Hot Pot For One | Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories

Hot Pot For One | Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories

• November 06, 2017

I'm back with another recipe from one of my favourite Netflix TV shows, Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories. If you missed it, do take look at my 1st recipe from this show, Tonteki pork chop and you'll also learn a little more on the background of the show. 

The 'Hot Pot For One' episode gave me intense cravings for something hot and soupy and and I love the idea of it too, since hotpot is usually something eaten with lots of people. It's rare to have it for just 1 or 2 people, but Midnight Diner made me realise it is possible! 

It's easy enough to make and none of the ingredients have to be precisely measured, you can have more or less of whatever you fancy. First of all, you'll need to make the dashi stock and once that's ready, the hotpot comes together pretty quickly. All the Japanese ingredients can be bought at Japan Centre in London or online with them.

All the ingredients needed. Pork belly strips, Chinese leaves, oyster mushrooms, beansprouts, dried anchovies and dried kelp, bonito soya sauce and half a lime. I actually forgot to use the beansprouts whilst cooking and it was still very filling, so feel free to leave it out.

This stuff is amazing, bonito soya sauce will be the main flavouring component in this hotpot.

Make the stock first. Give the anchovies and kelp a quick rinse and add to a saucepan along with 4 pints of water. Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat to simmer for 30 minutes. Strain the stock and discard the fish and kelp, so you are left with a clear golden liquid. This is your basic dashi stock.

Chop the white parts of the Chinese leaves and push to one side of the clay hotpot. If you don't have a clay hotpot, a standard saucepan will work too.

Layer the green leafy parts of the Chinese leaf on top.

Arrange the mushrooms nicely on the other side.

Chop the pork belly as thinly as you can get it and layer on top of the vegetables.

Pour the dashi over the meat and veg until the liquid reaches 3/4 of a way up the clap pot.

Put the lid on and gently simmer until the pork is cooked through and the vegetables are soft.

And that's it, all done! To serve, mix together 3 tbsp dashi soya sauce, 1 tbsp regular soya sauce, and 1/4 of the lime in a small bowl. You can add more lime juice if you like it tangier. As you tuck in, pick up each piece of meat or veg, dip it into the dashi soya sauce and eat!

Ingredients:
3 strips of pork belly per person
2 pieces Chinese leaf
Small handful of oyster or shiitake mushrooms
Small handful of beansprouts (if using)
Approx 14 dried anchovies
2 pieces of dried kelp
4 pints water
3 tbsp dashi soya sauce
1 tbsp light soya sauce
Juice of 1/4 of the lime

Directions:
1. To make the dashi stock, give the anchovies and kelp a quick rinse and add to a saucepan along with 4 pints of water. Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat to simmer for 30 minutes. Strain the stock and discard the fish and kelp, so you are left with a clear golden liquid
2. Chop the white parts of the Chinese leaves and push to one side of the clay hotpot. Layer the green leafy parts of the Chinese leaf on top
3. Arrange the mushrooms nicely on the other side, then chop the pork belly as thinly as you can get it and layer on top of the vegetables

4. Pour the dashi over the meat and veg until the liquid reaches 3/4 of a way up the clap pot. Put the lid on and gently simmer until the pork is cooked through and the vegetables are soft, around 8-10 minutes

5. To serve, mix together the dashi soya sauce, light soya sauce, and the lime juice in a small bowl, and dip the meat and veg in one piece at a time as you eat

I hope you love this recipe, come back for more recipes on this series soon!