Chanko Nabe (ちゃんこ鍋, sumo stable hot pot)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Donabe (clay pot), or a wide heavy pot
• •Fine-mesh strainer lined with a clean cloth
• •Portable tabletop burner, or a stovetop and sturdy trivet
• •Two spoons for shaping tsukune

Instructions

1. 1

   Steep the konbu

   Wipe the konbu with a damp cloth, but don't wash it. Put it in the cold water and bring it up slowly over low heat, about ten minutes. Pull the konbu when the water trembles and small bubbles climb the sides of the pot. Boil it and the stock turns bitter and a little slick, which is a poor beginning for a pot that should taste clean.

2. 2

   Finish the dashi

   Bring the water to a gentle boil, add the katsuobushi all at once, then take the pot off the heat. Let the flakes sink on their own for two or three minutes. Strain through a cloth-lined sieve and let the dashi drip. Don't squeeze. Squeezing presses harsh, oily flavors into the clear stock, and the stock is the spine of the whole nabe.

   Dashi is the first secret here. It takes minutes, not bravery, and it gives the pot depth without making it muddy.
3. 3

   Mix the tsukune

   In a bowl, mix the ground chicken, egg, minced negi, ginger, katakuriko, and 1 teaspoon shōyu until the mixture turns slightly sticky. That stickiness tells you the protein has bound enough to hold together in the broth. Keep it cold while you cut the vegetables.

4. 4

   Cut the vegetables

   Cut the cabbage core smaller than the leaves, because the core needs more time and the leaves need almost none. Slice the daikon and carrot thin so they sweeten the broth without delaying dinner. Trim the greens and keep them separate. Their job is to finish the pot, not surrender in it.

5. 5

   Season the broth

   Pour about 5 cups of dashi into a donabe or wide heavy pot. Add the shōyu, mirin, sake, and salt, then taste. It should be just a little stronger than a soup you'd drink alone, because chicken, tofu, cabbage, and fish will soften it as they cook.

6. 6

   Start the sturdy pieces

   Bring the broth to a quiet simmer. Add the daikon, carrot, cabbage cores, shiitake, and chicken thigh pieces first. These need time, and they give back sweetness and body as they cook. Skim lightly if foam gathers at the edge, not because foam is wicked, but because a clean surface makes a clean-tasting pot.

7. 7

   Spoon in meatballs

   Use two spoons to drop small walnut-size portions of the tsukune mixture into the simmering broth. Keep the simmer gentle. A hard boil tears the meatballs and clouds the dashi, while a quiet simmer sets them neatly and keeps the broth bright.

8. 8

   Add tender pieces

   When the chicken is cooked through and the roots are nearly tender, add the tofu, fish, cabbage leaves, and negi. Lay the fish on top where you can see it. It needs only a few minutes, and if it flakes apart before it reaches the bowl, you've cooked it past the point of kindness.

9. 9

   Finish the greens

   Add the shungiku or mizuna at the very end and press it just under the broth until it wilts but stays green. Taste once more and adjust with a pinch of salt if the pot has gone flat. Finish with a few thin strips of yuzu peel if you have them.

10. 10

    Serve and close

    Set the donabe at the table and let each person take from the pot into a tori-zara, a small individual plate or bowl. Eat the tender things first while they are at their best. When the pot is nearly empty, add cooked rice or udon to the remaining broth for the shime, the closing course. That last bowl is why we did not drown the beginning in sauce.

Chef Tips

• •Ask for fish that smells clean and looks moist, with firm flesh and no tired edges. Chanko cooks the fish, yes, but cooking doesn't forgive poor sourcing. If the fish looks dull, use more chicken and mushrooms instead. The pot will be more honest for it.
• •Use a donabe if you have one, because clay holds a gentle heat and makes table cooking natural. A wide heavy pot works. The point is steady simmering and enough surface area that fish, tofu, and greens don't crush one another.
• •Keep the broth at a quiet simmer once the ingredients go in. A rolling boil may feel vigorous, very athletic of it, but it roughens the fish, breaks the tofu, and clouds the dashi.
• •For a meatless table, make the stock with konbu and dried shiitake soaked overnight, then build the pot with tofu, aburaage, mushrooms, daikon, napa cabbage, and greens. That is honmono in the shōjin ryōri line, not a pale apology, though it is no longer this chicken-and-fish stable pot.
• •Finish the pot with rice or udon only after the main ingredients are eaten. The closing course should taste of everything that came before, which is why the broth must begin clean.

Advance Preparation

• •The konbu can soak in the cold water overnight in the refrigerator for a rounder dashi. Warm it gently the next day and pull it before the water boils.
• •Finished dashi keeps two days refrigerated. Reheat it gently before seasoning, and don't boil it hard.
• •The tsukune mixture can be made up to one day ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator. Keep fish cut the same day you cook it.
• •Vegetables can be washed and cut several hours ahead. Keep the greens wrapped separately so they stay crisp.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 900g)