Quick Shabu Shabu Recipe
You're just a few tasty ingredients away from this simmering Japanese hot pot. Think thinly sliced pork, udon, tofu, vegetables and delicious homemade dipping sauces. Ready to get cooking? Let's learn how to make this 10 minute Shabu Shabu recipe at home.
Servings 2 people
Calories 963kcal
Cost $10
Equipment
- Portable Cooker
Ingredients
- 8 cups water sub with homemade dashi stock
- 2 tsp dashi powder
- 200 g pork thinly sliced for hot pot
- 250 g udon noodles frozen
- 300 g firm tofu chopped
- 100 g enoki mushrooms broken into small bunches
- 6 shiitake mushrooms stalks removed
- ¼ cabbage chopped
- 1 carrot diagonally sliced
- 3 spring onion / green onion sliced into lengths of 6cm / 1.5in
Instructions
Preparing the broth and ingredients:
- Fill a medium saucepan, nabe pot or electric frypan with the water and dashi powder and to the boil on high heat.8 cups water, 2 tsp dashi powder
- While the water is coming to a boil, prepare the vegetables for cooking. First, chop up the cabbage into around 3cm x 3cm (1.5 inch) squares, then the tofu into 2cm x 2cm (1 inch) squares. Slice the carrot diagonally and the spring onion into 6cm (2.5 inch) lengths. For the enoki mushrooms, remove the roots and separate into small bunches for eating. Remove the stalks from the shiitake mushrooms. Place everything on one plate and move next to the shabu shabu pot ready for cooking.300 g firm tofu, 100 g enoki mushrooms, ¼ cabbage, 1 carrot, 3 spring onion / green onion, 6 shiitake mushrooms
- Next, place your pork on another plate and pop that next to the vegetables. Finally with the udon, if you purchased frozen, you can place in a bowl and pour boiling water over them to loosen and thaw out. Then drain and pop in a bowl, placing it alongside the meat and vegetables.200 g pork, 250 g udon noodles
- Next, we get the dipping sauces ready! You’ll need two small sauce bowls for each person at the table. Fill one with ponzu (2 tbsp) and the other with sesame sauce (2 tbsp). Place them in front of each person with a set of chopsticks (or a fork if you prefer!).4 tbsp ponzu, 4 tbsp goma dare
- If you’re having rice with your shabu shabu, prepare a small bowl for each person and set this in front of the dipping sauces.
- Now you’re ready to get your shabu shabu party started!
How to eat shabu shabu:
- Once your dashi broth is boiling, reduce to a simmer and begin the shabu shabu!
- Place some carrot and cabbage in first, as these will take the longest to cook (around 3 minutes). Next pop in some udon, mushrooms or tofu (these only need a minute). You don’t have to pop the whole lot in, just enough for everyone to eat some before adding more. This avoids overcooking or overcrowding your shabu shabu.
- Now it’s time for the meat! As shabu shabu meat is so thin, it only needs around 30 seconds to cook. Place only a few slices in at a time so they don’t overcook. Watch as it turns from pink to a light brown – then it’s ready to eat!
- When taking ingredients out, use your chopsticks, or if easier, a slotted spoon. Now it's time to dip! Traditionally, meat is dipped in the sesame sauce and vegetables in the ponzu. However, nowadays anything goes! You do you and find out what sauces you prefer to pair with each ingredient.
- Once dipped you can either it straight away, or grab some rice with it. By the end, your rice bowl should be filled with all your flavours from the soup and ingredients, so enjoy it all together.
- Most importantly, have fun!
Notes
Wandercook’s Tips
- For the dipping sauces, traditionally ponzu is used for the vegetables and sesame sauce for the meat. Feel free to experiment with your favourite, just don’t mix the sauces as one is citrus based and the other is creamy.
- Add only a few pieces of meat at a time, so that a) you don’t lose them in the broth and b) they don’t overcook.
- Keep and eye on your sauces – especially for your guests. If they’re running low or getting watered down from dipping, top them up as you go for the best flavour.
- Where do you get Shabu Shabu meat? You can usually buy shabu shabu meat frozen at Asian supermarkets. We like to get ours from a Korean supermarket in particular that does fresh and frozen cuts of pork, beef and lamb. Other options are to ask if your local butcher can thinly slice meat for you OR invest in a manual home slicer (if you’re a hot pot lover like us!) so you can freeze and thinly slice your own meat at home.
- Can I use the same chopsticks to cook and eat shabu shabu? Yes! You don’t need separate tongs or chopsticks to use for the raw meat and vegetables. As the water is almost boiling, just dip your chopsticks (or fork) in the water for 30 seconds after handling the meat in particular.
- What do I do if the broth starts to cook down too much? You can refill the shabu shabu pot at any time with boiling water. No need to add dashi, as it’s only the water that evaporates, all the flavour stays in the pot!
- While we’ve used the traditional Japanese ingredients in this version, feel free to try other vegetables or noodles to suit your tastes.
- For a vegan & vegetarian version, use kombu dashi (seaweed stock) for the broth and omit the meat.
Nutrition
Calories: 963kcal | Carbohydrates: 110g | Protein: 45g | Fat: 41g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 72mg | Sodium: 2351mg | Potassium: 1072mg | Fiber: 15g | Sugar: 18g | Vitamin A: 5386IU | Vitamin C: 49mg | Calcium: 139mg | Iron: 4mg