Soy Milk Hot Pot

1. Gather all the ingredients.

To Prepare the Hot Pot Broth

1. In your donabe (earthenware pot) or a large pot, add 3 cups dashi (Japanese soup stock), ¼ cup sake, and ¼ cup mirin. Cover and bring the soup to a boil on medium heat.
2. Once boiling, warm and add 2 cups unsweetened soy milk. On medium heat, slowly heat up until the soup almost boils. Keep the lid uncovered and stir once in a while. Meanwhile, grind 2 Tbsp toasted white sesame seeds in a pestle and mortar.
3. Once the soup is hot, add ¼ cup miso and the ground sesame seeds.
4. Taste the soup and add ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt if you like it saltier. Depending on the brands and types of miso, the saltiness of your soup will vary. I recommend making the soup a little bit saltier since you’ll add vegetables that will release water and dilute the soup. Turn off the heat and set aside. Keep it covered.

To Prepare the Hot Pot Ingredients

1. If your 1 lb thinly sliced pork loin is not thinly sliced, you have to slice it on your own. To see how, visit my post on How to Slice Meat Thinly (DIY). (Pictured below is thinly sliced beef.)
2. Cut off and discard the bottom of 7 oz enoki mushrooms and 3.5 oz shimeji mushrooms.
3. Cut off and discard the stem of 4 shiitake mushrooms. If you like, make a decorative cut on the shiitake caps.
4. Cut ¼ head napa cabbage into 2-inch (5-cm) pieces widthwise. Then cut into 2–3 pieces lengthwise on the thick and white bottom part of napa cabbage so that it’ll be faster to cook.
5. Cut ½ bunch mizuna (Japanese mustard green) (or spinach) and 1 bunch shungiku (chrysanthemum greens) into 2-inch (5-cm) pieces.
6. Cut 1 Tokyo negi (naga negi; long green onion) diagonally into pieces 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick. Thinly slice 1 green onion/scallion.
7. Cut 1 medium-firm tofu (momen dofu) into 1-inch (2.5-cm) slices.
8. Peel the skin off ½ daikon radish and 1 carrot. Using a vegetable peeler, peel the daikon and carrot into thin strips as if you are peeling their skin. You can cut these root vegetables into thinly rounds or quarters, but my family loves eating root vegetables in long paper-thin form.
9. Scrape the skin off 1 gobo (burdock root) with a knife. Then, peel the gobo into thin strips the same way as the daikon and carrot. Soak the thinly sliced gobo in water for 15 minutes to prevent them from changing color.
10. Put all the vegetables, mushrooms, and tofu in a platter.

To Cook the Hot Pot

1. Start cooking some of the tough/dense vegetables (the tough part of napa cabbage leaves, negi, tofu, mushrooms, daikon, carrot, and gobo) over medium heat, saving some for later batch as well as the leafy vegetables that will cook fast. Cover the lid so it will cook faster. Once the broth is simmering, reduce the heat to medium-low heat so the broth won‘t curdle. Simmer for 10 minutes, but make sure you won‘t let it boil. You can either start serving food that’s cooked. Root vegetables take a longer time to cook. Add the meat and leafy vegetables and cover to cook until the meat is no longer pink. Using a fine-mesh skimmer, skim any curdles floating on the soup. You can eat the curdle or discard it.

To Enjoy

1. Each person should have a small bowl of ponzu sauce and chopped scallions. Dip the cooked meat and vegetables in ponzu sauce to enjoy! Keep cooking the ingredients in the pot as you enjoy the meal.

To Store

1. You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days and in the freezer for up to a month.