What is shabu shabu?
The name imitates the soft sound you hear when you swish the meat through the broth. Shabu shabu is one of the nabemono, the Japanese pot dishes that cook at the table on a portable burner. In sukiyaki, the meat simmers in sweet soy sauce. In shabu shabu, the broth stays mild and the seasoning comes from the two dips. An evening with guests takes little prep: you cut the vegetables, stir together the sauces and put everything on the table.
The shabu shabu broth
In Japan, many families make shabu shabu with a plain kombu dashi. For that, you soak 20 g of kombu in 2 liters of water for 30 minutes and heat the water slowly. Just before it boils, you lift the seaweed out so the broth does not turn slimy. The recipe card uses a stronger dashi made with bonito, and both work. The article Dashi and dashi powder explains how to make it from scratch and how to use instant powder. Do not add salt to the broth. The meat and vegetables release enough flavor over the course of the evening.
Buying meat and vegetables
For shabu shabu you need beef sliced 1 to 2 mm thick. Rib eye and roast beef with fine marbling stay the most tender. At an Asian grocery store you can find frozen shabu shabu meat in rolls, and at the butcher you can have a piece cut on the slicer. Plan on 100 to 150 g per person. Thinly sliced pork belly makes the cheaper version, which is called buta shabu in Japan.
For vegetables, choose types with a short cooking time: napa cabbage, leek, enoki, carrot in thin slices and shiitake with a cross cut into the top. If you can find mizuna or chrysanthemum leaves (shungiku), add them too. Firm tofu in cubes rounds it out.
The sauces: ponzu and goma-dare
Shabu shabu comes with two dips. Ponzu is a soy sauce with citrus juice and suits vegetables and lean meat. You can find its origin, varieties and buying tips under Ponzu. Add a spoonful of grated daikon radish and scallions to each bowl of ponzu.
Goma-dare is a creamy sesame sauce that goes well with fatty meat. For 4 people, stir together 4 tbsp tahini or Japanese sesame paste with 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp mirin and 4 tbsp dashi. The sauce should run thickly off the spoon. You will find more dips for a hot pot night under Hot pot sauces.
Common mistakes
- Broth at a rolling boil: A hard boil clouds the broth and breaks up the tofu. Keep it just below the boiling point.
- Meat left in the pot: After a minute it turns gray and dry. Swish each slice on its own and eat it right away.
- Foam left on top: Gray foam rises with the meat. Skim it off with a ladle, or the broth tastes dull.
The finish: noodles or rice
By the end of the meal, the broth tastes of beef, mushrooms and cabbage. In Japan, people cook noodles or rice in it to finish. The recipe card uses glass noodles. Udon works the same way. With cooked rice, a beaten egg and scallions, you turn the broth into zosui. For a vegetarian round, leave out the meat, use kombu dashi without bonito and put more tofu and mushrooms on the platters.
