Sukiyaki

The one food that I requested on my trip here to FL (although I did hope for many others) was Suikiyaki. After Dad went to Japan for a 10 day visit, he came home with many delicious recipes and Sukiyaki quickly became a family favorite. Since I haven't had it for probably 6 years or so, I thought that as Dad made it I would document it so that I can reproduce it on my own while I am not visiting.

The great thing about this recipe is that it uses veggies, veggies, and more veggies. Perfect for when Mike has so many veggies from the garden and we don't know what to do with them. So here are my rough instructions with a few pictures to go along.

Oh, and please eat this with chopsticks. You really can't get the whole experience my using a fork.

Use any and all veggies- but a few great ones are below. You can mix and match and use just the veggies you want and love. Slice all veggies in strips.

Ingredients

Yellow squash

Zucchini

Carrots

Bamboo

Water chestnuts

Green beans

Sweet potato

Mushrooms

Swiss chard

Bok choy

Tofu- cut into squares

Chicken or beef (sliced)

Miso soup paste

pickled Ginger (the pink stuff) sliced thin (about 1/8 cup- change amount to your liking though)

So, the way this works is that you cut up what you want and however much you want. You use a skillet so that it can cook on your table (because you will be eating out of the skillet and you can cook more as you eat if you want). You start by adding a little water and then cooking your meat in the water (as if you were getting Mongolian BBQ). Once the meat is cooked, add the ginger to the skillet. Add water to the miso soup paste to thin it down and pour it into the skillet. Push the meat to a corner and then add each vegetable and the tofu into it's own little section. Once all the veggies are in, cover and let simmer about 10 minutes or until the veggies are crunchy soft (the skillet should be about 1/3 full of miso soup liquid once all the veggies are in).

 
 
 
 
Then comes the fun part. Sit around the table and with your chopsticks take out whatever you want from the skillet and put it on your plate. Japanese people like to dip, so put out a few dipping sauces too (sweet and sour, teriyaki, soy sauce, mustard, etc.) and dip away. It is so much fun so eat and chat. And as I mentioned earlier, if you have a large group, cut extra veggies and as they get eaten out of the skillet add more. They will cook while you eat the other veggies and meats. The tofu is always one of my favorites so don't forget it. It tastes great prepared this way!

Here is the master behind it all.
 

 And we made a little bit of sushi too.