Martina’s Midnight Munchies: How to Make A Miso Nabe Hot Pot

The point of a hot pot is to easily use up your vegetables, so don’t be too stressed if you can’t find all the perfect ingredients. It’s all about timing and not overcooking your vegetables and meat, so once you get the base dashi (broth) flavoured as you want, start adding in the ingredients based on how long they take the cook.

Begin with the longest required time, and work your way backwards until all you have left to cook is the thinly sliced meat. If you don’t eat meat, treat the bok choi like meat.

STEP ONE:
1. Assemble your dashi (the broth) into a cooking pot with a lid, big enough for boiling and extra veg. Bring it to a boil on high heat.

2-3 cups water
1-2 pouches of instant dashi (follow suggested ratios on package)
OR
2-3 Cups Homemade Dashi: link to homemade dashi recipe:

STEP TWO:
Ingredients to Flavour Base Broth:

2-3 heaping tbsp Miso paste (I used white Kyoto miso for a sweeter taste)
1/2 Tsp Minced Garlic
1/2 Tsp Minced Ginger
2 tbsp sweet sake/Mirin (optional if you do not drink alcohol)
1/2-1 tsp of soy sauce
Thick stems of Bok Choi, Napa cabbage, thicker green onions, and/or carrots for flavour

2. Add the ingredients to your dashi and bring it back up to a boil. Taste the broth. Adjust according to your taste, add more miso if the taste is weak.
3. Now that the broth is ready, remove the soggy vegetable stems from the pot once they’ve given up all their sweet, sweet veggie vitamins and have gotten all sad and gross looking.
4. Now that you’ve tasted the broth, add your chicken meatballs or any other meat that requires a longer cooking time. Set to medium heat and pop on the lid.

STEP THREE:
Wash and Chop the rest of Ingredients, prepare to add them to the broth:

1x pack firm tofu, drained, and cut into large rectangles
1x large bunch of sliced Negi (green onions)
1x bag of chopped Mizuna (Japanese Mustard Greens ミズナ or 水菜)
1x bag of chopped Boy Choi (or spinach)
1/2x head of chopped Napa Cabbage
1x pack of cleaned/chopped mushrooms (shiitake, ennoki, or oyster are all great)
1 egg (beaten and set aside in a bowl)
1 pack Ground Chicken Meatballs
200g-400g Thinly sliced Shabu shabu Pork or Beef

5. Add the ingredients from Longest to Shortest Cooking Time: first add the Mushrooms, Green Onions, Cabbage. Gently add the Tofu and pour in the Egg. You’ll have to adjust the heat to high and back to medium as you add cold ingredients. Keep the lid handy.
6. This part goes quickly: gently add the Shabu-shabu meat piece by piece. Skim the foam that appears on the surface as the meat cooks. The meat cooks within 30secs - 1 minute
7. Once the last piece of meat goes in, add the Bok Choi and Mizuna. Put on the lid and bring back to a boil. I just want the bok choi and mizuna to be blanched but still crispy and a vibrant green.
8. Poke around gently to make sure the meat looks cooked and serve in bowls ASAP!
9. You can serve it with some Japanese sesame dipping sauce for the meat and tofu or sprinkle on some Japanese 7-Spice if you’re looking for a few different flavours. ENJOY!

Check out our full video on Kyoto here!
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