Soy Milk Hot Pot 豆乳鍋

Ingredients

¼ napa cabbage (1.5 lb, 680 g)

½ daikon radish (1 lb, 454 g)

Hot Pot Soup

3 cups dashi (Japanese soup stock; click to learn more) (720 ml) (I use Awase dashi. Kombu dashi for vegetarian/vegan)
¼ cup sake (4 Tbsp)

¼ cup mirin (4 Tbsp)

¼ cup miso (4 Tbsp; I use awase miso)

2 Tbsp toasted white sesame seeds
¼ tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; use half for table salt) (to taste)

To Prepare Hot Pot Broth

In your donabe (earthenware pot) or a large pot, add 3 cups (720 ml) dashi, ¼ cup (60 ml) sake, and ¼ cup (60 ml) mirin. Cover and bring the soup to a boil on medium heat.
Once boiling, add 2 cups (480 ml) warm soy milk. On medium heat, slowly heat up until the soup almost boils. Keep the lid uncovered and stir once in a while. Meanwhile, grind 2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds in a pestle and mortar.
Once the soup is hot, add ¼ cup (4 Tbsp) miso and ground sesame seeds.
Taste the soup and add kosher salt if you like it saltier. Depends on the brands and types of miso, the saltiness of your soup will vary. I recommend making the soup a little bit saltier since you’ll add vegetables that will release water and dilute the soup. Turn off the heat and set aside. Keep it covered.
Hot Pot Ingredients: If your meat is not thinly sliced, you have to cut it thinly on your own. See how to do it (picture is thinly sliced beef).
Cut off and discard the bottom of enoki mushrooms and shimeji mushrooms.
Cut off and discard the shiitake stem. If you like, make a decorative cut on shiitake mushrooms.
Cut napa cabbage into 2” (5 cm) pieces widthwise. Then cut into 2-3 pieces lengthwise on the thick and white bottom part of napa cabbage so that it’ll be faster to cook.
Cut Mizuna (or spinach) and shungiku into 2” (5 cm) pieces.
Cut negi (long green onion or leek) into 1” (2.5 cm) thick pieces diagonally. Thinly slice green onion/scallion.

Cut the tofu block into 1” (2.5 cm) slices.

Using a vegetable peeler, peel the daikon and carrot thinly as if you are peeling their skin. You can cut these root vegetables into thinly rounds or quarters, but my family loves eating root vegetables in long paper-thin form.
Peel the gobo (burdock root) same way as daikon and carrot. Soak the thinly sliced gobo in water for 15 minutes to prevent them from changing color.
Put all the vegetables, mushrooms, and tofu in a platter.
Start cooking some of the tough/dense vegetables (the tough part of napa cabbage leaves, negi, tofu, mushrooms, daikon, carrot, and gobo) over medium heat, saving some for later batch as well as the leafy vegetables that will cook fast. Cover the lid so it will cook faster. Once the broth is simmering, reduce the heat to medium-low heat so the broth won’t curdle. Simmer for 10 minutes, but make sure you won’t let it boil. You can either start serving food that’s cooked. Root vegetables take a longer time to cook. Add the meat and leafy vegetables and cover to cook until the meat is no longer pink. Using a fine-mesh skimmer, skim any curdles floating on the soup. You can eat the curdle or discard it.

To Eat

Each person should have a small bowl of ponzu sauce and chopped scallions. Dip the cooked meat and vegetables in ponzu sauce to enjoy! Keep cooking the ingredients in the pot as you enjoy the meal.

To Store

You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days and in the freezer for up to a month.