Serves: n/a
Approx cost: €5+
Approx calories (per serving): n/a
Approx preparation time: 40 mins
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #0B0B61;”]In an earlier post I mentioned having an awesome dinner planned and so now that the quinces are out of the way it’s about time we resume “normal service”, and what better way to do that than with a really darn tasty main course. Preparation time on this is usually very short and it’s a whole barrel of fun because you cook it at the table in front of everyone. Price-wise, it can vary a lot. I went for quite traditional ingredients, bought from a local Japanese supermarket, however the ingredients are far from being “set in stone”. The most important things you need are the stock, some type of meat/fish/tofu, and vegetables. The beauty of this dish is that you can swap out everything. Don’t have shiitake mushrooms? Replace them with portobellos. Don’t have beef? Replace it with pork. This enables you to really have this as both a gourmet treat, as well as a much more simple, cheap meal should you so wish.
You will, unfortunately, need a suitable cooking pot. When I was in Japan, it was quite common for people to have a little gas burner, much like this, which they place on their table. It’s powered by a small gas canister which clips into the side and the iron pot sits on the burner on top. I don’t have this, although I do have a large pot which sits atop an electric element. It has a temperature control and can sit on the table, plugged into the wall nearby. It’s a little larger than a sukiyaki pot, so things tend to float around a bit more, but the general effect is the same, and much fun is still had! 🙂
So what is Sukiyaki, perhaps you’re wondering? Well, Wikipedia to the rescue:
Sukiyaki is a Japanese dish in the hot pot style.
It consists of meat (usually thinly sliced beef) which is slowly cooked or simmered at the table, alongside vegetables and other ingredients, in a shallow iron pot in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, and mirin. Before being eaten, the ingredients are usually dipped in a small bowl of raw, beaten eggs.
Generally sukiyaki is a winter dish and it is commonly found at bonenkai, Japanese year-end parties.
There are a great number of homemade stock recipes around the internet. People put all sorts of stuff in them, including chicken stock (???). You can buy bottles of sauce directly, both ready to use and concentrated, or you can easily make it yourself. The stock is basically soy sauce, sugar and sake (this was even confirmed by the Japanese people working in the store in Paris, so take that, crazy chicken stock adding people!). I’d really recommend you try to eat this once at least – you won’t regret it! 🙂
Ingredients
For the stock
This can be varied a lot. I like a stock which isn’t quite so sweet, so I add a little less sugar. You’ll need enough stock to cover the inside of whichever pot you end up using well – about 3-4 cms deep, so make up the recipe accordingly below:
- 5 parts Water
- 3 parts Soy Sauce
- 1 part Sugar
- 1 part Sake or Mirin
For the main ingredients
As you like, but as an example, I will write out what I have above (for 4 people)
- 8-12 Shiitake Mushrooms
- 2 clumps of Enoki Mushrooms
- ~300g Beef
- 2 Onions
- 1 Leek
- 1 handful of Garlic Shoots
- Good handful of bean sprouts
- ~200g Tofu (preferably seared tofu)
- Half a Chinese Leaf Cabbage
- 2 Bell Peppers or similar
- Large handful of noodles (for example Shirataki)
- 1 Egg per person
Instructions
- Start off by making up the stock. Mix the different parts together until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside while you work on the rest of your ingredients. Trim the soil-covered ends away from the shiitake and enoki mushrooms. Break the enoki mushrooms into smaller-sized clumps and if you like, you can carve little crosses into the top of the shiitake mushrooms (looks pretty!). Cut the onion into thick slices, and the leek too. Slice the beef very thinly, cut the tofu into good sized pieces and slice the bell peppers. If the noodles are dried then you should pre-cook these too, according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Chop the cabbage width-ways into 2cm thick slices and roughly chop the garlic shoots. Set everything out on the table where you will eat.
- Start heating y0ur hotpot. Place a few slices of the meat at the bottom of the hotpot and fry it. Releasing the fat from the meat will greatly improve the flavour of the stock.
- Once the meat has cooked, pour in the stock and allow to heat through. Arrange the rest of the ingredients in the pan and start cooking them through. Crack one egg person into a small dish, beat the egg and keep the dish by your plate. As the ingredients get cooked, transfer small quantities to your individual bowl. While still hot, dip the ingredients into the beaten egg and eat. Keep adding more raw ingredients to the stock as you go along. Enjoy 🙂
When I was a kid, this was the one dish that my father would make. I loved it, but haven't had it since then. I've thought of it many times with the intention of finding a recipe because Dad never wrote his down. This sounds exactly like his. He always made the stock from scratch and arranged the vegetables like you did resulting in a beautiful and tasty dish! I love the last step of dipping each bite in a beaten egg. It definitely enhances the flavor of each bite. Thanking you for posting this! I will be making this very soon!
Thanks for dropping by! It's not something I eat often – The last time was in a restaurant in Sweden in the beginning of the year. I've yet to find a place which does it in Paris, although I presume they must exist somewhere! It's definitely preferable if you can find "authentic" ingredients, but it works really well with stuff you can find in stores too, if you don't happen to live in Japan (or near a Japanese store! :D)
sounds like a japanese version of chinese hot pot! that looks delicious, and esp love the fact that you used homemade stock (:
Thanks Shuhan – I think they're quite similar, although I never had Chinese hotpot. I remember someone saying they were quite similar. I feel there's a whole wealth of stuff I almost never make from Asia (or have never had even). I'm going to make udon soup soon and then start working from there!
The last time I had Sukiyaki was at a hibachi grill and I loved it. I haven't had it since then but I think I will try out this recipe and I have a feeling I will love it.
Thanks BG – Hope it works out well for you!
I remember looking at sukiyaki recipes when we were doing our Japanese meals. This does look like a lot of fun and your recipe is way easier to follow than others I saw out there. Glad you posted this one. We may have to revisit Japan at some point. When were in Japan? Did you live there?
It's a barrel of fun – especially if you have kids I think. Seeing stuff cooked at the table is always a good focus point. It was quite a while since I was in Japan – 2003 or 2004 maybe? My ex was from Japan so I visited there 2 or 3 times. My friend moved there last year so I might have an opportunity to visit again sometime. Only problem is time and cost. Well – maybe if I win a load of money it'll be no problem 😀
Oh, this is so cool Charles. I don't think I've ever been treated to traditional sukiyaki before and I didn't know about dipping the ingredients in raw egg before eating it. I love this type of food – star proteins and a wide variety of vegetables. The kind of food you can eat heartily without feeling like a stuffed pepper :). When we were in Maine in late August our family went out for a delicious seafood meal prepared hibachi style at a Japanese restaurant; it was one of the best meals I've ever had.
Stuffed pepper?! Haha. Definitely – there's very little stuff which is actually "unhealthy" in this – loads of nice vegetables to chow down on and it's perfect food for a cold autumn's / winter's day. Some people say you should use pasteurised eggs for the dipping. To be honest, I've never seen such a thing to the best of my knowledge so regular old eggs it was. It's a whole lot of fun to prepare and make (I love cooking with funky mushrooms and stuff which I don't normally prepare). Hibachi style food – Don't think I really tried it before – should try and find such a place in Paris. I think I saw somewhere the other day actually – must investigate!
I haven't had sukiyaki for a while, this certainly looks like a very comforting dinner! I know the Japanese love to add raw egg to their sukiyaki, but this is something that I still don't have the guts to try…!
Thanks for dropping by. I'll admit that for my western palate, the first time I had it in Japan, the idea of swirling food around in raw egg and then eating it was … well, "weird" is a word that comes to mind (made me want to throw up a little actually :/ ) – but I managed to make it through. These days, I think it adds a nice additional flavour to the food! It definitely wouldn't be the same without it!
Charles, your sukiyaki looks fantastic and genuine! I have never had it, but of course I have read about it lots of times. I made the same stock for my udon soup and I confirm: it's extraordinary. The proportions depend of course on everyone's taste, but the combination is great.
Thanks Sissi – autumn's definitely setting in. Now it's freaking impossible to take good photos of anything unless you cook at mid-day, which means I'd have to do all my cooking on the weekend 🙁 …sigh! Everything will have a nice gloomy glow to it until spring :p
Speaking of Udon, udon soup with tempura shrimp will be coming up soon I think!
While, I hate to see the quinces go, this is a wonderful way to return to normal service.
Thanks Greg. You almost had a quince cake being dished out but my ever wise wife advised that perhaps people might start getting a bit sick of seeing the damn things 😀
Do you have real Japanese shops in France to get the ingredients? Here in Ireland we have only "Asian" shops, but they sell mostly Chinese stuff… I keep looking for one type of noodles I love so much, but can't find it anywhere (
Yeah, for sure! Of course we have a dedicated "China Town" area which has large dedicated Chinese supermarkets selling Chinese/Thai/Vietnamese products. More towards the centre of Paris there is a Japanese area with lots of Japanese stores, travel agents, book-stores etc, and there are even Korean supermarkets too, so no problem finding just what I need 😀 What's the noodle you want?
Well, they are called Harusame noodles, they become transparent when cooked. But in Cork I only found smth like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dongfen.JPG which is a Chinese version if I'm not mistaken, they are much thinner and not that tasty. Japanese glass noodles are more thick I believe.
Ah, these are the ones I used then I guess – mine were made with potato starch and were definitely thicker than the vermicelli ones in Chinese cooking. It was clear when cooked too. I often use these ones in Sukiyaki.
do they become transparent when cooked?
Yup, like a big pile of little worms 😀 I didn't have a photo of them because I forgot to pre-cook them so I had to run away while the sukiyaki was cooking to quickly throw the noodles in hot water. I can send you some… what was the other thing I was going to send you? Oh, right – Brick pastry. Anything else?
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm) Nah, I think that's it ) What do you want from Ireland?.. )
Nothing really actually, but thanks 🙂 Just PM me your address at work and I'll send you stuffz 🙂
I can't remember the last time I ate sukiyaki…but now you're making me crave it. Love everything you included in the dish. Yummmm!
It was rather delish – we managed to wade through as 3 people although there were plenty of leftovers. Although it sounds weird, it actually works quite well re-heated the next day with some rice or whatever as leftovers 😀
I am soo lazy to make stocks at home!! Yours is looking really flavorful 🙂
Haha, I usually have big dreams of making loads of stock, but often end up being too lazy. This is *barely* a stock – more like a quick 5 minute concoction whisked together, so hardly any effort at all! 🙂
This looks wonderful. I've never tried this dish but have heard of it, I studied 2 sememsters of Japanese years ago and miss learning about the culture and food from Japan. A new family just moved into my neighborhood from Japan, maybe I should make this for them when I invite them over for dinner!
Thanks Lisa, I'd definitely recommend trying it, it's so good! It's a wonderful idea to make that family something like this – they'd probably be so touched! Sukiyaki, followed by some of your famous biscotti! Mmmmmmm
Really?! That's it for the stock?! I love sukiyaki and I always make this with a bottled sukiyaki sauce which I thought was a tad sweet but still pretty good. I have to try this homemade one for sure. Chicken stock? Good grief!
Thanks for the post!
Yeah – it's barely a "stock" really – super easy and a taste which complements the food really well!
I am a huge fan of Asian soups, Charles. Thanks for sharing this recipe, it looks delicious. I can hardly wait to see the tempura udon, mmmmmmm, my favourite! I just had it for lunch on Sunday!
Mmm, can't wait for the udon either. I'm going to do it on the weekend when the light is better so I can take photos of it properly! 🙂