Beef Shabu-Shabu Pot

by Cress Sia

I know a lot of people love shabu-shabu. Personally I'm not a fan of it. Don't ask me why. I don't know. It just fails to stir my appetite.

My husband B loves it though. He is a very soup-y person.

But I'm not doing the shabu-shabu live cooking. I'm doing shabu-shabu behind the scenes cooking.

Here's how I do it.

You'll need the meat, and lots of vegetables.

Prepare these ahead:
300 g thinly sliced beef (sukiyaki cut)
1 pack prawn balls sliced in half
2 cups dried shitake mushrooms, soaked in water and stems removed
1 pack firm tofu, sliced
A bunch of polonchay (Chinese pechay)
A bunch of Chinese cabbage
3 ears of corn
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 thumb ginger, peeled and sliced
2 pcs. chicken bouillon cubes


Basically you can use any kind of vegetable you like. Whatever floats your boat!

Start by sauteing the garlic and ginger in a tablespoon of oil in a large saucepan.

I just love the smell of that!

Add in about two liters of water and stir.

Throw in your chicken cubes. Cover and let boil.

In the meantime make your dipping sauce. Mix together a tablespoon of sesame oil, 4 tablespoons Kikkoman soy sauce, and 4 tablespoons rice vinegar. I squeeze in about a tablespoon of kalamansi juice too. If you have green onions on hand (I didn't), you can chop about a tablespoon's worth and throw it in your dipping sauce.

Note: Beware of sesame oil. I always buy them in small packages because if they sit in your cabinet for too long they will spoil.

And ruin your dish.

Trust me.

This particular brand of sesame oil is really cool. Look:

If you wanna be really mean to your beer buddy you can so take out the Good Life Sesame Oil sticker and replace it with something that reads like Amsterdam's Premium Beer and say, "Hey dude check this beer out, it's so good I brought it with me from Europe!"

Hahaha! Boy, would I love to see how your friend reacts!!!

I'm kidding.

Turn off the heat until you are almost ready to eat (because everything cooks fairly quickly, especially the beef).

See how my broth is really dark? That's because I threw in an extra shrimp bouillon cube. Because I'm a rebel. And because I don't like the traditional, boring shabu-shabu soup. But don't mind me. And don't follow me adding that shrimp bouillon part. Pretend I didn't tell you that.

When you are ready to eat, throw in the slices of beef.

Also add in the prawn balls, a.k.a. bebola udang.

Throw in your shitake mushrooms (water already drained and stems already removed).

Add the green vegetables,

the corn (I like to take the easy road so I used a pack of Dole ready to eat sweet corn),

and finally the sliced tofu. I used the firm kind because it's so much easier to slice. The soft kind can get really messy. But before you add your tofu make sure you give your soup a stir. You don't want to do any more stirring once the tofu's in there, otherwise you'll have ground tofu instead of pretty and sliced ones.

Cover and simmer.

I leave for five minutes and come back to see that my bebong udangs have grown into massive, unholy shapes. I totally forgot to slice them. I can be amnesic like that.

I take them bebolas out and slice them in half because these things can choke up a whale. Then I put them back in.

Much better.

That's it my friends!

Eat and be merry!