Kimchi Gyoza Nabe (キムチ餃子鍋) is a comfort dish filled with Japanese ingredients cooked in a Korean-inspired, spicy kimchi base. I love it since you can quickly throw in gyoza (Japanese dumplings), tofu, vegetables, and mushrooms to make this hot and sour soup.
This hot pot is packed with flavorful ingredients and it’s a perfect dish all year round when you need that satisfying kick of spice to warm you up.
What is Gyoza Nabe?
In a nutshell, Gyoza Nabe (餃子鍋) is like a dumpling (wonton) soup, except the dumpling here is Japanese gyoza. If you search Gyoza Nabe in Japanese, there are many variations – with different types of soup broth and different hot pot ingredients. Since this dish is not considered “traditional” Japanese food, make it with your favorite Japanese ingredients!
This Gyoza Nabe is totally my version that I came up with on a whim (but don’t worry, I have tested it a few times to make sure this recipe will absolutely hit the spot). Instead of a simple clear broth commonly used in Japanese hot pot, my recipe features a delicious spicy broth that richly infuses its flavor into the savory ingredients. You can also make this Gyoza Nabe with a kimchi soup base, or try one of these variations that might be fun for you to discover.
Soup Variations
Soup base:
- Awase dashi
- Kombu dashi (vegetarian and vegan)
- Chicken broth
Flavor Variations:
- Kimchi
- Miso
- Soy sauce
- Soy milk
- Tomato and more!
Hot Pot Ingredient Ideas
- Gyoza (pork, chicken, vegetables) (homemade gyoza recipe and gyoza wrapper)
- Meat – pork belly, thinly sliced beef/pork loin, meatballs, and chicken wings
- Tofu
- Fish cakes – chikuwa and kamaboko
- Napa cabbage
- Chinese chives (garlic chives)
- Shungiku (tong hao or garland chrysanthemum)
- Carrot
- Negi (long green onion) or green onions
- Leeks
- Bok choy
- Bean sprouts
- Shirataki noodles
- Mushrooms – shiitake, enoki, and shimeji
- Ramen noodles or steamed rice for enjoying the flavorful leftover soup!
Cooking Tips
1. Dissolve miso completely
When you work with miso in a soup dish, make sure to completely dissolve miso in a ladle first before releasing miso into the soup. If you drop miso paste in the big pot of soup, you won’t know if the miso has been completely dissolved. You may end up adding more miso thinking that the soup doesn’t have much taste. Also, each brand of miso has a different level of saltiness, so please always taste the soup and adjust the flavor according to your liking.
2. Cook the dense ingredients first
If you want to enjoy the hot pot with all the ingredients being cooked at the right texture, you have to cook in 2 separate stages. Throw in root vegetables first, and then add in leafy vegetables when dense ingredients are almost tender. This way both the leafy vegetable and root vegetables will retain their proper texture. Another tip is to cut the ingredients into similar thicknesses and sizes so they’ll take roughly the same amount of time to cook.
3. Don’t overcook the gyoza
Whenever I make this, it’s a “fast food” recipe that I can make very quickly to feed my family. For me, I almost always use frozen gyoza – either homemade gyoza which I keep in the freezer or pre-made frozen gyoza from the grocery stores (Trader Joe’s has frozen pork or chicken gyoza which we like).
You don’t need to defrost, just add the frozen gyoza in the hot soup. Remember to add gyoza when all the ingredients are almost cooked through. Don’t cook the gyoza too long as the gyoza skin gets soggy when it’s soaked in the soup for too long. The overcooked gyoza skin could break easily and its filling may slip out.
How to Enjoy Kimchi Gyoza Nabe
We enjoy the hot pot placed on the portable gas stove set at the dining table. It’s fun to eat and cook at the table as you can have a conversation with your family or friends while enjoying delicious food. For this recipe, there will be plenty of soup available for you to make it into a noodle soup by adding ramen noodles to the broth. You can also add steamed rice to go with the spicy soup.
If you don’t have a donabe, Japanese earthenware pot, you can make this dish in a regular pot. So what are you waiting for? Simply chop the veggies and throw in gyoza and you’ll have a mouth-watering meal ready in 30-40 min from start to finish. You’ll be surprised by how easy it is to put together this scrumptious meal. Enjoy!
Kimchi Gyoza Nabe
Ingredients
- ¼ onion
- 1 Tokyo negi (naga negi; long green onion)
- 4 leaves napa cabbage
- 1 inches daikon radish
- 2 inch carrot
- 5 stalks garlic chives (Chinese chives or Nira)
- 1 package shimeji mushrooms (3.5 oz, 100 g)
- 2 shiitake mushrooms
- 7 oz soft/silken tofu (kinugoshi dofu) (½ block)
- 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 10 pieces gyoza (I used frozen gyoza; or make my homemade Gyoza recipe)
For the Hot Pot Soup
- 1 cup kimchi (for vegan kimchi, you can make my friend Seonkyoung‘s recipe)
- 1 Tbsp sake
- 2 tsp gochujang (Korean chili paste)
- 1 tsp gochugaru (Korean pepper flakes)
- 2 tsp sugar
- 4 cups chicken stock/broth (use kombu dashi or shiitake dashi for vegan/vegetarian)
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp miso
- ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Cut ¼ onion into wedges and then cut them half.
- Cut the white part of 1 Tokyo negi (naga negi; long green onion)
- Cut 4 leaves napa cabbage into small pieces.
- Cut 1 inches daikon radish into quarters lengthwise then thinly slice them.
- Cut 2 inch carrot into thin slabs and cut them in half.
- Cut 5 stalks garlic chives (Chinese chives or Nira) into 2-inch (5-cm) pieces.
- Discard the bottom of 1 package shimeji mushrooms and 2 shiitake mushrooms. Optionally, you can cut a flower pattern on the shiitake mushroom caps called shiitake hanagiri.
- Cut 7 oz soft/silken tofu (kinugoshi dofu) into roughly 1½-inch (4-cm) cubes. Tip: It’s harder to fish out from the hot pot if you cut the cubes too small.
- Heat 2 tsp toasted sesame oil in a hot pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until it’s coated with the oil.
- Add 1 cup kimchi and stir-fry with the onion and Tokyo negi.
- Add 1 Tbsp sake and 2 tsp gochujang (Korean chili paste).
- Add 1 tsp gochugaru (Korean pepper flakes) and 2 tsp sugar. Mix it all together well.
- Add 4 cups chicken stock/broth, and cover the lid to bring to simmer.
- Once simmering, lower the heat to medium low. Add 2 tsp soy sauce and 2 Tbsp miso. It’s best to dissolve the miso in a ladle with a small amount of soup first instead of dropping the miso in the pot and not know if it has dissolved completely. Taste the soup and adjust the taste by adding salt (I added ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt), if necessary.
- Add the hard vegetables to the soup first, such as the daikon, carrot, tough part of napa cabbage, etc. Cook covered for 10 minutes on low heat.
- Skim off the foam and fat. Add the soft ingredients such as the leafy part of the napa cabbage, mushrooms, and tofu.
- Add 10 pieces gyoza (if frozen, no need to defrost) and the garlic chives on top.
- Cook covered over medium low heat for 5 minutes. Serve the extra ingredients on a plate and add them once you finish the ingredients in the pot.
Nutrition
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