‘Nabe’ (Hot Pot) dish is great for entertaining your friends and family, but it is also great for everyday dinner as it is easy to prepare. I cook it for my family quite often, particularly when the weather is cold. The main ingredient of this ‘Nabe’ is Chicken. I always use Chicken Thigh Fillets and also Chicken Balls. Other ingredients include Wombok, Tofu and Asian Mushrooms. The ingredients are cooked in Chicken Stock and enjoyed with ‘Ponzu’ as a dipping sauce.

Makes

4 to 5 Servings

Ingredients

500g Chicken Thigh Fillets *cut into bite-size pieces
1/4 Wombok
1 to 2 thick Spring Onion
200g Enoki *OR Shiitake, Shimeji, OR other Asian mushrooms
300g Tofu *medium soft type
1 to 1 & 1/2 litres Chicken Stock *depending on the size of the pot you use
Salt OR Soy Sauce to season the stock
Ponzu
Shichimi (Japanese Chilli Spice Mix)

Chicken Balls
400 to 500g Chicken Mince
1 small piece Ginger *grated
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon White Pepper
1 Spring Onion *finely chopped
1/2 Carrot *finely chopped
2 Shiitake Mushrooms *finely chopped
1 Egg

Method
  1. To make Chicken Balls, chop up all Vegetables finely, and combine with Chicken Mince, grated Ginger, Egg and Salt & White Pepper. Mix well until well combined.
  2. Prepare all other ingredients. Basically you can cut them into the size that is easy to eat. Enoki can be trimmed and torn into smaller clusters but not too small.
  3. Half fill a pot with Chicken Stock and heat over a medium high heat. Lightly season it with Salt. You may also add some Soy Sauce.
  4. Add Chicken Thigh pieces, Vegetables, Enoki (OR other Asian Mushrooms) and Tofu to the stock. Once it is boiling, add heaped tablespoon size Chicken Mince mixture into the boiling stock.
  5. When the ingredients are cooked, you may take whatever you like from the pot and enjoy it with or without Ponzu dipping sauce with Shichimi (Japanese Chilli Spice Mix).
  6. *Note: You don’t need to cook all ingredients at once. When you cook this ‘Nabe’ dish on the dinner table, as you eat, add more fresh ingredients and cook more.
  7. *Note: After you finish eating this dish, you have a very nice soup left in the pot. This soup should not be wasted. By adding Cooked Rice or Udon Noodles, you can easily enjoy the the soup as a part of the dinner, or next day.