Nabe--The Simplest Dish

Nabe is almost my favorite thing ever to eat in the winter.  A warm, simple dish with a simple name--"Nabe" just means "pot". 

...assemble some vegetables, tofu, and protein (chicken meatballs, here, and later I put crab legs in so the soup would taste good).

Clockwise from top left corner--Hakusai (napa cabbage), naga negi ("long" onion, like a leek), carrots, shimeji mushrooms, kinu tofu (silken), chicken meatballs, maitake mushrooms...

Put about two cups of water in the pot, add all the ingredients (cutting carrots into fancy flower shapes optional), turn on pot... simmer 'til cooked.

...Ponzu (soy sauce with citron) is optional, but I love to add a little to my bowl.

The nice thing about Nabe is the way it makes the whole room warm while it's simmering, and also the minimal cleanup (one bowl per person, one pair of o-hashi). 

...pick out the bits you like and put them in your bowl!  This is a nice, shared family meal.  Everybody eating together out of the pot...(though it's customary to use a ladle, if you use your own chopsticks to get something, it's nice manners to turn them around and use the end you haven't been eating off of to get the bite you want...).

There was soup leftover since my husband got home very late--so we just kept it 'til morning, reheated it, added rice from the rice cooker and two beaten eggs.  Let the egg cook for a minute--and ladle into bowls!  A drizzle of soy sauce tastes nice, too.  A nice, warm breakfast on a pretty cold day (our weather forecast says maybe a little snow tomorrow...kids are *so* excited!).

Itadakima---su!

Mata ryouri shiou, ne!