Chicken and vegetable nabe (Japanese hot pot)
45 min · 48 g protein · 407 cals / serving
A big pot of gently bubbling dashi set in the middle of the table, packed with tender chicken, soft tofu, sweet napa cabbage, shiitake and enoki, carrot and leek. Everyone fishes out what they like and dips it in tangy citrus ponzu with scallions, and the broth gets deeper and sweeter with every round.
Ingredients
Broth
- 6 1/4 cups water
- 2 1/2 tsp dashi granules, or a 10 cm (4-inch) piece of kombu soaked in the water
- 2 1/2 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
- 2 tbsp mirin
- 4 thin slices ginger
- 1/3 tsp salt
- 2/3 lb chicken thigh, in bite-size pieces
- 2/3 lb chicken breast, in bite-size pieces
- 1 large carrot, in thin rounds or flowers
- 1/2 head Chinese cabbage, napa, in 5 cm (2-inch) pieces, stems and leaves apart
- 1 medium leek, sliced on the diagonal
- 8 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, caps scored
- 1 pack (5 oz) enoki mushroom, roots trimmed
- 14 oz firm tofu, in large cubes
- 5 oz spinach, or chrysanthemum greens
To dip
- 6 tbsp ponzu
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced
Steps
- In a wide pot or donabe, bring the water, dashi granules, soy, mirin, ginger and salt to a gentle simmer.
- Add the chicken, carrot, cabbage stems and leek and simmer, partly covered, for 8 minutes.
- Arrange the cabbage leaves, shiitake, enoki and tofu in sections around the pot, cover and simmer 5 minutes more, until the chicken reads 165°F. Add the spinach in the last minute.
- Bring the pot to the table (on a portable burner if you have one, to keep it bubbling). Give everyone a small bowl of ponzu with scallions to dip into, and ladle broth over each serving.
Good to know
What about the leftover broth?
That is the best part. In Japan the meal ends with a shime: add cooked udon or a little rice and a beaten egg to the last of the broth and simmer 2 minutes.
Can I use other things?
Nabe is a clean-out-the-fridge dish. Prawns, white fish, chicken meatballs, daikon, bok choy and any mushrooms all work; add quick-cooking things last.
Per
- Calories
- 46
- Protein
- (48%)
- 5 g
- Fat
- (27%)
- 1 g
- Carbohydrates
- (25%)
- 3 g
- of which sugar
- 1 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 210 mg
About 45% of the alcohol remains after cooking; the label counts only that.
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 1627 kcal goes into the pot and 4040 g of ingredients comes out as about 3550 g of food: 46 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.