The colder the weather gets, the more donabe “hot pot” dishes we tend to do. Yes, (even in LA) we are in the middle of the perfect “nabe” (hot pot) season right now.
Probably the most common donabe hot pot dish to make at home in Japan is “Yose Nabe”. It means, “assorted ingredients hot pot”. As the name suggests, there are countless different interpretations of the dish and the ingredients to cook in the pot are different from family to family, and from region to region.
With some exceptions, common knowledge about Yose Nabe is that the broth is dashi stock which is flavored lightly with soy sauce. Our family normally season the dashi stock with some sake, light soy sauce, and mirin. The ingredients to cook in the broth are not always all the same. But, among our typical ingredients are tofu, cod, napa cabbage, shirataki noodles, etc.
The broth is already seasoned, so you don’t need a dipping sauce. Cooked ingredients and broth are served with some condiments…shichimi, scallions, ground sesame, etc.
As a “Shime” or the end of the meal, we made our regular “Ojiya” (soupy rice porridge). It definitely hit my spot.
We never get tired of our Yose Nabe.
You can find the Yose Nabe recipe on toiro’s website. Please check it out.
