Nabe (Japanese Hot Pot)
Mille Feuille Nabe — layered napa cabbage and thinly sliced pork belly cooked right in the rice cooker, served with a ponzu dipping sauce.
Ingredients
| 1/2 head | large napa cabbage, plus two-3 large leaves | |
| 454 g | pork belly, thinly sliced | |
| 142 g | shimeji mushrooms (substitute for any mushroom), trimmed from root | |
| 3 tbsp | 45 ml | soy sauce |
| 1 tbsp | 15 ml | ginger, thinly sliced |
| 1 tbsp | 15 ml | hondashi |
| 237 ml | water | |
| optional | Other additional add-ins: tofu, thinly sliced carrots, noodles, etc. | |
| ~3 tbsp | ponzu (per person) | |
| optional | Green onions and chili crisp for garnishing |
Instructions
My rice cooker is a 5.5 cup one that will make up to 2 servings of Mille Feuille Nabe, but any size rice cooker can make Mille Feuille Nabe – just adjust the ingredient amount accordingly; however, if you don't care to make it look beautiful with the Mille Feuille layered look, you can just toss in all of your ingredients and my rice cooker size could feed up to 4 people if you double the recipe. Don't stress too much about the size of your rice cooker! Just add the ingredients and cook.
Mille Feuille Nabe Ingredients and a Ponzu Dipping Sauce (see ingredients).
- Cut your napa cabbage in half, and then cut again into quarters. Do not cut off the core or stem yet.
- In each of the cabbage leaves, insert one layer of pork belly. Repeat for each cabbage leaf until you reach the top, ending with a cabbage leaf. Repeat with the other napa cabbage quarters.
- Cut the core/stem off of each napa cabbage and then proceed to cut the cabbage/pork belly slices into fourths.
- Beginning layering the cabbage/pork leaves (showing the alternating colors), starting from the outer section of the pot and going in. Using the thicker/harder cabbage leaves on the outside rim section enables more even cooking. Squeeze the cabbage and pork tight to leave room in the center.
- In the center, add your shimeji mushrooms on top. Drizzle your soy sauce over the hot pot, along with the ginger, hondashi, and water.
- Turn on your rice cooker to begin cooking your Nabe. This can take anywhere between 15-20 minutes depending on your rice cooker. Cook only until the meat is browned.
- Prepare your dipping sauces for each person in a small bowl. Enjoy your nabe with white rice or alone.