Mille Feuille Nabe Cabbage & Pork Belly Hot Pot
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves 2-3 people
- 4 cups/1 litre/2.1pints water
- Dashi powder to make up 1 litre/2.1pints or 5 teaspoons chicken stock powder
- 5 slices fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon fine salt mixed with 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 450g/1lb small Wombok/Napa cabbage
- 700g/1.5lb pork belly, rind removed, sliced as thick as bacon (ask your butcher to do this)
- 2 packets or 400g/14ozs udon (long life)
Dipping sauce
- 1/2 cup/125ml/4flozs Ponzu sauce
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
- Shichimi togarashi chilli powder
- A little freshly grated ginger
Step 1 - In a medium sized saucepan heat the water, dashi or stock powder, ginger, soy sauce and the half of the salt and pepper mixture. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes, discard ginger pieces. Don't worry if it tastes too salty, the cabbage will release water while cooking.
Step 2 -Have a 20cm/8inch pot with lid ready. Wash the cabbage well and drain upside down. Then cut in quarters lengthways keeping the leaves attached to the base and wash the quarters gently. Reserve any leaves that fall off. Place a slice of pork belly between each leaf, you'll use around 4-5 slices per quarter of cabbage. If the pork belly is longer than the cabbage, cut the remainder off with scissors and reserve to place at the bottom. Same with any extra leaves that fall off. Repeat with the remaining cabbage quarters.
Step 3 -Trim the base off each cabbage quarter and then cut each cabbage quarter in half or to the equal height of the pot (if you are using a really large cabbage you will have to cut into thirds) and place the cabbage cut side up around the edge of your pot. Use the extra pieces of cabbage to help stand the cabbage bundles up especially to fill the gaps at the tops of the cabbage. Repeat until all of the cabbage is used up. It should fit this pot perfectly. Sprinkle the remaining half of the salt and pepper seasoning on top.
Step 4 -Place on the hot plate and pour the soup into the pot. It should fit the pot perfectly. Bring to a boil and then bring down to a gentle simmer with the lid on for 20 minutes.
Personal Note
I made this on the perfect day last week. Last Thursday was so bitterly cold, rainy and windy. You wouldn't think it was a month before summer starting but I was again in my winter clothes. I was going to make guacamole but I flicked through my cooking calendar and my finger rested on this Mille-Feuille Nabe. It was bubbling away on the stove and smelled so wonderful and I couldn't wait to eat it. There was a knock at the door, someone had arrived.
Mr NQN has been busy offloading lots of items on marketplace to clear our garage, mostly furniture items and there was a couple that were interested in our table and chairs. While the cherry wood set wasn't really au courant they were very well made and super sturdy. This couple wanted something super sturdy for their growing family who had apparently broken all of the chairs in their current set.
The tested the chairs and table and were pleased. He was very friendly but she had an unusual air about her. "Discount?" she said but he hushed her and said not to worry. "What else do you have?" she said looking around our kitchen. "The table?" she said pointing to the coffee table. "Sorry no, we are keeping that," I answered. I mentally went through the list of things that Mr NQN was selling and remembered we had my treadmill for sale. "How about a treadmill?" I asked her.
"What?" she said her brow furrowed.
"You know for exercise and for walking on?" I said miming the action of walking on a treadmill. She still looked completely confused so I grabbed Mr NQN's phone and showed her the picture of the treadmill.
"What is that?" she said peering closer at the treadmill picture. She looked at it suspiciously, her expression read like it was some weird sex toy or something. I don't know how an adult could not have seen a treadmill in their life but there she was backing away and looking actually quite disgusted at it. They ended up taking the furniture but obviously didn't buy the treadmill, someone else did. But it is on days where it rains that I wish I still had it. Instead, we will just have to do content ourselves with a bowl of this nabe hot pot!
So tell me Dear Reader, do you like hot pot? Have you ever tried Mille-Feuille nabe?