Shabu-Shabu

Shabu-Shabu is a Japanese variant of hotpot. It is a combination of seafood, meat, poultry and vegetable, cooked on boiling soup base on the dinning table. Different variations of cooking shabu-shabu are being applied depending on one's preference. 

My dad introduced shabu-shabu cooking to me when I was young. The ingredients should always be fresh from the market so as to be able to extract the natural taste essences of the ingredient. Such ingredients include squid, shrimps, mussels, oysters, corn, beef, chicken and vermicelli. Egg noodles can also be used but my dad preferred vermicelli. He uses chicken soup as soup base. He likes to have his shabu-shabu spicy so he adds chili sauce in the soup base. 

To eat shabu-shabu, the family gathered around the dinning table. A hotpot is placed at the center of the table with soup boiling in it. The ingredients are then dropped into the boiling soup and is taken out after a couple of minutes to be consumed. A lot of people are ignorant of eating shabu-shabu. They thought that all are to be consumed, as it is like the usual soup consumption. Eating shabu-shabu, we only eat the ingredients that we dropped in. The soup is not consumed. A dipping sauce is optional if you prefer. There are choices of terriyaki sauce, soy sauce, chili sauce or sweet chili sauce.

I introduced shabu-shabu to Big and to his family. It became a hit. His father loved it so much that every weekend, he requests to have shabu-shabu for lunch. I get the privilege to prepare this dish for them. I am proud that I was able to introduce something to their family and they like it.

Thinking about it now, I will always be grateful for my dad for teaching me this. Aside from it being a good meal, it gave me an advantage to please people. 

On our honeymoon, hubby and I were able to dine at Mou Mou. A memorable food trip that definitely a must go back again when we will visit Hong Kong again. 

With 4 different types of beef and a wide array of balls to choose from, plus it is a buffet shabu-shabu.