Friday, October 01, 2010

Sukiyaki

Yet another installment of crazy Japanese food hour. Sukiyaki is one of my favorite dishes, but tends to be considered fancier(at least on the restaurant scale). It's also a bit dangerous with kids around, open flame at the table and 20 month olds don't typically mix. Nonetheless I had to fulfill this craving, and found out how to make it. First a big thanks to Cooking with Dog(poor grammar not the crazy side of asian cuisine).

For the sukiyaki sauce you will need
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup mirin or saké
1 tablespoon vegetable or beef stock powder(not bullion...the flavor is way too different)

You bring it to a boil and turn the heat down

then add


thinly slice beef(1/2 to 1 lbs.)
wide chopped napa cabbage
diagonally cut leek
a few cross sections of a yellow onion
seared tofu cut into large cubes(just plain firm if you can't find seared tofu)
diagonally sliced carrot(about 1/4 inch)
Komatsuna(Japanese mustard spinach) wide chopped...I couldn't fit it in the pan.
Shiitake mushrooms(6-12, stems off, cut a pretty star in the top if you want to)
Maitake mushrooms(1 bunch, bottom cut off, break it up into small clumps...I might add more next time)




This usually calls for Konjak noodles, but I put udon noodles in later.

let it boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes. I ended up adding a few cups of water so that the broth wouldn't be too thick.




Then you can eat it, and if you KNOW where the eggs are from, dip it in a raw beaten egg. It seems freaky, but tastes soooooo good. Only do this if you are absolutely sure of where the eggs are from, like your hippie, chicken raising neighbor.

We dig noodles, so once everything was cooked, we added some precooked udon noodles, and then ate up.




Dish it out, and enjoy. This way you don't burn your small child at a fancy restaurant, and still get to enjoy this great flavor. I used a normal deep sauce pan. It does need to be deep though.

Good luck, and feel free to ask questions.

5 comments:

elise said...

sounds great. one note, raw egg is only dangerous if the outside of the egg has stuff on it. the dangerous bacteria are actually from the hen's feces, so if you want to eat eggs raw in anything, wash the egg really well before you crack it. (frequently when we crack eggs, some of the inside slides along the outside of the shell, that's why it can be dangerous)

QueenScarlett said...

It's hot pot, Japanese style. We love this type of dinner in the winter. ;-)

soybeanlover said...

Elise, the recent egg recall actually had salmonella in the egg because the hens ovaries were infected. So just be careful.

Yep, sometimes called Japanese hot pot! I forgot to make rice which would have been awesome instead of noodles.

I need to learn how to make Chinese hot pot!

La Yen said...

Please to come to my house and prepare.

soybeanlover said...

Will do La Yen, you gonna get me and my big bellied self business class though?