Nabe or nabemono is a very popular winter dish in Japan. Presentation:
- Nabe, a Japanese fondue concept
- The different varieties of nabe
- The sauces that accompany nabe
- The nabe pots
- At the end of the meal
Nabe, a Japanese fondue concept
The nabe or nabemono 鍋物 is a type of dish that could be compared to the French fondue or pot au feu. It involves placing a stove in the center of the table and heating a large pot. Inside is a flavored broth and the guests use various ingredients depending on the recipe such as tofu, Chinese cabbage, oysters, meat, noodles… with a small ladle or Japanese chopsticks. There are 2 types of nabe in Japan:
- A nabe with a lightly flavored broth simply with konbu (seaweed) or simply water. The ingredients are combined with sauce called tare, to enjoy the taste of the ingredients.
- a nabe with a strongly flavored broth for example mixed with miso (fermented soybean paste), shoyu (Japanese soy sauce) or dashi… In this case, we do not eat the ingredients with sauce.
It is a very popular dish in Japan because it allows to meet all together with friends or family. It also has the advantage of being varied (a large number of ingredients can be used in its composition), light and very healthy.
The different varieties of nabe
Mizutaki 水炊き: Japanese chicken fondue. Mizutaki is made of pieces of chicken and vegetables boiled in dashi. It is served with ponzu sauce.
Yudofu
: Japanese tofu fondue. Yudofu is a fondue of large chunks of tofu, simmered in konbu and served with ponzu sauce.Yosenabe 寄せ鍋: Japanese mixed fondue. Yosenabe, yose 寄 means to put together: Several ingredients are mixed together like meat, eggs, tofu, seafood, vegetables… They are all cooked together in a broth of miso or shoyu soy sauce.
Oden おでん: fish fritter fondue
Oden is a very popular dish offered in combini (local supermarkets) like 7eleven for example and even found in cans in vending machines! It is composed of dumplings or fish cake, konjac, hard-boiled eggs daikon. There are many different varieties. The whole thing is cooked in a dashi broth and eaten with Japanese mustard sauce karashi.
Sukiyakiすき焼き: Japanese meat fondue.
Sukiyaki is made of thin slices of beef, tofu, vegetables, noodles cooked a sweet soy broth. It is accompanied by a beaten raw egg.
Chankonabe ちゃんこ鍋: Sumo fondue.
Chankonabe is known to be the main dish of Sumo in Japan, as it is aimed at the wrestlers’ weight gain, this dish is composed of many more ingredients than other nabe such as meatballs, chicken, Chinese cabbage udon (thick Japanese noodles), mushrooms etc.
Motsunabe: offal fondue.
Motsunabe is a local dish of Fukuoka (city in the south of Japan) but it has become very popular in the whole country. It is made of beef or pork offal, accompanied by cabbage, chives and cooked in a broth of shoyu soy sauce or miso.
Depending on the region and family, there are many other varieties of nabe, here we present the most popular.
Sauces that accompany nabe
Here are in details the different sauces that accompany some nabe:
The nabe’s pots
The pots in the center of the stove are traditionally made of clay 土鍋, donabe or cast iron 鉄鍋, tetsunabe. These pots have the advantage of keeping the heat for quite a long time after turning off the fire. They are quite large pots accompanied by a lid.
At the end of the meal
When the dish is finished, there is some broth left at the bottom, which is kept to be reused the next day by adding an egg, some pre-cooked rice and some negi (Japanese spring onion) chopped into small pieces. This dish is called ojiya.