Back when my husband and I lived in downtown Minneapolis, we loved to go to a restaurant called Kikugawa, which served authentic (and thus expensive) Japanese food, including tempura, sushi, various appetizers, and our favorite, sukiyaki. For those of you who aren't familiar with the dish, sukiyaki is one of various one-pot dishes that Japan has. Others are shabu-shabu and nabe. Essentially there's a hot plate in the middle of the table with a cast-iron pot, and people cook meat and various vegetables in a broth. At Kikugawa, diners had the option to cook their own sukiyaki at the table, and it was really fun. And expensive.
The other day it dawned on me that this favorite dish of ours could possibly be adapted to work in an electric fondue pot, of which we have two. Yesterday I picked up ingredients and tried it out, and it worked wonderfully. It might not be entirely authentic, but the taste was delicious, so I decided to share my success with you guys.
Here's what you'll need (This amt. of ingredients should serve about 4):
2C Beef Broth (either home-made or low-sodium from the store)
1C Soy Sauce (Make sure it's not some cheap brand! The taste is completely different. I used Kikkoman naturally brewed soy sauce).
1/2 C Granulated Sugar
1/4 C Sake or Mirin
Thinly-sliced steak (I bought two sirloin steaks and sliced them on a shallow angle very thinly)
1 package firm tofu, cubed
1 small can bamboo shoots, drained
1 yellow onion, peeled and sliced into strips
1/2 Chinese nappa cabbage, sliced into bite-sized pieces
1 package mushrooms of your choice (I used baby portabello mushrooms, I think traditionally black and enoki mushrooms are used but I didn't have them)
Shirataki noodles (I didn't have these, so I cooked up some rice vermicelli and it worked pretty well)
Combine beef broth, soy sauce, sake/mirin and sugar in a medium sauce pan and heat until sugar is dissolved. Cool and set-aside until ready to use.
Prepare meat and vegetables according to instructions and arrange on a platter. When ready to eat, add sukiyaki broth to fondue pot (don't fill it too full, you can always reserve the extra and add it later on if it starts to run low). Bring the broth to a boil, and then turn the heat dial down to medium low. Add meat and vegetables and boil until they're cooked through and have absorbed the delicious sauce. Enjoy over bowls of Japanese rice.
This would be a great, easy meal in the Autumn when it starts to cool off (like the last couple of days here, coincidentally) or for a special day like a birthday.
Leave a comment