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 facts
I want to learn more about japanese food,, thanks
Hi Wilma, check out our friend Nami’s blog! It’s https://www.justonecookbook.com/ and features all sorts of homestyle and restaurant-style Japanese recipes.
Hi Sarah, oh your writing brought me back, back to Beijing, to Sanlitun, to those work lunches with friends or colleagues. Thank you for this warm starter of one of my profound memories.
Aw, love that, Jia! Thank you for reading. :)
Excellent!
Thanks Shirley!
Seems really Nice. But i’m vegan so i will skip the beef /egg part. Should i use something to replace de beef ? Here in Brussel we dont have tong ho what could be a good swap for it ? Thanks for all the yummy sharings
Hi Cedric, if you can’t find tong ho, you can substitute with most Chinese leafy greens, like bok choy, choy sum, or napa cabbage.
Thank you Sarah. My Japanese mother passed several years ago, and have been craving sukiyaki recently. your technique is very close to hers, so using it as a base. Fu was always another great ingredient, and recall her using a chunk of beef fat in the beginning (instead of oil). We always referred to the vermicelli as ‘rubber bands’ as they turned the color of natural rubber bands as they were cooked. :-)
Glad to hear this recipe is similar to your mom’s technique! Love the tip about the chunk of beef fat!
I made this it was really good! but deez nutz are wayyy better XDDD
Hi ! Is there a specific kind of soy sauce you use for this ? I have Korean soup soy sauce and am not sure if it’ll be okay to use in this recipe
Hi Nabeelah, I used a Japanese soy sauce, but you can use whatever you have on hand and it’ll be fine!
The recipe calls for “fatty beef” sliced thin. This looks a lot like a slice of bacon. Can you recommend a cut of beef that I can purchase locally at my meat market?
Hi Murleen, you could use a well-marbled ribeye, and slice it super thinly (easiest to do when the steak is partially frozen).
How much noodles in weight?
I lived in Japan for 2 years. Really miss many Japanese dishes, most especially my favorite Sukiyaki. So happy to find this recipe and look forward to trying it at home. soon.
Hope you enjoy it, Josephine!
Nice recipe, I would only add that for those looking for chrysanthemum greens, it is called Shingiku. I live in Seattle where there are many grocery stores stocking Asian food, but the only place I can find shingiku at is uwajimaya. Other upscale stores or even Asian markets here carry mizuna, which is close, but I was raised always having shingiku in the New Years Ozoni or sukiyaki. Other things we always added were Fu (wheat gluten cake) sometimes it is natural color, other times very festive with food color.
Thanks for sharing, Jackie!
Absolutly smashing! It’s a new normal on my table and my wife just loves it!
I made some alterings though. After frying up the beef, I remove it with chopsticks to leave the oil/butter/beef sauce mixture inside the pot. Then instead of boiling sukiyaki sauce, I add in tofu, shiitaki mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, and cabbages, and sort of frying them up a little bit without stiring before add in sukiyaki sauce, then the rest of the ingredients.
Also I squizeed as much as water I can out those rehydeated mushrooms before dumping them in the pot hoping they can better absorb the soup’s flavor.
I don’t know if these tweaks made any difference though, might as well count as a person touch. XD
Anyways this recipe ROCKS!! THX comrades!
You’re so welcome, Lindbergh! So glad you and your wife are enjoying this festive meal regularly. :)