I love shyabu shyabu! It’s like Japanese fondue. This was one of my first meals that Aya’s mom cooked when I visited and met her parents for the first time 12 years ago. Other than sushi two or three times and some miso soup, I had never really had much Japanese food before I visited them, and I loved everything!
Shyabu shyabu is thinly sliced beef or pork and an assortment of vegetables cooked in a broth at your table. Traditionally it’s a beef dish, but since the cost of quality beef is expensive in Japan, many households use pork. Once your meat and vegetables are cooked, you dip them into either a sesame sauce, or a ponzu sauce. I preferred the ponzu sauce while Aya preferred the sesame sauce.
We cooked pork for the meat and for the vegetables we used enoki mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, maitake mushrooms, shimeji mushrooms, bamboo shuts, shungiku, napa cabbage, carrots, green onions, and tofu.
Oishii! (delicious!) One of the most the few, but most important Japanese words that I know.
