Shabu Shabu
Recipe:
Mongolian
Shabu-Shabu
by Josh Day
Shabu-shabu.
Sounds interesting and exotic, doesn't it?
My
wife and I were introduced to this dish during a cruise trip this
winter. The ship's restaurant said shabu-shabu is Mongolian in origin.
Here's
Wikipedia:
The
dish is traditionally made with thinly sliced beef, though modern
preparations sometimes use pork, crab, chicken, duck, or lobster.
Most often, tender ribeye steak is used, but less tender cuts
such as top sirloin are also common.
Shabu-shabu
is usually served with tofu and vegetables, including Chinese
cabbage, chrysanthemum leaves, nori (edible seaweed), onions,
carrots, shiitake mushrooms and enokitake mushrooms. In some places,
Udon, Mochi and/or harusame noodles may also be served.
The
dish is prepared by submerging a very thin slice of meat or a
piece of vegetable in a pot of boiling water or dashi (broth)
made with kombu (kelp) and swishing it back and forth several
times. (The familiar swishing sound is where the dish gets its
name. Shabu-shabu roughly translates to "swish-swish".)
Cooked meat and vegetables are usually dipped in ponzu or "goma"
(sesame seed) sauce before eating with a bowl of steamed white
rice.
Once
the meat and vegetables have been eaten, leftover water (now broth)
from the pot is customarily combined with the remaining rice,
and the resulting soup is usually eaten last. (wikipedia.com)
Let's
get to the recipe, shall we?
Mongolian
Shabu-Shabu
2 cans
(32 oz) high quality organic beef broth or homemade beef stock
32 oz of water
1 head napa cabbage, thinly sliced (think Mongolian spaghetti!)
1 large carrot, thinly sliced
Shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
Enokitake mushrooms (they look like bean sprouts)
1 onion, cut into long but thin strips
Thinly sliced beef (ask your butcher for the most tender cuts of
meat they have)
Cooked rice
Bring
broth and water to a good boil. Add carrots and onions and let soup
return to boil.
Drop
in mushrooms and cabbage. Let soup come back to a boil. Stir.
Test
the carrots. You want everything tender.
Lower
heat to simmer.
Using
a speared prong or fork, wrap meat around instrument and dip in
broth. Cook to desired doneness -- ask your guests how they like
their meat.
Serve
meat on top of vegetables on a plate. Ladle soup and rice into two
bowls.
This
meal tastes even better when eaten by chopsticks.
Here's
a quick note from Dr.
Ben Kim:
This
is actually quite a common way of eating in Korean and Chinese
cultures, though getting more popular in Korean restaurants these
days. The sesame-based dip is key, and it's quite a healthy dish,
given the cooking method and ingredients, eh? Some Chinese and
Korean folks just put all the ingredients in the water at one
time and then eat straight from the pot.
Enokitake
(didn't know the name until reading it in your e-mail) is added
to a lot of different Korean soups, and I know for a fact that
they're readily available in Korean and Chinese supermarkets throughout
Toronto, so I imagine that you'll find some at a local Asian food
store. Even though they're wildcrafted these days in our part
of the world, they're really nice, eh?
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