cooler fall months.
Shabu shabu is traditionally done with high quality beef such as rib eye, but top sirloin can also be used. Other meats can be substituted such as chicken or pork, but in all instances it is extremely important that the raw meat be sliced paper thin before taking to the table. In the case of the beef, a 1 lb. steak in the freezer for 15-20 minutes will make it hard enough to achieve those paper thin slices.
Beyond the meat, a variety of other dipping items must be prepped. This can include sliced shitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, Napa cabbage, trimmed green onions, or rounds of daikon radish. Tofu that has been drained of water and cut into cubes is often included in the spread.
While prepping the meat and the veggies, the broth can be put on to boil. The broth can be heated in an electric pot, fondue pot, or large soup pot, preferably cast iron. The broth itself can be nothing more than water brought to a boil with a couple of pieces of kombu, a type of seaweed that can be found in the Asian food section of many markets. If that isn’t available, using plain chicken broth will work just fine.
A dipping sauce is usually made using ground sesame seeds, soy, vinegar, sugar and sometimes a bit of mirin. Additional seasoning such as sliced chilies, crushed garlic, and minced onion can be served alongside to be used at each diner’s discretion.
Once everything is prepped, a process that takes no more than 30 minutes, it is time to let the family do the real cooking for a change. Using chopsticks or fondue skewers, the meat, vegetables, and tofu are dipped in the hot broth to cook, then the sesame sauce for flavor. This is often eaten with a side of rice. Once the meat and vegetables have all been cooked, any foam is skimmed off the broth then add the leftover rice is added to the pot. What you are left with is a delicious and satisfying rice soup to end a perfectly delightful meal.
Shabu shabu is as fun to eat as it is to say. What’s more, it is a great way to spend less time cooking, and more time with the family since the cooking is all done together. So if you can spend less time cooking, more time with the family, and fit in a healthy well-balanced meal at the same time, what more could you ask for from dinner, except maybe a super fun name to top it all off. Swish swish.
Made with Napa cabbage, tofu, sesame seeds, soy sauce, vegetable oil, rice wine, rice wine vinegar, sugar, garlic, onion
Serves/Makes: 4
- 1 pound rib eye or sirloin steak
- 2 sheets kombu, PLUS
- 8 cups water
- OR
- 8 cups chicken stock
- 4 shiitake mushrooms
- 1 bunch green onions
- 3 large Napa cabbage leaves
- 8 ounces tofu
- 3 tablespoons sesame seeds
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons rice wine
- 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1/4 onion, finely minced
- 2 Serrano chilies, finely chopped
- 4 cups cooked white rice
Put steak in freezer for 15-20 minutes before slicing into paper thin sheets, 1/8th-inch thick.
Meanwhile, bring water with kombu or chicken stock to a boil in an electric stock pot, fondue pot, or large cast iron pot.
Slice mushrooms 1/4-inch thick. Trim green onions then cut into 3 inch pieces. Cut cabbage into bite sized pieces. Drain tofu and cut into 1 by 1 inch cubes, letting drain additionally on paper towels while continuing to prep. Grind sesame seeds in a coffee grinder or with a mortar and pestle.
In a small bowl, mix sesame seeds, soy sauce, oil, rice wine, rice wine vinegar, and sugar. Divide sauce up among small individual serving ramekins or sauce dishes.
Prep garlic, onion, and chilies and place on a small plate for each diner to add to his or her sauce at their own discretion. Arrange sliced meat, vegetables, and tofu on a large platter.
To serve, place broth in pot in the middle of the table. Allow diners to cook their own meat and vegetables in the hot stock, dipping in the sesame sauce for flavor, and eating with rice.
When meat and vegetables have all been cooked, skim any foam off the top of the broth then add the remaining rice. Eat broth and rice as a soup at the end of the meal.
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