A night to slowly reset with daikon shabu-shabu

🍲 Gentle Medicinal Meal Vol. 1

Last night, I had shabu-shabu with daikon radish as the main ingredient.
I dipped daikon sliced thin with a peeler into hot water for a crisp texture.
I grated the other half of the daikon and mixed it generously into ponzu sauce.

Just having plenty of grated daikon ponzu sauce
makes the whole pot taste soft and gentle.
Every time I dipped the shabu-shabu daikon and pork,
my mouth felt refreshed and my body felt relieved.

To that, I added two stalks of diagonally sliced green onions.
The contrast of white and green swayed in the steam,
making for a dinner that was warm to both the eyes and the heart.

🌿 "Daikon and Green Onion" from a medicinal perspective

In medicinal cooking, daikon is an ingredient that **"regulates the flow of qi and aids digestion,"**
while green onions are ingredients that "warm the body and drive away the cold."**

Daikon regulates the inside, and green onions warm the outside.
It is the perfect combination for a chilly autumn night.
Gentle medicinal cooking that doesn't push you too hard
is also a "meal to reset" your body.

🥣 Ingredients (for 2 people)

• Daikon radish ... 1 whole
  　→ Use half for ribbon-like slices with a peeler, and grate the other half.

• Green onions ... 2 stalks (sliced diagonally)

• Pork for shabu-shabu ... 150–200g

• Water ... approx. 800ml

• Dashi stock ... appropriate amount (recommendations below)

• Ponzu sauce ... 3–4 tablespoons (store-bought is fine)

• Frozen soba noodles ... 1 serving (for finishing)

🍋 How to make

1. Add water and dashi stock to a pot and heat it up.

2. Once boiling, quickly dip the peeled daikon and green onions.

3. Once cooked, add the pork, and it is ready once the color changes.

4. Mix an incredibly generous amount of grated daikon into the ponzu sauce.

5. Dip the piping hot ingredients into the grated daikon ponzu and enjoy.

🍜 For the finish, use frozen soba noodles.
Just add the noodles to the remaining broth and warm them through.
The soup, infused with the umami of daikon and green onions,
is so gentle that it tastes delicious without adding any extra salt.

🥢 Recommended seasonings

For this shabu-shabu, the dashi and ponzu are the stars.
These two are the keys to the flavor.

🍶 Dashi: Isshin Shokuhin 'Nekonbu Dashi'

A mellow, all-purpose dashi packed with the umami of Hokkaido ma-konbu kelp.
Just adding a little to the pot creates depth and gentleness in the flavor.
→ Visit the official website

🍋 Ponzu: Ningyocho Imahan 'Shabu-shabu Ponzu'

The taste of a long-established restaurant. It features a mellow and deep acidity.
Even when you add plenty of grated daikon, the flavor remains clear and beautifully balanced.
→ View product page

Both are gentle seasonings that don't overpower the ingredients.
This is truly what it means to have a bottle that makes ingredients happy.

🕊️ A meal that restores you without being complicated.

Yakuzen (medicinal cooking) isn't about gathering special ingredients,
but about 'choosing what you have today that suits you right now.'

Use a peeler to slice the daikon thinly, and chop the green onions.
The dashi can be whatever you have at home.
The generous amount of grated daikon ponzu
will wrap up all of today's fatigue.

Gentle, warm, and truly delicious.
Another dinner like that for tonight.

Gentle medicinal meals are not about 'eating properly,'
but about 'taking care of yourself.'
Let's meet again at the dinner table tomorrow night.

Thank you for reading this far.
If you could support the 'Gentle Medicinal Meals' series
with a like or follow, it would be a great encouragement 🌿