Simmered Hakusai (Chinese cabbage) and egg Recipe

Here's an easy way to enjoy Chinese cabbage with egg as a side dish. It's hot and great in winter.

Ingredients:

• about 5 large Chinese cabbage leaves
• 1 leek(long green onion)
• 3 eggs

Broth:

• 1 cup of water
• 5 grams hondashi
• 5 Tblsp. soy sauce
• 1 Tblsp. mirin(cooking sake)
• 2 tsp. salt

Directions:

1. Wash and cut the Chinese cabbage leaves in half lengthwise and again into short lengths. Cut the green onion into short lengths.
2. Add the water and seasonings to a pot and bring to a boil.
3. Add the vegetables and simmer until cooked.
4. Beat three eggs with a pinch of salt and add the mixture to the pot and mix gently.
5. Cook another minute or two.

Hakusai and Pork Nabe(Chinese Cabbage Hot Pot Dish) Recipe

In Japan in winter, the quintessential Japanese meal is nabe. Nabe is a hot pot dish traditionally cooked in an earthenware pot. It is often done at parties and cooked on a gas burner at the table. Various vegetable and meat ingredients are cooked in a broth. Guests take what they like and eat and more ingredients are added. There are infinite variations and recipes. Nothing warms a body better on a cold winter's day that a steaming bowl of nabe. This is a really simple and delicious recipe using Chinese cabbage and pork. Serves 1-2 people.

Ingredients:

• 5-6 large leaves Chinese cabbage
• 300 grams thinly sliced pork
• 1 half large onion
• 1 cup of water
• 5 grams or so of granulated fish stock-hondashi
• 1 Tblsp. salt
• 6 Tblsp. soy sauce
• 1 Tblsp. mirin(cooking sake)

Directions:

1. Wash and cut the Chinese cabbage leaves in half lengthwise.

2. Stack alternating layers of Chinese cabbage and sliced pork. Change the direction of the cabbage leaves each time. Stack until about 5 leaves thick.

3. Cut the stack into 5 cm/ about 2 inch lengths. 

4. Fill the nabe pot with the cut leaves standing up. Repeat with all the leaves and pork. Make a spiral pattern in the pot until no more fits. 

5. Cut half an onion into small pieces and stick into any empty spaces. 

6. Add the water, fish stock, and salt, cover and bring to a boil.

7. Once boils, reduce heat and add soy sauce generously. Replace lid and simmer until cooked. 

The pork and Chinese cabbage cooked in the broth makes a great combination. So tasty and hot!

Japanese Shabu-Shabu Recipe

At the heart of Japanese cooking is using fresh, high quality ingredients that are lightly cooked for a natural taste. This is no where more highly refined than in the art of Shabu Shabu. This is one of many hot pot dishes like Suki-yaki that is cooked in a at the table and diners take what they like and dip into a sauce and eat. The name, shabu-shabu comes from the sound of the cooking ,meat. Very thin slices of beef are used and dipped for only a few seconds in the boiling broth. There are other variations of shabu-shabu using pork or crab. There are 2 dipping sauces used; a lemon sauce and a sesame sauce. These sauces are probably available at your local Asian grocer, if so you can use them, or this recipe shows how to make them from scratch. This is a great party dish for a few friends, especially in winter. Enjoy.

Serves 4        1047 cal./serving

Ingredients:

• 1-1/4 lb.(570 g) well marbled sirloin, sliced paper thin
• 2 quarts(2 liters) dashi bonito stock
• 4 leaves of Chinese cabbage(hakusai)
• 12-16 fresh spinach leaves with stems
• 3 leeks
• 1 block regular tofu, about 10 oz.(285g)
• 8 fresh shitake mushrooms
• 4 servings udon noodles(optional)
• 1 small, dried red pepper or 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 3/4 cup finely grated daikon(Japanese white radish) or turnip
• 4-5 finely chopped green onions

Lemon-Soy Dipping Sauce(ponzu)

• 2 inches(5 cm) piece kelp(konbu)
• 5 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Sesame Dipping Sauce(gomadare)

• 1/2 cup bonito stock
• 6 Tbsp. white sesame seeds
• 2 Tbsp. white miso
• 2 Tbsp. mirin
• 2 tsp. rice vinegar
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 pinch of red pepper
• 2 tsp. vegetable oil

Preparation:

• Prepare in total, 8-1/2 cups of dashi bonito stock
• Blanch Chinese cabbage leaves and spinach. Squeeze spinach and lay a 3-4 spinach leaves at one end of a cabbage leaf and roll up. Cut the roll into 1-1/2 inch(4 cm) sections. Repeat with remaining cabbage and spinach. Stand the rolls up on a platter.
• Cut leeks diagonally into 1 inch(2-1/2 cm) lengths. Cut tofu into bite size cubes. Discard shitake mushroom stems and make an "X" cut on the caps. Lay strips of beef out on a platter.
• Soften dried pepper in water, then clip off the large end an squeeze out seeds. Cut and peel daikon. Make a hole in the center lengthwise with a toothpick or other utensil and stick in the red pepper. Grate the daikon with the red pepper inside, it will have a reddish tinge. If using pepper powder, simply mix with the grated daikon. Put grated daikon in a bowl and let diners put a little in their lemon dipping sauce.

Lemon-Soy Dipping Sauce:

• Do not wash kelp, as the white powder contains much of the flavor. Instead, wipe both sides of kelp with a damp cloth and cut 1/2 inch(1-1/2cm) slits at 1 inch(2-1/2cm) intervals. In a saucepan, combine kelp and other ingredients cold. Do not heat. Set aside for at least 10 minutes before eating, remove kelp before serving.

Sesame Dipping Sauce:

• Toast and grind sesame seeds or use already ground sesame. Dice and mash garlic. Combine sesame, garlic, and other ingredients. Blend mixture into bonito stock. 

Cooking:

1. Prepare small bowls for both dipping sauces for each person. Put out grated daikon and finely chopped green onions for each diner to add to the sauces.
2. Heat bonito stock in a pot at the table. Use a traditional Japanese earthenware pot(donabe), Mongolian-style hot pot(hoko-nabe) that has the cone coming up in the center, or an electric skillet. Fill the pot 2/3 full with the dashi stock and heat until just boiling. Each diner uses their own chopsticks to dip a slice of beef into the pot. Dip meat in broth for only a few seconds to cook, dip and eat. Let vegetable cook in the broth a bit longer and take what you like. Replenish ingredients, stock, or sauce when necessary. Skim off any foam.
3. After everything's been eaten, you can add cooked udon noodles to heat in the broth. Serve udon in bowls with broth, season with salt and pepper to taste.

Easy Sukiyaki Recipe

Sukiyaki (すき焼き)　is a very popular hot pot dish, especially in the winter. People often have sukiyaki dinner parties or eat it at restaurants. Everyone enjoys cooking it together at the table. There are many varieties, but basic ingredients include; thinly sliced beef, grilled tofu, thick, long, green onions, shitake mushrooms, and shirataki, which are clear, gelatinous noodles made from a kind of potato. Other common ingredients are carrots, hakusai(chinese cabbage), and udon noodles. Sugar is added, so the meat has a slightly sweet taste. Each person at the table has a small bowl with a beaten raw egg. They take what they like from the pot, dip in the raw egg and eat. When the pot gets low, just re-charge with fresh ingredients and stock. It makes for a great party. You can get the sukiyaki stock from a local Asian grocer.

Ingredients:

· thinly-sliced beef:                                400g
· yaki-dofu (grilled tofu):                          1 block
· shitake mushrooms:                              8
· green onions:                                       3-4(the longer and thicker, the better.)
· beef fat:                                             50g(you could substitute oil)
· shirataki(clear gelatinous noodles):           2 packets
· Shungiku(edible chrysanthemum leaves):   200g

       raw egg beaten in a bowl                          (one for each person)

Stock

· Dashi(stock):                     2/3 cup

· soy sauce:                        1/3 cup

· mirin(sweet cooking sake):   1/3 cup

· sugar                               2 Tbsp.

Directions:

Stock

Mix all of the ingredients in a pan and heat until just boiling. Remove from heat and set aside for later.

Sukiyaki

1.    Cut the the grilled tofu into 8 cubes.

2.    Cut the shungiku into about 7 cm lengths.

3.    Cut the green onion diagonally into 5 cm lengths.

4.    Heat the hotplate and melt the beef fat. Fry the beef lightly in the fat.

5.    When slightly browned, add the other ingredients and stock and boil.

6.    Eat the sukiyaki by dipping in beaten raw egg first.