Dear Reader,

I'm not sure where you might be right now, but where I am it's so COLD To be precise, it's a high of -8°C/18°F or a "feels like" temperature of -12°C/10°F considering windchill. It also gets dark at 5pm.

😥

On days like this, there's nothing I'd rather do than make a cup of hot tea, curl up under my heated blanket, and lie down on the couch to read.

Which is what I did do this weekend, but before I let myself get bundled up and settled in, there was a question I needed to sort out first. Namely,

What am I going to eat for dinner?

It's a question that every person has had to think about, and will probably have to think about for the rest of their lives -- which seems exhausting, until you realize I have just the solution to offer on a cold day like today, when you don't want to leave the house and you're feeling too cozied up to cook up anything that requires energy.

The solution: Nabemono!

Bonus: It's super healthy and will warm you right up.

The easiest, fastest, warmest healthy meal you can make this week

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What is nabemono?

Nabemono, often known as hot pot in the United States, is a popular wintertime dish in Japan. Like how American households may bring out their winter shovels when it gets cold, Japanese households bring out their clay pots and counter-top stoves for nabemono meals the rest of winter.

Nabemono is delicious, warming, and hearty to the soul as it is to the stomach, but perhaps the continuous popularity and long-term tradition of winter nabemono lies in the absolute ease it offers for busy households.

Why nabemono is the easiest, fastest, warmest healthy meal you can make this week

1. Cooks as it's served

The steps to nabemono can you really be distilled down to this:

Chop, simmer, serve.

Even better, the simmering and serving can be done from the convenience at the table (with a portable stove top, see below), so you don't need to stand over a pot in the kitchen.

2. Use what’s left in the fridge

Few things are worse than planning a meal and discovering you’re missing an ingredient, or that the one you need only comes in bulk and will likely go to waste.

But the beauty of nabemono is that there are virtually no ingredient specifications necessary. No rice at home? Use noodles. No carrots? That’s okay, you still have mushrooms and cabbage. Is the broccoli about to go bad? No problem, just toss it in.

No rules!

3. No measuring requirement

Like there are no specific ingredient requirements, there aren't really measuring requirements either. There's no such thing as too much cabbage, carrots, spinach, or meat.

Just add it into the pot as you eat.

And if you find your broth a little too salty? Just add a bit more water. Or maybe the broth isn’t flavorful enough? Add a bit more sauce.

Nabemono is less science, but rather art.

We need home cooking, but the realistic version of it

Home cooking is important when it comes to our well-being. It grants us the freedom to be in complete control of what we put into our bodies, something which can’t be replaced by ready-made meals and takeout in the long-run.

But I’m not oblivious to the demands of modern life–for rarely is the case that we don’t want to eat healthfully or that we hate vegetables–but many of us struggle to find time for home cooking because it just takes a bit too much time and too much energy that we don’t have to spare.

But nabemono? Even on my most sluggish of days, the ease and simplicity of it allows me to cook something healthy at home.

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Stay warm this weekend!

Warmly,

Kaki

Recipe: Classic kombu-based nabemono

Ingredients:

• Napa cabbage
• Carrots
• Leeks
• Maitake mushrooms
• Firm tofu
• Thinly sliced pork (or choice of protein– chicken thighs, salmon, and shrimp also make good choices!)
• Sheet of kombu (or choice of broth- see below)
• Sesame dipping sauce (or ponzu dipping sauce)
• Rice (or noodles)

Instructions:

1. Wash and chop up the vegetables into bite-sized pieces.
2. Place the portable stove top (my favorite ones are from Iwatani) on the table, with the clay pot on top (you can use a normal pot too). If you don't have a portable stove top, you can just use the one in your kitchen!
3. Add the kombu sheet to the pot as instructed, and put on high heat. Once it starts simmering, lower the heat and add in cut vegetables, meat, and rice to personal liking and pace. Enjoy!

⭐️ Bonus: 3 tips to make it even easier

1. Buy pre-washed and pre-chopped vegetables (carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, work great pre-cut)
2. Use frozen meat or seafood (Don’t worry about timing your grocery shopping, frozen allows you to always have options at home)
3. Buy prepared dashi broth (one of my favorites being Kayanoya’s dashi packs. You can also use pre-made nabemono soup packs if you’re looking for other creative flavors.)

Reminder: Convenient cooking doesn’t mean not healthy!

Thanks for reading!

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