Shabu-shabu with Hot Soy Milk Broth

Tonyu yakuzen Shabu-shabu

Difficulty

Ingredients (Serves 4): 500 g pork loin, thinly sliced
1 naganegi long onion
1 bunch Chinese chives
2 bunches mizuna greens
300 g soft tofu (or silken tofu)
180 g dried udon noodles
chopped green onion (as topping)

for the broth:
1 tbsp sesami oil
1 tbsp powdered sansho pepper
1 tbsp doubangjiang (Chinese chili paste)
1 pinch to 1 tsp chili powder (to taste)
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 tbsp grated garlic
200 ml unsweetended soy milk
1000 ml water
3 tsp granulated chicken bouillon
2 tsp soy sauce (or nampla)
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar

Directions

1. Put the sesame oil, sansho pepper, doubangjiang, chili powder, and grated ginger and garlic in a pot and stir-fry.

2. When it becomes fragrant, add the soy milk, water, chicken bouillon, soy sauce (or nampla), salt, and sugar. Heat over low to medium heat.

3. Cut the naganegi long onion diagonally into 1 cm-thick slices. Cut the tofu into eight pieces, and add them to the heated soy milk broth.

4. Cut the mizuna and Chinese chives into 5 cm-long pieces and arrange on a plate. Roll up the thinly sliced pork loin into pieces easy to pick up with chopsticks, and arrange on a plate as well.

5. In a separate pot, boil the udon noodles for slightly less time than the packaging says to, then drain and rinse thoroughly. Place the noodles in cold water to prevent sticking.

6. Shabu-shabu is a dish that is served as a pot of hot broth, heated on a burner at the table, that people dip ingredients into to cook them how they like. Taste the heated broth with pre-heated tofu or naganegi long onion first.

7. Lightly cook the pork such that it moves around freely in the soy milk broth, making sure not to overcook it. The mizuna and Chinese chives are safe to eat raw, so they can be dipped in for just a moment to keep their crisp texture.

8. After all of the ingredients to be cooked in the soy milk broth have been eaten, add the cooked udon noodles to the pot and heat. Ladle the remaining broth and noodles into bowls and season to taste with green onion, etc.