The joy of nabe

The joy of NABE When the temperature falls, turn the heat up with Japanese hot pot.

Singapore might have steamboat. But not to be forgotten is the Japanese hot pot known as nabe. Japanese hot pot is a real crowd-pleaser, especially when winter comes around. Warming, comforting bowls of nabe are served communal style and eaten with gusto among friends and family.

A fuss-free favourite, nabe is also one of the most popular dishes to make at home in Japan. Nothing could be more e ortless than throwing together cut ingredients with stock in a clay or iron pot and simmering them on a little cooker over the dinner table. What counts is the freshness of ingredients.

Over time, the di erent regions of Japan have come up with their own specialities of the dish using local ingredients. Take Hokkaido, where seafood and  sh have a starring role in the hot pot. Other regional variations include duck or wild boar hot pot in Shikoku, fugu or pu er sh nabe from Chugoku and oyster nabe from Hiroshima. Here are just a handful of the types of nabe to be found in Japan.

Full of goodness: Yose nabe Literally meaning “put everything in a pot”, yose nabe brings together all sorts of ingredients, from meat and seafood to vegetables and tofu in stock. Typically cooked in a miso or soya sauce dashi broth, yose nabe is the most basic of nabe yet so  avourful and adaptable too, which is why it is a great nabe dish to make at home.

Fill a hot pot with kombu dashi, add chicken,  sh, prawns or mushrooms to deepen the  avour, then put in other ingredients in order of cooking time — tofu and carrots  rst, then Japanese greens and leeks, for instance.  en season with soya sauce, miso, salt or other  avourings.

To properly enjoy the soup after eating the ingredients, add rice or udon, stir in a beaten egg and let it cook slightly. Tip:  e Japanese prefer not to combine meat with  sh as they feel it tastes better with only one.

Fit for a king: Kani nabe Winter is the best season for crab in Hokkaido and one of the most delectable dishes to try it in is the regional speciality, crab hot pot or kani nabe. Succulent fresh crab and seasonal vegetables, typically Chinese cabbage, are cooked in a dashi broth with kombu or katsuobushi (bonito  sh  akes). To  nish o the meal, Japanese diners traditionally make a simple kani zosui or crab porridge with the leftover soup, rice and a beaten egg.

Unlike other varieties of nabe, crab hot pot is typically a one-ingredient dish, prepared with one type of vegetable, to allow the crab’s full  avour to rule. Varieties used in kani nabe in Hokkaido include snow crab, horsehair crab and blue king crab. But the most sought after is the red king crab. Said to be the most expensive variety in the world, it is a mid-winter highlight to be especially savoured in this dish.

Big flavours: Chanko nabe Just like the sumo wrestlers who prepare it, chanko nabe is huge and hearty. Chock-full of ingredients such as meat, tofu and vegetables, the stew was once eaten only by sumo wrestlers (rikishi) to help them gain weight during their training. Rikishi can even wolf down their chanko nabe with up to 10 bowls of rice! While you don’t have to eat that much, a steaming bowl of chanko nabe is perfectly nutritious and warming for cold nights. Considered to be a type of yose nabe, chanko nabe includes ingredients such as meatballs, chicken, Chinese cabbage, potatoes and udon.  ese are cooked all at once in dashi  avoured with soya sauce, miso or sake. Beloved by sumo fans, chanko nabe restaurants can be found across Japan. Most of them have been started by retired wrestlers using the original recipes from their sumo stable. In Tokyo, you can try chanko nabe in the sumo district of Ryogoku.

The sum of its parts: Motsu nabe If you’re a fan of innards, you’ll love motsu nabe. A Fukuoka speciality, motsu nabe is a unique stew made with o al (motsu) that’s been popular throughout Japan since the 1990s.

Motsu nabe is prepared by putting fresh beef intestines and heart, pork tripe, or other o al, cabbage, enoki mushrooms, burdock, garlic chives, garlic and chilli into dashi made from kombu or katsuobushi.  e soup is also  avoured with soya sauce or miso, although some restaurants like to serve it with a vinegary soya sauce.  e Japanese like to add champon noodles and sesame into the remaining soup too.

What about the taste? When cooked perfectly, the stew becomes rich,  avourful and tender. Cheap, delicious and nutritious, motsu nabe goes well with sake or shochu. If you’re in the Fukuoka city of Hakata, you can pick up a pack of ready-to-cook motsu nabe from train stations.