The first time I had Sukiyaki, I was living and working in Beijing. One of the things I miss the most about living there was the work lunches near my office in Sanlitun, an area filled with great restaurants and shopping. In China generally, lunchtime is serious business. There’s little concept of, “I was so busy with work, I haven’t had a chance to eat lunch.” Noon hits, and it seems like every office building empties out to fill up restaurants and cafeterias across the city.
At lunchtime, I would go out with coworkers to have every kind of meal imaginable. Hand-pulled beef noodle soup in a trendy, tucked away noodle bar, Yunnan-style hot pot, Cantonese roast meats, California-style sushi at Hatsune, the list goes on. And all these lunches were pretty affordable too. (I wasn’t making much in the way of salary at the time, believe me.)
In other words, the decadence levels at weekday lunches were off the charts. Especially when compared to the microwaved leftovers I eat working in New York nowadays.
One of the most memorable lunches I’d have every couple weeks in Beijing was an individual Sukiyaki meal at a Japanese restaurant a few minutes’ walk from my office. I was introduced to the place by a coworker, and she described it as “Japanese hot pot.” I was relatively new to my new Beijing home and job, and I remember thinking, as I sat there dipping thin slices of fatty beef into rich egg yolk amidst other fashionable Beijing diners, “I could get used to this.”
What is Japanese Sukiyaki?
Japanese Sukiyaki has several key ingredients. Enoki mushrooms, napa cabbage, fatty beef, noodles, and tong ho, a leafy green from the chrysanthemum family with a very particular, slightly medicinal flavor that actually goes great with the sweetness of the Sukiyaki sauce/broth. (I actually normally don’t like this vegetable, but I did really enjoy it in this dish!) That said, if you can’t find tong ho, you can substitute another leafy green like bok choy or spinach, or simply leave it out.
Everything is cooked in a bubbling pot, and the Sukiyaki is often served with raw egg yolk to dip the beef in. I really loved the raw egg, but I do have to do my duty as blogger and friend to warn you that consuming raw or undercooked eggs can increase risk of foodborne illness! The egg yolk component here is totally optional, but if you do want to do it, at least purchase pasteurized eggs!
Sukiyaki is also traditionally cooked at the table, but if you don’t have a portable electric cooktop or gas burner, you can always cook/simmer it on the stove and then transfer it to the table afterwards!
Sukiyaki Recipe: Instructions
In a pot over a portable electric or gas cooktop (or just your regular stove) over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons sake, ¼ cup mirin, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, and ¼ cup soy sauce in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, turn off the heat, make sure all the sugar is dissolved, and transfer to a bowl.
Then prepare all your sukiyaki ingredients––the tofu slices, rehydrated shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, napa cabbage, tong ho, and scallions. Set aside on a plate. Soak the dried vermicelli noodles in water for 10 minutes.
Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in the pan. Fry the white parts of the scallions in the oil for 2 minutes. Chop the green parts of the scallions finely and set aside.
In the pan with the scallions, add the sliced beef. Sear the beef for 10 seconds, and add a drizzle of your sukiyaki sauce.
Fry the meat until it just begins to brown––it should still be a bit pink. Remove from the pot and set aside.
Add the rest of your sukiyaki sauce and 2 cups stock. Bring to a boil.
Add the tofu, mushrooms, napa cabbage, and tong ho to the pot in sections. Also drain the vermicelli noodles you soaked and add them to the pot. Cover the pot and bring to a boil.
Simmer until the ingredients are cooked through, about 5-7 minutes.
Remove the cover, add the beef back to the pot. Sprinkle with the chopped scallions, and enjoy with rice and egg yolk (if desired).
Sukiyaki: A Japanese One Pot Meal
Ingredients
To prepare the sukiyaki:
- ½ block firm tofu (sliced into ½ inch thick slices)
- 5 dried shiitake mushrooms (rehydrated)
- 1 package enoki mushrooms (ends trimmed and rinsed)
- 2 cups napa cabbage (cut into 2-inch pieces)
- 2 cups tong ho (chrysanthemum greens, washed)
- 2 scallions (white and green parts separated)
- 1 bundle dried mung bean vermicelli noodles (or shirataki noodles)
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 12 oz. thinly sliced fatty beef
- 2 cups dashi stock (mushroom soaking liquid, or chicken stock)
- 2 cups steamed rice
- 2 egg yolks (pasteurized, optional)
Instructions
- In a pot over a portable electric or gas cooktop (or just your regular stove) over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons sake, ¼ cup mirin, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, and ¼ cup soy sauce in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, turn off the heat, make sure all the sugar is dissolved, and transfer to a bowl.
- Then prepare all your sukiyaki ingredients––the tofu slices, rehydrated shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, napa cabbage, tong ho, and scallions. Set aside on a plate. Soak the dried vermicelli noodles in water for 10 minutes.
- Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in the pan. Fry the white parts of the scallions in the oil for 2 minutes. Chop the green parts of the scallions finely and set aside.
- In the pan with the scallions, add the sliced beef. Sear the beef for 10 seconds, and add a drizzle of your sukiyaki sauce. Fry the meat until it just begins to brown––it should still be a bit pink. Remove from the pot and set aside.
- Add the rest of your sukiyaki sauce and 2 cups stock. Bring to a boil, and add the tofu, mushrooms, napa cabbage, and tong ho to the pot in sections. Also drain the vermicelli noodles you soaked and add them to the pot. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Simmer until the ingredients are cooked through, about 5-7 minutes.
- Remove the cover, add the beef back to the pot. Sprinkle with the chopped scallions, and enjoy with rice and egg yolk (if desired).
Nutrition
George Gale says
When I was a kid growing up in Sacramento, there were a bunch of small, neighborhood, family Japanese restos. We used to go frequently to eat, and I typically got sukiyaki–it was always an evening meal in California. The noodles were always shiritaki yam noodles, and, IIRC, enoki mushrooms weren’t available generally (this was a loooonnnng time ago!) Your recipe looks pretty mainstream, and I’ll want to give it a try. Tnx! One question though: what cut of meat do you use? is it brisket? If it were pork, I’d say you were using pork belly–but I don’t know if there’s such a thing as “beef belly” !! : )
Sarah says
Hi George, we used thinly sliced beef sold at our local Asian market for hot pot. I’m not 100% sure what cut of beef it is, but it is fairly marbled––it almost looks like a short rib.
Serena says
HI What if i dont have Sake, can i replace it with something else? ( we cant take alcohol)
Sarah says
Hey Serena, just leave out the Sake! Mirin is also a rice wine, though, and it’s harder to substitute. I’ve heard that people use a mixture of white grape juice and lemon juice as a substitute for it. Here’s an interesting resource: https://ueat.utoronto.ca/cooking-substitutions/
stephanie says
I used to live in Sanlitun (two years) and miss that ‘hood dearly. So much good food in a tiny area. I’m so hungry and homesick for Beijing right now.
Sarah says
Me too Stephanie!
Eha says
Having been to Japan for work and pleasure some 30+ times from Australia over three decades I have to disagree on your description to readers who may not have had the experience . . . Sukiyaki is a ‘company’ dish cooked in a low-edged fondue-like pot as an evening ‘party’ offering, not at lunchtime. One does not have a messy mixture in a pot or on a plate but, one after the other, having a lot of fun, dunk one piece of meat or vegetable into the cooking mix at a time . . . slowly and enjoyably . . . indeed it is the more flavoured and less non-saucy version of shabu-shabu. I would never use rehydrated mushrooms or have need of a dashi stock . . . the dish may have been served thus in some parts of China: that does not make it a classical or correct Japanese version version . . .
Sarah says
Hey Eha, thanks for the info and sharing your perspective! I adapted this recipe from Japanese cookbooks and blogs, and it is just one version of a beloved dish. :)
Shannon Matsuzaki says
Hey Sarah!
You are correct – adding dashi is common in the eastern and northern part of Japan, which has a distinct cuisine style based on umami or saltier dishes (udon, ramen and loads of regional dishes). The Kansai style in the western part of Japan uses only sake, sugar, lard and soy sauce. It has much more of a punchy flavour and is nicely balanced between salty and sweet. We also add konnyaku which I think is taro starch noodles in English which soak up the juices. I grew up in Japan and there is a great rivalry between the culinary styles of the West (old capital, merchant ports, different flavour base and more refined) and East (shogunate capital, more seafood and salty / soy based, embrace of modern techniques). Both are brilliant and there is always many varieties of the same dish from region to region and between families. Thanks for posting and bringing back so many great memories!
Sarah says
Wow, thanks for sharing all that info, Shannon. It’s fascinating to hear about that culinary “rivalry” between regions, and the intersection of that rivalry when it comes to Sukiyaki. Love learning more about different food cultures like this. :)
Francine says
Hi Sarah, what brand of eggs do you buy? I have been trying to get the darker color of egg yolk, I have been buying all kinds of brands, uncaged, organic, omega whatever, from all different stores, also farmers market, I never have found eggs with darker colored egg yolk, they are all pale, almost white.
The Sukiyaki is very good. Nice looking pot you have there—
Sarah says
Hey Francine, i always buy cage free and/or organic eggs!
Allen-Paul Templet says
the darkness of yolk color reflects the diet of the chickens. Well fed birds will produce darker richer yolks, and the higher the yolk stand above the white has to do with the age of the eggs- higher is fresher… Dashi is common in sukiyaki, and in Japan and Korea the mushrooms are usually fresh, in China rehydrated are more commonly used…
John says
Interesting at-the-table recipe.
Please tell about that great looking pot. And lid?
Me says
ANNOYING COMMENT ALERT!!!!
Is there any way of making this with another non-mammalian meat? Maybe duck? My stupid mammal meat allergy! #alphagal
Sarah says
Hey there, the easiest bet would be to use chicken thighs for this recipe. Just thinly slice them and sub in for the beef! Just make sure that the chicken is fully cooked through in the searing step.
Andrew Pask says
Awesome, thank you very much for this. A great idea for the season.
That’s an interesting looking pot – what is it?
Sarah says
Hey Andrew, it’s a stone pot that my mom bought at our local Asian grocery store. Couldn’t find a similar one on amazon, but maybe check your own local store to see if they have something similar?
Andrew Pask says
Aha! Yes, it’s like a large Korean dolsot with handles.
Cheers