RECIPE: Yosenabe (Hot Pot) with Kuzukiri (Kudzu Noodles) and Mochi

This steamy, vegetable-packed hot pot is a favorite Japanese comfort food because it is both delicious and easy to whip up!

The ease of making this dish is literally in its name, yosenabe. In Japanese, yose means “to put together” and nabe is “pot”, meaning the pot used to cook yosenabe.

Yosenabe is simple to make and can mostly be left to cook without much interference or effort! You will combine a few ingredients to make the delicious broth, chop up the vegetables of your choice, toss them in, and boil! It’s really that simple.

The broth of yosenabe is essential to its flavor and is the heart of this revitalizing meal. You will simply combine water, cooking sake, mirin (sweet rice wine), and soy sauce.

You will be amazed by how this simple combination will tie all of the ingredients together. Japanese people use this combination as the base for many dishes because of the depth of the umami flavor from just a few ingredients!

Yosenabe is also a great dish to use up any leftover vegetables in your kitchen. Though you can use any vegetable you have on hand, we do recommend using the heartier vegetables listed below, such as the napa cabbage. mushrooms, and onions. These vegetables will easily survive over-boiling and will allow you to casually cook this meal. For an extra kick of protein, feel free to add meat or tofu!

This meal is rounded out with kuzukiri (kudzu noodles) and mochi. The chew of the noodles and mochi provide an extra layer of comfort to this dish. Many Japanese people will say that noodles and mochi are their favorite ingredients in yosenabe!

Try yosenabe as your next easy yet healthy meal or as a simple dinner party dish to share. Yosenabe is a soothing meal to share while recovering from a long day or when catching up with friends and loved ones!

Servings: 2

Ingredients: 

• 400ml water
• 1.5 tbsp cooking sake
• 1.5 tbsp mirin (can be replaced with pinch of sugar and extra sake)
• 1.5 tbsp soy sauce
• 6-8 leaves napa cabbage (cut into 3cm pieces)
• 100g shimeji mushrooms (or your favorite mushrooms) (remove roots)
• 100g enoki mushrooms (remove roots and break up)
• 100g negi (spring onion) (chopped)
• 20-30g kuzukiri (kudzu noodles)
• 2 pieces mochi (cut into ½ or ⅓ slices)
• Dash of ponzu

Instructions:

1. Combine the water, cooking sake, mirin and soy sauce in a pot or nabe and bring to a boil.  
2. Add the cabbage, mushrooms, negi, kuzukiri and mochi.
3. Once the ingredients have cooked, you can take small portions into an individual bowl and add a dash of ponzu.

Introduction courtesy of Kimberlee Laney

As a Japanese-Korean-American, my love for Japanese food first came from my grandmother's kitchen! Japanese food feels like home and I love being able to cook it anywhere in the world to connect with Japan in my own little way. I love diving deep into the layers of Japanese food and always marvel at the food diversity between prefectures. I'm currently eating my way through Tokyo and taking up photography with my Instagram account @capturingkim!