Hot Pot for One 白菜と豚バラの一人鍋 – ‘Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories’

The popular Japanese TV program called Shinya Shokudo (深夜食堂) or ’Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories’ is now available on Netflix. The show features Japanese dishes that are more representative of home-cooked recipes than Japanese restaurant menu items in the US.

Since the drama doesn’t provide detailed ingredients and step-by-step instructions, I started to share these copycat recipes on my blog. Today’s recipe is Hot Pot for One, the Japanese title for this dish is Napa Cabbage and Pork Belly Hot Pot for One (白菜と豚バラの一人鍋).

Why We Should Make Hot Pot For One

Although you can make this recipe into two or four servings easily, I thought of some situations that would be suitable for enjoying a hot pot for one:

• Comforting late night meal for someone working/studying hard (Otsukaresama! You did good today!).
• Quick and easy yet fancy lunch for stay-at-home moms/dads and people working from home (No more leftovers!).
• Nutritious and easy home-cooked dinner for singles (Ditch takeout tonight!).
• Light meal for someone under the weather (Get well soon…).
• Separate meal for an elder family member (Eat well and enjoy!).
• Or simply, a huge fan of Midnight Diner and want to eat like that (including myself!).

Ingredient Choices for Hot Pot for One

There are many ingredients that you can use in this recipe:

• Meat (sliced pork/beef, chicken)
• Seafood (white fish, shrimp, squid, crab, clams, fish cakes)
• Tofu
• Leafy vegetables (napa cabbage, spinach, bok choy)
• Root vegetables (carrots, turnips, gobo, daikon radish)
• Mushrooms (shiitake, shimeji)
• Noodles (udon, vermicelli, konnyaku, cellophane)

3 Reasons to Get A Donabe (Japanese Earthenware Pot)

1. Good heat retention

Compared to the metal pot, donabe increases the temperature of the pot slowly and gently. Once the temperature is optimal and heat is reduced, it retains the heat well. Other great uses for donabe include cooking rice, as you can slowly cook the rice on lower heat and the rice will be cooked to perfection.

2. Beautiful design

The donabe pot looks beautiful at the dining table when you cook hot pot.

3. Looks delicious!

The food cooked in donabe is really delicious though I am not sure why. The delicate flavors for dishes like rice porridge (Okayu), hot pot, and Yudofu (hot tofu) are accentuated. There has been scientific studies done proving that using gentle heat to cook food in donabe brings out umami from the food (by measuring the amino acid amount).

You should also know Cons:

• Requires space to store
• Easy to chip
• Heavy

How To Season Donabe Before First Use

When you buy a donabe, you have to season it before you use it for the first time. Please read this post for the tutorial.

Enjoy Hot Pot For One!

We like to drizzle a bit of ponzu in our soup or on the side to dip the ingredients. How do you like your hot pot? Let me know in the comments below.

Wish to learn more about Japanese cooking? Sign up for our free newsletter to receive cooking tips & recipe updates! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram.