Yosenabe is a real feast - and if you have an induction stove for the dining table, you can achieve the right Japanese athmosphere around the table, where you fill your bowl from the pot and add more to the pot as the meal progresses. How much you need of each ingredient can be adjusted as you like, and you can also add other good stuff. For our version you'll need:
Chicken thigh filet
Fish paste from cod and salmon
1 pack of House Premium Tofu Soft
1 pack of NPH Arabiki Sausage Japanese Style
1 pack of Yamato Aburaage
1 pack of Sanuki Udon noodles
Chinese cabbage
Leek
Pak Choi
Oyster mushrooms
Brown mushrooms
Spinach, washed
For the soup base:
1200 ml of water
2 cubes of chicken bouillon
50 ml of soy sauce
30 ml of mirin
30 ml of white wine
Crushed garlic according to your preference
Served with:
Freshly cooked rice
Shichimi Togarashi
The soup base is enough for 2-4 people, for a larger company you can make twice the amount. First prepare all the ingredients:
Cut the leek in shorter pieces and the Chinese cabbage in 5cm wide bits across the length, wash both well:
Clean and wash the other vegetables. Cut the oyster mushrooms and brown mushrooms in half, cut the pak choi and aburaage in shorter pieces, and divide the tofu block in 8 equally sized parts.
Cut the chicken in suitable pieces and place them in a bowl.
Now begin to make the soup base. If the pot will be used on the dining table, it's more practical to use a wide and flat pot, but if there's not enough room in it for the soup base, then use a larger pot for it and add to the flat pot as needed.
Bring the water to a boil and add all the other ingredients. Let it boil for a moment until it's even. First fill in leek and a bit of pak choi and Chinese cabbage:
When it has boiled for a few minutes, add chicken, mushrooms, and aburaage:
At the same time, fill ample water in another large pot and bring it to a boil on another stove. Add the noddles, and let them cook for 13 minutes:
When they are done, drain the water well, and then immediately rinse them in cold water. Let them dry and place them in a bowl.
Back to the other pot. Now add the sausages, use a teaspoon to make fishballs from the paste, and add them to the pot as well. Let them boil until they are swollen and float on top:
Add the spinach just before serving, as it is ready in less than a minute. If you don't have an induction stove for the dining table, you can now serve in bowl from the kitchen, while the pot keeps simmering. Fill up ingredients as they are eaten - remember not to eat from the pot when you have just added raw meat. It's best to ensure one ingredient has been eaten completely before adding more of it. When there is more room in the pot, fill in some noodles, and as they have already been cooked, they just need to reheat for 1-2 minutes before they are delicious and ready to eat.
If you have an induction stove on the dining table, then instead move the pot over there, so everybody can take what they want and refill the pot while eating:
Serve with a bowl of steaming hot freshly cooked rice and a bit of shichimi to sprinkle in the bowl if you like a bit more spice. Enjoy!