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Winter Favourite, Nabe【HotPot】

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No matter what time of the year it is, Nabe is a dish loved by the Japanese. Knowing the dish will definitely take you a step further to the understanding of the Japanese food culture.

Japanese Winter Favourites! 鍋 HotPot

There's this one dish that we all think of when winter comes.
That is the Nabe!



【鍋：なべ】means pot in Japanese, hence the dish served in a pot is a Nabe dish.
You will find this Nabe dish all around Japan, each one with unique local ingredients in it.
We will introduce you some of them in this article to get you started.

The Famous

Sukiyaki

When talking about Japanese hotpot dishes, you can't miss this famous dish.
You just can't start without mentioning this one.
すき焼き Sukiyaki is a hotpot dish where you serve the pot and the ingredients separately.
There are actually two standard ways of making this dish in Japan, but I will cover this again next time.

Simply explained, sukiyaki is beef slices cooked in sweet soy-sauce based sauce.



Interested in other beef dishes?
Take a look at our recommendations around Tokyo.

The Local

The Akita local cuisine, Kiritanpo 【きりたんぽ】.
Kiritanpo is actually a rice dish, rice is cooked as usual, then pounded into a semi-mash, then it gets formed around sticks into a cylinder shape, then grilled. It has a nice scent of the toasted rice and a good chew to it.
This can also be used in Nabe, and it's simply called Kiritanpo Nabe.
This nabe is cooked in a chicken broth with chicken, some vegetables, and the Kiritanpo inside.





The Unique

Hotaru-Ika Nabe: The firefly squid hotpot

This one is only available in Spring as that is the season for the squid fishing. It is a seasonal and local dish to places along the Japanese Ocean, especially in Toyama and Hyogo prefecture.



This one, in particular, was at Kurobe, in Toyama.

Well, that's it for this time.
Keep up to date for new topics on Japan by following our facebook page, also see pictures of around Japan on our Instagram account

If you're interested in other unique dishes in Japan, take a look at our previous pages under the Food category.

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