How to make sukiyaki

Sukiyaki is one of those dishes that I could eat every single day for the rest of my life and not really ever grow tired of it. Sweet and salty thin-sliced beef, pungent shingiku and negi, flavorful shitake, and flavor absorbing tofu, shirataki and cabbage make sukiyaki a truly well-rounded meal. We like it with udon or steamed rice, and a fresh raw egg to dip the beef in.

Sukiyaki (すき焼き), it is speculated, comes from the word suki（すき）, referring to an iron Japanese spade or plow, and yaki （焼き）, grilled. Local anecdotes allude to this dish originally being prepared on a spade or plow over a fire. There are two distinct types of sukiyaki; Kanto-style and Kansai-style (that is, Tokyo style and Osaka style). With Kanto-style, the sauce (warishita) is already mixed, and you dip your cooked ingredients in it. In Kansai-style, everything is cooked together. Both are delicious, but I’ve adapted my own way of cooking this dish that I’ve been making for a long time, so I’m presenting that here. It removes the “cook-it-yourself” element, since it’s all cooked ahead of time, but retains the same, delicious sukiyaki flavor.

Let’s sukiyaki!

Step 1 – Prep your vegetables as indicated above. Pour the shoyu, mirin and sugar into a small saucepan. Heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. This is your cooking sauce. Mix the 2 Tbsp sake and raw sliced beef thoroughly in a separate bowl and set aside. This tenderizes and flavors the meat. Heat the oil in the pan on medium, swirling around to coat the inside of the pan.

Step 2 – Layer sliced negi on the heated oil. Layer the beef on top and let it all cook partially. You can cook it all the way if you like, but I leave it a little pink. Add a splash of the cooking sauce about midway through. Before the beef overcooks, pull it out of the pan and put it in a covered dish so it will stay warm. We’ll add it back in at the end, don’t worry!

Step 3 – Add 1/2 the cooking sauce and bring to a simmer. Add tofu, pre-boiled shirataki and shitake. Cook in the liquid, simmering and turning the ingredients, for about 5 minutes.

Step 4 – Add the cabbage. It looks like a lot but it will cook down. Turn the cabbage to cook and saturate with the sauce. Add the rest of the cooking sauce.

Step 5 – Add a bit of water (or dashi) if it looks like more liquid is necessary. When cabbage is reaching desired softness, add the shingiku. Transfer the cooked beef back to the pan. Cover and simmer on low until the shingiku softens up a bit. Turn heat off and serve with hot steamed rice. We like to dip our ingredients in fresh beaten raw egg or gomadare (sesame dipping sauce) but it is up to you. Chili oil, peanut sauce, ponzu – all are delicious.

Variations

As far as recipe variants are concerned, the sky’s the limit with sukiyaki. I’ve used fish, pork and chikcen in place of beef. Enokitake mushrooms, fu (wheat gluten), agedofu (fried tofu) spinach, udon – all of it works with the sauce so well that there is no reason to stick to just one thing all the time. I usually make more of the sauce so I can add ingredients later for a completely different sukiyaki.

Please give this recipe a try! I love this dish, and I would live to hear any alternative techniques you use to make this dish yours, as I’ve made it mine. This has become a favorite in our family, and I love sharing recipes with people, so let me know how it goes in the comments!

いただきます！