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–+ servings

Japanese Beef Sukiyaki (Traditional Sauce From Scratch)

Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Soaking time30 minutes
Total Time1 hour
Author Yuto Omura
Servings 2 portions

Ingredients 
 

Warishita Sauce

Sukiyaki

  • 1 tbsp beef suet (fat) or lard
  • 250 g thinly sliced beef
  • 200 g firm tofu
  • 2 leaves Napa cabbage hakusai
  • 4 fresh shiitake mushroom
  • 60 g enoki mushrooms
  • ½ carrot
  • 1 Japanese leek (naganegi) or regular leeks
  • 75 g chrysanthemum greens (shungiku) you can omit if you can't access this ingredient
  • 2 pasteurized eggs optional
  • 2 portions cooked udon noodles optional

Instructions 

Sukiyaki Sauce (warishita)

  • Add 3 tbsp mirin and 3 tbsp sake to a small sauce pan and bring to a boil over a medium heat for 1-2 minutes.
    mirin and sake in a small saucepan
  • Lower the heat to medium-low and add 3 tbsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu), 2 tbsp light brown sugar and 3 tbsp water. Stir over the heat until the sugar has dissolved.
    sukiyaki warishita sauce in a small saucepan
  • Place 5 g dried kelp (kombu) in the sauce and leave to soak at room temperature for about 30 minutes (or until the kombu has rehydrated).
    Sukiyaki warishita sauce in a container with kombu

Sukiyaki

  • While the kombu is soaking, prepare your tofu and vegetables.
    • 200 g firm tofu - large cubes
    • 2 leaves Napa cabbage - roughly cut
    • 60 g enoki mushrooms - cut off the roots
    • ½ carrot - peel and slice about 1cm thick, use a cutter to make decorative shapes (optional)
    • 1 Japanese leek (naganegi) - cut diagonally into 5-6cm pieces
    • 4 fresh shiitake mushroom - stems trimmed and decorative incisions cut on caps (optional)
    A large plate with cut vegetables and tofu for sukiyaki (includes carrots, shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, crown daisy and napa cabbage)
  • Once the sauce is ready, heat a wide, shallow iron pot over a medium heat and coat evenly with 1 tbsp beef suet (fat) or lard.
    Beef fat melting in a sukiyaki pot
  • After the fat is melted and the pot is hot, add the leek and cook until slightly charred.
    Charring spring onions with beef fat
  • When the leeks are lightly browned, push them to one side and add the sauce, tofu and vegetables (except the crown daisy). Bring the sauce to a boil and then lower the heat to a simmer. 
    sukiyaki ingredients in an iron sukiyaki pot
  • Make some space between the ingredients and add 250 g thinly sliced beef so that it's in contact with the sauce.
    sukiyaki ingredients in a sukiyaki pot
  • Turn the tofu over and add 75 g chrysanthemum greens (shungiku) to the pot.
    sukiyaki ingredients in a sukiyaki pot
  • Simmer without a lid until the beef and vegetables are cooked to your liking. (Approximately 5-15 minutes depending on the ingredient.)
    As each ingredient cooks, remove it from the pot and distribute between each person. Top up with more ingredients as you go.
    sukiyaki ingredients in a sukiyaki pot
  • Give each person a bowl and a raw pasteurised egg. Each person should crack the egg into the bowl and whisk thoroughly before using it to dip the cooked sukiyaki ingredients. (optional)
    Dipping sukiyaki beef in whisked egg
  • Once all of the ingredients are eaten, enjoy the last of the sauce by adding some cooked udon or shirataki noodles.
    Cooking udon noodles in leftover sukiyaki sauce
  • Enjoy!

Notes

Sukiyaki can be served with rice or cooked noodles can be added to the sauce. Popular options include konnyaku noodles such as shirataki and ito konnyaku.