The most basic ingredients are:
Broth
-hondashi and/or konbu (kelp)
-a splash of soy sauce
-some sake, if that suits your fancy
Ingredients:
-Carrots. Usually the Japanese cut them into pretty little
flower designs, but I just cut them into medallions, but at an angle so they
are oval and not so perfectly round (that way they don’t roll off my cutting
board so much!). Carrots take a long time to cook and don’t lose their shape,
so I add them first.
-Negi, or leeks.
Leeks are long like green onion, but very thick, thicker in diameter than my
thumb, and the leaves are fleshy and firm. The Japanese cut the leeks on a
diagonal, into about thumb-length sections. If you wish, you can use an onion,
though I find it gives the broth a strong onion-y flavor while leeks have a
milder flavor. Because they add flavor to the broth, I add them early.
-Konyaku, or gray… jelly… stuff. (Wikipedia says it can be "devil's tongue" or "snake palm," though I've never said it in English before. Anyone know?) Lots of people don’t like
konyaku, but I do! Konyaku stinks mightily right out of the bag, so it is good
to let it sit in water, or perhaps boil it once and throw out the used water
before putting the konyaku in your nabe. I cut the konyaku into triangle chunks
because that’s what Japanese people do and I think it’s pretty, but if you’re
fancy you can make konyaku bows, like this. 
I’m not sure what the
optimal cooking time for konyaku is, so I put it in before the meats and soft
vegetables and after the hard vegetables.
-Meat! Various kinds of meat taste good in nabe. Ground
chicken meat balls, shredded pork, different kinds of fish. I usually only use
shredded pork in my nabe, because I love it so. Pork will make a mucky yucky
mess on the top of the water. I don’t think it’s bad for you, but I also don’t
think it’s delicious or pretty, so I scoop that off with a small strainer or
spoon and throw it away.
-Hakusai, Chinese
cabbage, cut them into two-inch by two-inch squares.. Chinese cabbage is very
plentiful and cheap in Japan during winter time, and it has a mild, pleasant
taste. It is softer than cabbage, and the head is about twice as long as it is
wide. It cooks well, and can be cooked as long as you like (I prefer my greens
more wilted than I do well cooked, though some of my friends are opposite).
Side note: Chinese cabbage is the vegetable used to make kimchee in Korea. If
you can’t get your hands on Chinese cabbage, or you just have a lot of regular
cabbage on hand, you can use regular cabbage. The leaves are tougher so they take
longer to cook, so I cut them slightly smaller than I would Chinese cabbage,
and add it early on, right after the carrots.
-eringi. These are
little, long white mushrooms that look like little bundles of spaghetti growing
all in a row. They are delicious
in nabe. The cook rather fast, so I add them later on, and they are done when
they are limp and noodle-like.
-Tofu. If tofu is boiled it will fall apart, and it really
only needs to be warmed through, so I add it last. I recommend a firm tofu,
since it will hold it’s shape better, but softer tofu is okay. Another tastey
option is agedofu, a tofu that has been
fried and has a firm, golden yellow exterior and a soft tofu interior.
Alternative ingredients:
-Gobo, burdock root.
I like the woody flavor of burdock, but you have to be careful with it because
it can be very bitter. The way to get rid of the bitterness is to soak it in
water. I peel the root and then cut it into medallions on an angle, then let it
sit in water while I’m prepping other ingredients. The water will start turning
a purplish color, and I will pour that out and cover it with clean water and
let it sit again. After two soakings, all the bitterness should be gone, and it’s
ready to be put in the pot! Burdock takes a while to cook, so I put it in early
and let it cook the longest, right up there with the carrots.
-Kabocha, Japanese
squash (sometimes called kabochi in America?). Kabocha are a squat,
orange-fleshed pumpkin that is very hard. If you cook it for a long time it
will start to melt off of the peel, which can result in a kabocha-paste soup
instead of a nabe (but I think that is delicious, too).
-Satsuma imo, Satuma
yams. These are the purple-peeled, orange-fleshed potatoes that are abundant
around Japan. I scrub the peels well, make sure all roots and eyes (the little
rootlets that haven’t become roots yet), blemishes, and dirt are cleared away
or cut off, and then cut it into 1-inch cubes. They need a cooking time of
15-20 minutes, depending on how hot the water is. But, be careful! Like
kabocha, these potatoes will melt away if they are cooked for a long time, but
also like kabocha, I think the resulting sweet paste-y soup tastes delicious.
If you want to, you can add other kinds of potatoes—I prefer golden potatoes,
or a potato with a colorful peel. All potatoes will reduce to potato mash if
cooked for a long time.
-Renkon, lotus root.
A strange vegetable, these are hard roots with long, large holes all the way
through. They usually come muddy (lotus grow from the bottom of ponds), so be
sure to wash them well (including the tubes inside!). They need to be peeled,
and I have found the best way is to drag the edge of my knife along the tuber,
scraping off the peel. Trying to cut it off is dangerous for my fingertips, and
a potato peeler gets frustrating. Once cooked, they have a nutty flavor, and
they maintain their crunchiness. I cut them into 1cm (1 finger width, or a half
inch) medallions, and they need to be added early on because they take awhile
to cook.
-Moyashi, bean
sprouts. These little guys taste springy and fresh, though very woodsy and
earthy. I don’t usually add them to nabe, though they are regularly found in
ramen. Be careful with them! Since they are sprouted in the dark, damp places,
they can have more bacteria in them than most other foods, and they are not
good if you have a compromised immune system.
-Spinach. For all your dark green, vitamin-y, health-lover
needs. I don’t usually add spinach because of its strong flavor, but, when I
do, I add it last, and just let the spinach wilt on top. That way the dirt-like
flavor of the spinach doesn’t get into my other vegetables. XD
-If you're feeling brave, I have helped make enringi mushrooms wrapped in bacon! We pushed toothpicks through the rolls, and then just threw the whole thing in the nabe.
-I don't know if the green is called nanasai-- but there is a lacy green that tastes delicious in nabe. I will ask my friend and update here when I've confirmed the name.
-Another interesting green I've had in a nabe was, I think, chrysanthemum greens. (I will also confirm this with my friend.) They were bitter and strong, but not objectionable.
Ponzu
After cooking the nabe, I take the cooked ingredients out
with my chopsticks and then dip it in a sauce, shabu-shabu style. One sauce is goma-dare, or sesame salad dressing. The other is ponzu. Ponzu
is basically vinegar and soy sauce, and it is tastey on gyoza [pot stickers]. I have a tastey homemade recipe for
ponzu here, and some of my friends also use it as a salad dressing.
BUT, sometimes I’m lazy and scoop everything into a bowl and
pour ponzu on it all, and then drink the broth afterwards. Whatever suits your
fancy!
Variations—
Soy milk kimchee nabe.
You don’t want to over cook soy milk, so I add the kimchee
while things are cooking so the flavors have a chance to mix, and then pour in
a cup or two of soy milk at the end, after I add the tofu. For the basic broth,
I just use equal portions hot water and sake, flavored with konbu, and skip out
on the soy sauce.
Do you know any other tasty ingredients? Do you cook things
differently and find it works better? Let me know!
