Japanese Hot Pots

For anyone who is looking for something different from the same-old, same-old things to eat, you might want to give Japanese hot pot recipes a try. These are Japanese one-pot stews that are very tasty, healthy, and quick to make.

I've been experimenting with recipes from "Japanese Hot Pots: Comforting One-Pot Meals," by Tadashi Ono and Harris Salat. Japanese stews are made much differently from American-style stews. The meat (or chicken, fish, or tofu) is put into the pot and a variety of vegetables are bundled, side-by-side in groups, into the pot. Savory broths are made in advance (they take minutes to make) from various combinations of sake, miso, mirin, dashi, and soy sauce.

The broth is poured over the pot ingredients and simmered no more than 15-20 minutes. The broth infuses its flavors into the meat and vegetables, and the result is deliciously different.

The one disadvantage of this kind of cooking is that the traditional Japanese ingredients are hard to find in this part of the world, especially the fresh vegetables, unless you happen to live near a well-stocked Asian market. I've gotten around that by ordering miso, mirin, dashi and ponzu online, and freely substituting one vegetable for another. I made a hot pot today in which I substituted spinach for shungiku, portobellos for oyster and shimegi mushrooms, and scallions for negi. I also added some slices of sweet potato in place of tofu, which I was out of. A lot of sliced and briefly browned chicken went into this recipe. It turned out great, and even though I cut the recipe in half, I'll still get four meals out of it (Thank you, sleeve!).

It's the method more than the ingredients that make this way of cooking yield results that are different yet very good. And with autumn coming on, stews, whether Western or Japanese, are starting to sound pretty good. Including prep time, most of the hot pots take 30-45 minutes to make. That's a lot different from the usual several hours it takes to make an American-style stew.

Anyway, I thought I'd throw the idea out there. If you don't already know how to make hot pots, you'll need to read the book to understand the method fully and how to bundle in the ingredients. The authors recommend various carbs, like rice or noodles, to eat with the stew, but I just ignore them and eat the stew alone.

Maybe frisco will make a hot pot someday and post the photo! It's worth trying.

psychoticparrot

I love shabu-shabu!  There are a bunch of places here in Chicago that serve shabu-shabu, and you can actually buy an electric stew pot to make 'em.  Zojirushi is one of the brands that sells them.  Vietnamese hot pots are also tasty, but one mus****ch for hidden sugars there.

Eventually I will get one of the widgets.  Hot pots are great fun at a party to cook all sorts of beef and other food right in front of you.  It's a great healthy "fondue" that often tastes better  (IMO).

Thanks for the info on the electric shabu-shabu pot. I'm still in the experimental stage of making them myself in ordinary cookware. So far, the results have been very good. Must try just a few more before I commit to another kitchen utensil. I have to watch what I buy because I'm living on my boat and the storage space in my galley is very limited. If I can get my husband to eat the shabu-shabu, then it will be worth the room the pot would take up.

psychoticparrot

I always found an electric frypan an indispensible kitchen gadget for the boat. You should be able to simmer the veggies in broth & add the thinly sliced meats to cook. Love hot pot!