Sukiyaki

Ingredients

• Noodles

  Egg, cooked, unenriched, with added salt

  200g

• Cabbage

  Raw

  ½ head, large or 624g

• Chrysanthemum

  Garland, raw

  50g

• Onions

  Young green, tops only

  100g

• Mushrooms

  Shiitake, raw

  198g

• Mushrooms

  Shiitake, raw

  8 mushroom or 152g

• Tofu

  Fried

  9 oz or 255g

• Carrots

  Raw

  ⅓ medium or 20g

• Chinese noodles

  Chow mein

  7 oz or 201g

• Beef

  Lean, Sliced - Kroger

  16 oz or 454g

• Rice bran

  Crude

  1 tbsp or 7g

• Brown sugar

  1 tbsp or 9g

• Water

  Plain, clean water

  100g

• Sake

  Alcoholic beverage, made from rice

  1 cup or 240g

• Kotterin Mirin

  Kikkoman

  16 tablespoon or 1.6kg

• Sugar

  White, granulated sugar

  ¼ cup or 50g

• Soy sauce

  Regular sodium, Shoyu

  1 cup or 255g

Directions

1. Gather all the ingredients.
2. To Make Sukiyaki Sauce
3. Combine 1 cup sake, 1 cup mirin, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1 cup soy sauce in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, turn off the heat and set aside. This Sukiyaki sauce can be stored in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to a month.
4. To Prepare the Ingredients
5. If your udon is frozen, cook it in boiling water until loosen. Remove from heat and soak in iced water to prevent overcooking them. Drain and transfer to a plate covered with plastic. You will not need it till the end of the sukiyaki meal.
6. Prepare sukiyaki ingredients. Cut napa cabbage into 2" (5 cm) wide then cut in half right at the middle of the white part.
7. Cut shungiku into 2" (5 cm) wide, and slice Tokyo negi. Discard the bottom part of enoki and tear into smaller bundles.
8. Discard the shiitake stem and decorate the top of shiitake if you like.
9. Cut tofu into smaller pieces (I usually cut into 6-8 pieces).
10. If you like, you can slice some carrots and then stamp them into a floral shape for decoration.
11. Drain and rinse the shirataki noodles (sorry no photo). Put all the ingredients on one big platter for the table or into smaller individual servings.
12. To Cook Sukiyaki
13. Set a portable gas cooktop at the dining table. Each person should have a medium-sized bowl where the cooked food is being transferred to from the pot. Heat a cast iron sukiyaki pot (or any pot) on medium heat. When it's hot, add 1 Tbsp cooking oil (or beef fat).
14. Place 2-4 slices of well-marbled beef to sear and sprinkle 1 Tbsp brown sugar. Flip and cook the other side of the meat. You can pour a little bit of Sukiyaki Sauce over the meat and enjoy some (or all) of the sweet and nicely caramelized meat now (this is to enjoy the good quality meat), and continue to the next step.
15. The First Round of Sukiyaki
16. Pour half of the Sukiyaki Sauce you made (1 1/3 cup) and 1 cup dashi (or water) in the pot.
17. Add vegetables, tofu, and other ingredients to the pot (keep the udon for later). Add more Sukiyaki Sauce or dashi (or water) if necessary. The 2/3 of the ingredients should be submerged in the broth. Put the lid on and bring to a gentle boil. Once boiling, turn down the heat and simmer until the ingredients are cooked through. Once ingredients are cooked through, you can add more beef as beef will cook fast. Enjoy the first round of sukiyaki. If the sauce gets too salty (from evaporating), add dashi (or water) to dilute. If the vegetables diluted the sauce too much, then add more sukiyaki sauce.
18. The Second/Third Round of Sukiyaki (Optional)
19. When there is less cooked food in the pot, divide the leftover into individual bowls. Then start cooking the second round by adding more ingredients to the pot (repeat the previous step). While the second round of sukiyaki is being cooked, you can enjoy the leftover from the first pot or any side dishes.
20. To End the Meal
21. We usually end the sukiyaki meal with udon. When most of the ingredients have disappeared, add udon to the pot. Cook until heated through and enjoy.
22. To Store
23. You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for a month. Tofu does not freeze well, so take them out if there is any.
24. Recipe by: Namiko Chen (source: https://www.justonecookbook.com/sukiyaki/)