Friday's Special #3: Sukiyaki

Steaming hot pot of sukiyaki!

Once again I was tempted by what I see on "Morning Market" on NHK.  That morning I was watching the section called 産直日本 ("Japan's Local Produce") and it ended with the announcer enjoying a piping hot clay pot of sukiyaki.  It had been a long time since I last had sukiyaki with the Hubby.  As children came along, there really wasn't any opportunity to dine out slowly (and serenely) before either one of the kids decide to end the dinner abruptly with some kiddie fuss.  And so it was decided that we will be having sukiyaki as our Friday's Special, last Friday.  

Not being too sure about the sukiyaki sauce, turning to the net is the immediate thing to do.  The search turned out recipes for the sukiyaki sauce and the song itself.  There were the English version of "Sukiyaki" but I clicked on the original Japanese one, 上を向いて歩こう by 坂本九 (Sakamoto Kyu).  I knew that there was an original Japanese version, but never knew the actual title and the singer.  Listening to the song and watching the video was nostalgic.  Not that I was old enough to enjoy this song as a popular culture back then in 1961 (I wasn't even born yet).  But it's a kind of nostalgic feeling I get whenever I listen to Japanese songs.  I've got this collection of songs from the 1960s, songs like 花嫁、小指の思い出 (the youtube for both titles had been taken off)、逢いたくて逢いたくて and　虹色の湖.  Listening to it also brought back memories of the short but wonderful period when I was living in Japan.  Writing this and searching for these oldies on the net also gave me an opportunity to look at old footages of artistes performing these songs.  Had an enjoyable time switching between the different footages on youtube.  This is something I will never do if I had not started this blog. 

On with the food then.  If it had been about 2 months ago, I guess I would not have been so quick in making the decision to make sukiyaki.  The kids did not seem to like beef.  Even though thinly sliced pork belly would make an acceptable sukiyaki, I suppose it's got to be beef if one's looking for authentic flavors.  It was during one of our dining out session that I introduced beef to the kids.  I gave them beef without telling them what it was.  They liked the meat pretty much that they asked for a second helping.  It was not until the end of that dinner that I revealed that it was beef.  It was a relief when they actually said that beef taste good!

Using my trusty clay pot, the one that I used to make my Claypot rice, I made the sukiyaki on the stove top before transferring the whole clay pot unto a large hotplate to keep it warm.  The hotplate is those type that can be used as a barbecue and steamboat combination.  I supposed the more authentic way to eat sukiyaki would be to cook and eat at the dining table at the same time, much like our Chinese steamboat or the Japanese shabu-shabu. Well, doesn't matter for this instance (except the beef though, which I shall insist). The kids were pretty thrilled to be eating out of a steaming claypot, fishing for beef, vegetables and mushrooms.  I gave the Hubby a raw egg, beaten, so that he could coat the sweet, salty beef pieces into the egg before popping it into his mouth.  But this time, he chose to coat the beef and cook the egg a bit.  For me, I cannot tolerate raw eggs, the texture, the taste and the smell. It is too fishy for me.  So no eggs for me.  The kids on the other hand, took after their father, they were crazy about dipping the ingredients in raw egg.  Both of them made the Hubby really busy with coating the ingredients with egg and returning them to the sukiyaki clay pot to warm them up again.  Finally, this was one dinner I could enjoy in peace.

The Hubby busy warming some egg-coated meat for the kids...

I didn't really have to ask my family how the sukiyaki tasted.  They kept saying it was delicious.  Especially the Hubby, he said it voluntarily, throughout the dinner, about five times, and even on the next day...  ^_^  

Sukiyaki

(put together after consulting various recipes over the internet, modifying ingredients and sauce to suit our preference)

Ingredients

500g thinly sliced beef

600g Chinese cabbage

5 pieces fresh shiitake

250g enoki mushroom

300g radish

1 large beancurd

Sukiyaki sauce

100ml Japanese soy sauce

100ml mirin

3 tbsp Shaoxing Huadiao wine

5 tbsp sugar

200ml water

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients for sukiyaki sauce and set aside for use later.

2. Shred the Chinese cabbage into 5cm thickness, separating the leaves from the tougher stems.

3. Peel the skin off the radish and cut into 1.5cm thick, 5cm long sticks.

4. Divide the beancurd into 6 square pieces.

5. Heat up some oil (about 2 tbsp) in the clay pot.  Add about half of the sliced beef and fry quickly until no longer pink in color.  Push the beef slices to one side of the clay pot, add in the radish sticks, the Chinese cabbage stems, beancurd pieces and shiitake mushroom.  Place these ingredients as neatly as you can possibly manage. 

6. Pour the whole content of the sukiyaki sauce into the clay pot, cover and bring to the boil.  Once boiling, lower the flame to medium low and simmer until the radish sticks and Chinese cabbage stems are softened.

7. Add in the enoki mushrooms and Chinese cabbage leaves.  Ensure that these newly added ingredients are pushed into the sauce to soak up the flavor.  Cover again and let the whole content simmer for about 5 minutes.

8. Finally add in the remaining beef slices, cover to let the added beef pieces cook.  Once the beef slices lose their pinkish tint, it will be ready to serve.  

9. Transfer the whole clay pot unto a hotplate to keep warm, enjoy with a bowl of Japanese gohan.  Sprinkle a little toasted sesame seeds and some nori over the rice, yummy! 

Notes:

- one common ingredient in Sukiyaki, shirataki or ito-konnyaku, is omitted when I made this.  I couldn't get hold of any.  I found ito-konnyaku in Cold Storage, so next time I make sukiyaki again, I'll definitely add this in.

- Another ingredient, shungiku (春菊), is not available in the supermarket in my neighbourhood, so I omitted this too.  But this particular vegetable has a similar taste as our Chinese "dang-orh".  Must remember to use this next time if I see some in the wet market or supermarket.  Chinese New Year is approaching, I think this vegetable will be available soon.