Nabemono, or simply nabe, is a variety of Japanesehot pot dishes, also known as one pot dishes and "things in a pot".
Description
Most nabemono are stews and soups served during the colder seasons. In modern Japan, nabemono are kept hot at the dining table by portable stoves. The dish is frequently cooked at the table, and the diners can pick the cooked ingredients they want from the pot. It is either eaten with the broth or with a dip. Further ingredients can also be successively added to the pot. There are two types of nabemono in Japan: lightly flavored stock types such as yudōfu and mizutaki, eaten with a dipping sauce to enjoy the taste of the ingredients themselves; and strongly flavored stock, typically with miso, soy sauce, dashi, and/or sweet soy types such as yosenabe, oden, and sukiyaki, eaten without further flavoring. The pots are traditionally made of clay or thick cast iron. Clay pots can keep warm for a while after being taken off the fire, while cast iron pots evenly distribute heat and are preferable for sukiyaki. Pots are usually placed in the center of dining tables and are shared by multiple people. This is considered the most sociable way to eat with friends and family.
Varieties
Chankonabe : was originally served only to Sumo wrestlers. Chankonabe is served with more ingredients than other nabemono, as it was developed to help sumo wrestlersgain weight. Many recipes exist but usually contain meatballs, chicken, vegetables such as Chinese cabbage and udon.
Motsunabe : made with beef or pork offal, originally a local cuisine of Fukuoka but popularised nationwide in the 1990s because of its taste and reasonable price. The ingredients of motsunabe vary from restaurant to restaurant, but it is typical to boil the fresh cow offal with cabbage and garlic chives. After having offal and vegetables, the rest of soup is used to cookchampon noodles. The soup bases are mainly soy sauce or miso.
Oden: several ingredients such as boiled eggs, daikon, konjac, and processed fishcakes stewed in a light, soy-flavoured dashi broth. Karashi is often used as a condiment.
Shabu-shabu: thinly sliced meat and vegetables that are boiled in a pot at the dining table and eaten with a dipping sauce.
Sukiyaki: thinly sliced beef, tofu, vegetables and starch noodles stewed in sweetened shouyu and eaten with a raw egg dip.
Yosenabe: Yose means "putting together", implying that all things are cooked together in a pot. Yosenabe is typically based on a broth made with miso or soy sauce flavourings.
Yudofu: tofu simmered in a kombu stock and served with ponzu and various condiments.
* Ishikari-nabe: salmon stewed in a miso-based broth with vegetables. Typical ingredients include daikon, tofu, konjac, Chinese cabbage, potato, Welsh onion, shungiku, shiitake mushroom and butter.
* Fugu-chiri: Slices of fugu stewed in dashi with leafy vegetables such as shungiku and Chinese cabbage, and eaten with a ponzu dip.
* Dote-nabe: Oyster and other ingredients. The ingredients: duck, wild boar, chicken, beef, pork, daikon radish, carrot, mizuna, hiru, and dumplings made from buckwheat and rice.
*Mizutaki. Chicken pieces and vegetables stewed in a simple stock, and eaten with dipping sauce such as ponzu. Ingredients include chinese cabbage, Welsh onion, shiitake mushroom or other mushroom, tofu, shungiku, shirataki noodles.
Sauces
Nabemono are usually eaten with a sauce sometimes called tare, literally "dipping". Several kinds of sauce can be used with additional spices, called yakumi. Typical yakumi include grated garlic, butter, red pepper, a mixture of red pepper and other spices, roasted sesame, or momiji oroshi.
Ponzu: The common ponzu is made of soy sauce and juice pressed from a bitter orange, sweet sake, and kombu stock.
Gomadare : Sesame sauce is usually made from ground sesame, soy sauce, kelp stock, sake and sugar.
Beaten raw egg: Most commonly used as the sauce for sukiyaki.
