Japan – Beef Sukiyaki

by Zayna Khan

Sukiyaki is the dish which is a very special Japanese dish with all the varieties like beef, noodles, vegetables, broth, and edible nori seaweed sheets, etc. It is usually served in a bowl, having all the elements in it. It has crunchy vegetables, cooks beef meat, sometimes has rice, and is dipped into the broth of beef or chicken. It is simply made by grilling the meat and vegetable over the grilling pan and then served by adding sukiyaki sauce, beef broth. Raw eggs are also cracked over the bowl of sukiyaki and also boiled eggs are served. This is like a bowl of happiness in winters and a very delicious-looking dish. Spring onions are also served on the top of the dish for nice color and crunchy effect. The mild crunchy texture of vegetables, tofu, beef, chicken, and fish are common ingredients in sukiyaki. Daikon radish, spinach, a thick root vegetable, can be found in the bowl of sukiyaki.

First beef is cooked on slow heat because it required more time to tender than vegetables are added and cooked with meat. Sauces like sukiyaki sauce, pepper sauce, Soya sauce, mirin, sake, vinegar are added for a kick of flavors. Noodles especially glass noodles or also known as shirataki noodles are added. And you can add more what you want to add into this dish like tempura, fried eel, sashimi chunks, etc.

This dish can be cooked in other meats like seafood, beef red meat, chicken, octopus, frog, pork, etc.

This dish is served in NABEMONO STYLE.

NABEMONO

• Nabe means HOTPOT or COOKING POT
• Mono means THINGS.

So from the name, the dish is served in one bowl having all the elements together. It is also known as ONE POT DISH or THINGS IN A POT. Nabemono is more like soups and stew and has many ingredients in it. It can either be the simple broth or having different elements like meat and vegetables, tofu, etc.

Nabemono is served on the table with a portable stove. The broth is boiling in the pot and side condiments are served with it. Those elements are dipped into the boiling broth and eaten.

VARIETIES OF NABEMONO

• Chankonabe
• Motsunabe
• Shabu Shabu
• Oden
• Yosenabe
• Sukiyaki
• Yudofunabe

VARIETIES OF THE DISH

This dish is versatile because of the vast addition of ingredients in it. It has meat, vegetables, noodles, broth, sauces, etc. So we can and skip any of these ingredients and make your own kind of sukiyaki.

1.HOKKAIDO VARIETY

Hokkaido is the second-largest island in Japan. There is a dish known as ISHIKARI NABE, a very popular version of sukiyaki nabemono. It has the ingredients which are their regional favorites

• Miso based stew/ broth
• Vegetables especially shiitake
• Salmon
• Konjac
• Daikon
• Tofu
• Shungiko, etc.

2.KANTO REGION

HOTO NABE is a special Kanto regional dish that is Udon based dish. It has also different vegetables added and meat portion is usually from seafood like salmon, squid, clams, squash, etc It is served with

• Kabocha squash
• Chinese Cabbage
• Carrot
• Taro

3.CHUETSU REGION

Momiji Nabe is also known as Venison Nabe. It has a special Ponzu dip with different more ingredients

• Burdock
• Shiitake mushroom
• Welsh onion
• Konjac
• Tofu
• Green vegetables

4.SHIKOKU REGION

Benkei no najiru is a dish of shikoku region with different delicious ingredients. This dish has all the green vegetables. People of different regions love to add their regional and favorite ingredients. They have ingredients like the following :

• Spinach
• Scallions
• Shiitake mushrooms
• Duck meat
• Wild boar
• Chicken
• Beef
• Pork
• Daikon radish
• Carrot

ELEMENTS OF SUKIYAKI

CELLOPHANE NOODLES

These are glass noodles that are made of cornstarch and cornflour. It is also known as FENSI and Glass noodles. These are used in stir-fried dishes, soups, dumplings, desserts, etc. It is similar to rice vermicelli. It becomes clear when boiled or cooked by rice vermicelli becomes white when cooked. It is made by flours of different beans

• Starch from mung beans
• Starch from potatoes
• Starch from Yams
• Canna or Batata starch.

BROTH

The broth is usually Miso based broth but there are many version of broth can be cooked in this dish

• Dashi broth
• Miso soup
• Beef broth
• Chicken broth
• Seafood broth
• Udon

NUTRITIONAL ASPECTS OF THE DISH

• Calories : 450
• Carbohydrates : 40 grams
• Protein : 40 grams
• Fats : 21 grams

TIME NEEDED

You need to have 40 minutes to cook this dish. Because beef takes time to cook then noodles to boil. Vegetable to saute and sauces took around 40 to 50 minutes.

INGREDIENTS OF THE DISH

• beef thinly sliced : 1 pounds
• Japanese long onion : 2
• Spinach blanched : 1 cup
• yam noodles(shirataki) : 1 packet
• Shiitake mushrooms :4 to 6
• Corns : 1/2 cup
• Grilled tofu : 1/2 cup
• Chinese cabbage : 2
• Chrysanthemum leaves : 10 to 12
• Kikkoman Soy Sauce : 1 cup
• Mirin : 1/2 cup
• Dashi broth : 2 cups
• Sukiyaki sauce : 4 tablespoons
• Pink salt : 1/4 teaspoon

COOKING METHOD

• Take 1 to 2 cups water and soya sauce, mirin, salt, with beef strips and let it cook for a while.
• On the side boil cellophane noodles until cooked and run through cold water so it be not stick together.
• Now check if beef is ready add dashi broth, all the vegetables like cabbage, tofu, shiitake, chrysanthemum and onions to cook but don’t over cook it. The crunchiness remains the same.
• Cook them for 10 minutes and add noodles in it.
• Serve it with raw eggs and enjoy 🙂