Kitchen Culture Cooking Club
EXPLORE and PRACTICE Japanese cooking in your own kitchenAbout Kitchen Culture Cooking Club
Welcome to the Kitchen Culture Cooking Club, a community space providing encouragement to those who want to EXPLORE and PRACTICE Japan’s washoku wisdom in their own kitchens.
To facilitate this, themed projects will be posted to this page periodically. Project Assignments and links to relevant reference material stored on this site will be posted to this page. Anyone, anywhere in the world, with a sincere interest in Japanese food culture is welcome to browse the contents of this page and then replicate the themed project in their own kitchen.
For those who wish to display-and-discuss their projects with like-minded people, I invite you to join the KITCHEN CULTURE Cooking Club Facebook Group (formerly the TSUDOI Project), an interactive community space.
Project Shabu Shabu Nabé
Swished-through-bubbling-broth Buri Shabu Nabé (left) and Shōjin Shabu Nabé (right)
しゃぶしゃぶ鍋
Shabu Shabu Nabé
This Kitchen Culture Cooking Club PROJECT is about making Shabu Shabu Nabé hot-pots in YOUR kitchen… and sharing with fellow members what you have made.
The Japanese have a fondness for naming dishes with onomatopoeia. The name shabu shabu derives from the sound (shabu shabu) of ingredients being SWISHED through bubbling hot broth. The barely poached tidbits are then dipped in taré (sauce). Yakumi (condiments) such as grated daikon radish, ginger, and/or minced green onions can be set out for each person to use as they wish to enhance their taré.
Although most versions of shabu shabu include tissue-thin slices of meat, the main recipe for our nabémono hot-pot at Kitchen Culture is for Buri Shabu Nabé that features thin, fresh slices of fish cut from the loin of yellowtail (buri).
There are many members of KCCC who eat plant-based foods exclusively. For those, and others who would like to increase their consumption of non-animal foodstuffs, I have developed a special shōjin version of shabu shabu.
Vegetables, mushrooms, tōfu in many forms, and nama fu (wheat gluten, in blocks and decorative shapes) are simmered in a deeply flavored sankai dashi (kelp-and-mushroom) broth. In this vegan shabu shabu HOSHI YUBA, dried sheets of soy milk, are swished through the broth; they soften quickly to a slightly chewy, meat-like texture.
BURI (yellowtail) is fabulous in the winter! If you can source top-quality tenderloins you could opt for luscious slices of buri served as sashimi, but … my favorite way to enjoy fresh buri is swished-through-bubbling-broth buri shabu – barely poached slices of yellowtail that get dipped in ponzu. The richly flavored broth that remains in the pot afterwards makes divine ozōsui porridge, a perfect shimé finish to the meal.
About 生麩 NAMA FU...
Nama fu (wheat gluten) is made in blocks and various decorative shapes, many seasonal motifs. Otside Japan they may be a challenge to source. Highly perishable they must be stored in the refrigerator. Often imported frozen from Japan in vacuum-sealed sticks, once defrosted they should not be re-frozen.
About 湯葉 YUBA...
When soymilk is gently heated a film forms on the surface as the soy proteins coagulate (similar to the milk protein “skin” that can form on puddings and custards). The Japanese call this soymilk “skin” YUBA. Freshly formed skins are lifted from the vats of warm soymilk and set to dry on sticks.
The dried HOSHI YUBA is shelf stable. You will find SHEETS, ROLLED CYLINDERS and BUNDLES (sometimes tied with kombu threads) sold in many Asian groceries. Kyoto is famous for its yuba, both fresh (nama yuba) and dried (hoshi yuba).
Looking forward to seeing YOUR Shabu Shabu Nabé
More information about BURI fish can be found on the Kitchen Culture blog post
and in my January 2022 newsletter.
Recipes and Resources
Stock (Dashi)
Dashi stock is essential to making soups and simmered or stewed dishes. Dashi is also used when making many egg dishes and all sorts of sauces, dips and dressings. Using good dashi will make a noticeable difference in the outcome of so many dishes you prepare.
Click to download recipes for (vegan) Kelp Alone Stock or Standard Sea Stock + Smoky Sea Stock
How to Cook Rice
In Japanese, the word for cooked rice, ご飯 GOHAN, is the same as the word for a meal, ご飯 GOHAN. Indeed rice is central to the meal. Download the Rice with Mixed Grains recipe.
How to Prepare Sushi Rice
Sushi dishes are made with rice that has been seasoned (with sweetened vinegar) AFTER being cooked. Download the Classic Sushi Rice recipe.
Quick Pickles
The Japanese enjoy a wide variety of tsukémono pickles, many can be assembled quickly and are ready to eat within a short time.
Download a recipe for Quick-Fix Hakusai Cabbage.
NISHIMÉ
In the nishimé assortment pictured here, lotus root, carrots and country potatoes have been simmered Kansai-style while dried shiitaké mushrooms and konnyaku braids have been prepared Kanto-style. NISHIMÉ・煮染め Hundreds of variations on this classic soy-simmered dish...
Ohitashi
Spinach ohitashi garnished with katsuo-bushi flakes. Spinach Steeped in Broth Hōrensō no Ohitashi ほうれん草のお浸し The verb hitasu means “to steep” and is the root of the word ohitashi, a classic dish frequently seen on Japanese restaurant menus, served at family dinner...
3-Colored Turnip Flowers
3-Colored Turnip Flowers 三色花蕪Sanshoku Hana Kabu Emblematic of Japan and its culture, chrysanthemums appear in many guises: as the exalted Imperial household crest (a special, layered 16-petal design), the “official” stamp of the Japanese government (passport cover),...
Persimmon Power
Fresh kaki persimmons “Kaki ga akaku naru to isha ga aoku naru” (as persimmons turn to orange, doctors turn green) is a Japanese saying similar to the American “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” This adage attests to the powerhouse of nutrients found in ripe...
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