My kids love eating Shabu Shabu (Japanese hot pot) and Taiwanese hot pot. Japanese hot pot, we call “nabe,” typically has a basic soup base using kombu or dashi. On the other hand, Chinese hot pot is more creative, ranging from super spicy hot pot to just simple chicken broth.
We love hot pot because it not only tastes good, but it is also extremely simple to serve for a large party. Everyone cooks their food in a big shared pot. Today I will share our Taiwanese hot pot and meatball recipe that I make occasionally for hot pot, just to provide a variety of cooking ingredients besides the typical frozen options (dumplings, fish/shrimp ball, fish cake, etc). I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as our family does!
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- 1 lb ground pork
- 1 green onion/scallion (finely chopped)
- 1 Tokyo negi (use only white part, finely chopped)
- 1 Tbsp ginger (minced)
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 Tbsp sake
- 1 Tbsp potato/corn starch
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1½ tsp kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 Tbsp Taiwanese BBQ Sauce (spicy or non-spicy Satay Sauce)
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1½ tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp rice vinegar
- green onions/scallions (chopped)
- cilantro (chopped)
- 1-2 QT chicken stock/broth
- Water
- 2 green onions/scallions (chopped into 2" pieces)
- 5 cloves garlic (sliced)
- ½ inch ginger (sliced)
- Enoki mushrooms
- napa cabbage
- shungiku (Tong Hao/Garland Chrysanthemum)
- aburaage (deep fried tofu pouch)
- kirimochi or homemade mochi (Not Taiwanese, but my favorite item from Japanese hot pot)
- carrots
- Tokyo Negi
- Maitake mushrooms
- shiitake mushrooms (discard the stem)
- mushrooms
- Corns
- Homemade Meatballs (recipe follows)
- thinly sliced beef (chuck or rib eye) (Find well-marbled beef)
- Shrimp
- Fish ball
- dumpling (all kinds of varieties)
- Combine all the ingredients and seasonings in a large bowl and mix well with hands.
- Make small balls and rest them in the fridge until you are ready to cook in hot pot.
- Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl.
Gather all the ingredients.
Stuffed kirimochi in Aburaage (this is not "Inari-Age" for making Inarizushi).
In a large pot, add chicken stock and add water until the pot is half full. Add chopped green onions, sliced garlic, and sliced ginger. Bring it to a boil.
- First, add some of hard vegetables such as corns, Tokyo Negi, white part of napa cabbage (near the root), Tong Hao stem, Shiitake Mushrooms, Enoki, frozen dumplings, etc. Cook covered.
When the soup boils again, reduce heat but simmer. Most of ingredients you put in earlier are not ready yet. Keep cooking until they are fully cooked (10-12 minutes). Meanwhile, add in homemade meatballs, mochi in Aburaage, and soft ingredients and cook till they are cooked through.
- When you cook sliced beef, hold a piece on the end of chopsticks and dip it in the boiling broth. Gently shake the beef inside the broth for 15-20 seconds. The beef is now ready to consume. Try not to leave inside the broth for too long because it’ll harden and won’t taste as good.
- Dip in the sauce you made above to eat.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
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James Chanbonpin
Nami, I am starting a Shabu (Chinese style) restaurant and I wanted to say thank you for all the great information. You saved me so much time. =)
Nami
Hi James! Aww glad to hear it. Good luck with your shabu restaurant business! 🙂
Alina
Hi Nami!
I found this wonderful, but not very well-commented recipe 😉 and I think I should try to cook it some day. I was always, always afraid of cooking nabe or shabu-shabu because I really don’t understand how to eat it properly.
For example, do you eat it at the table like fondue-style (on a small stove on the table) where the ingredients are cooking all the time? It’s great for meat, since the broth is hot all the time, but disastrous for vegetables, since they will be overcooked…
What are the typical ingredients for a Japanese nabe? Is it like sukiyaki with noodles and stuff? What is the difference between sukiyaki and nabe? Both are in some kind of broth… I just feel so totally lost 🙂
Nami
Hi Alina! Haha thank you! This is VERY VERY old post, so most people don’t notice it I think.
The way you describe is correct. We eat at the table. BUT don’t put all the ingredients. You only put ingredients that can be finished by the group of people you’re eating with (even 2 person). And when you take out all or most of ingredients, you’ll add new ingredients. Usually, root vegetables are hard to cook, so in between you would cook meat. I only put leafy vegetables that can be consumed by everyone… so we ask like “how much do you want to eat?” so you won’t end up with too much napa cabbage floating inside the pot.
Typical ingredients are what you find in my shabu shabu and sukiyaki recipe. These are TYPICAL and basic ingredients.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/shabu-shabu/
https://www.justonecookbook.com/sukiyaki/
Sukiyaki traditionally use a cast iron pot, while “nabe” implies “donabe” the earthenware pot (looks like this: https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-season-your-donabe/).
Sukiyaki uses soy sauce base sauce and it’s not really “broth”. It has some liquid in there, but not a lot of liquid to cook with. It’s much saltier so we eat it with raw egg (very safe, different from American eggs) to balance out the creaminess. It might sounds gross but a lot of people actually amazed how delicious it is.
Anyway, typical broth for nabe is kombu broth, but it can be Awase Dashi (kombu + katsuobushi/bonito flakes)… etc.
Well, it’s a lot to cover in one comment. Maybe you can check out my Hot Pot category and see each recipe. 🙂
https://www.justonecookbook.com/recipes/?fwp_type_of_dish=hot-pot-nabe
Doreen
Hi Nami,
May I know can I make big batch of meatballs and freeze them?
Nami
Hi Doreen! Yes, you can freeze, but you need a few steps.
1) Make meatballs and place them on a baking sheet or tray or some container with rim. Cover with plastic wrap.
2) Refrigerate for 30-60 minutes or so to make them rest.
3) Transfer the baking sheet/tray into a freezer. Freeze for 1-2 hours.
4) Once they are frozen, transfer to a ziploc bag or airtight container.
When you are ready to use, don’t thaw. Deep fry or cook while frozen. 🙂
Doreen
Thanks a lot!
Aubrey Cruz
Hi Nami,
Can I also add noodles on this one?
Also, can you suggest a hotpot that I can get to use for both sukiyaki, shabu shanu and taiwanese hotpot?
By the way, i love your blog. I also go to your blog when i want to try something new. And it has always been a hit to my family.
Nami
Hi Aubrey! Sure, you can add noodles!
Hmmm traditional sukiyaki uses cast iron pot, but we can’t use it for shabu shabu or hot pot, so I’d say… a regular large pot is good.
Donabe, earthenware pot, is rare to use for sukiyaki, so if I have to use one pot, I’d probably use Le Creuset cast iron Dutch oven (enamel coated). The one you see in the picture here. It keeps the heat pretty well and it looks pretty.
However, it’s expensive and it’s not necessary too…. some hot pot that you can purchase in a Chinese grocery store does excellent job too. Good for shabu shabu and Taiwanese hot pot. It’s shallow pot, so you can see what’s inside. So I think this might be a good choice for all hot pot. 🙂
Thank you for reading my blog and trying out my recipes. I’m so happy to hear you enjoy cooking recipes from my blog. xoxo
Frank Chang
I was from Taiwan. This is my version of dipping sauce since childhood.
1) Taiwanese BBQ Sauce (Satay sauce, 沙茶醬)
2) Egg york.
3) Sauce Sauce paste ( Taiwanese sweet thick soy sauce, 醬油膏)
4) optional chopped green onion/garlic/red chillies)
This goes especially well with meet (pork/beef/lamb thin slices)
Please try it when you have the chance.
Enjoy it!
Nami
Hi Frank! Thank you for sharing! I’ll definitely try it next time! 😀