The beaver is a proud and noble animal

The broth for Chanko Nabe is usually dashi and/or chicken broth soup, seasoned with sake and mirin to add more flavor. There are various flavors added to the broth. The most common choices are miso or soy sauce.

Common ingredients that are thrown into Chanko Nabe include:

Chicken meatballs
Fish fillet
Fishballs
Crab
Shrimp
Sliced pork belly
Bacon
Sausages
Tofu
Sesame seeds
Vegetables (daikon, onion, carrot, napa cabbage, green onion, chives)
Mushrooms (shiitake, enoki, maitake, shimeji, etc)
Udon noodles or Chuka noodles (Chinese style noodles)

Leftover Chanko Nabe broth can also be used later as broth for noodle dishes, as it has so much flavor from all the hot pot ingredients.

Ingredients

For the broth:
1L chicken broth
40ml sake
50ml mirin
2 tbsp ginger juice (use grater and squeeze grated ginger to get the juice)
1/3 cup miso (preferably white miso)

For the chicken meatballs:
250g ground chicken
1 large egg (beaten and halved)
2 tsp ginger juice
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp corn starch
6 tbsp panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
3 tbsp green onions (finely chopped)

For the stew:
Chicken meatballs (follow instructions)
450g cod fillet
8 shrimp
100g sliced pork belly
1/2 head napa cabbage
1 medium leek
4-6 shiitake mushrooms
1/2 carrot (for decoration; sliced and cut out with a vegetable cutter)

For serving:
ponzu
2 cups cooked Japanese short-grain rice
2 cups udon or chinese noodles

Instructions

To make the broth:
Gather all the ingredients for Chanko Nabe Broth. To make the broth, in a Dutch oven or other large pot over medium heat, combine the broth, sake, mirin, and ginger juice and bring to a simmer. Spoon several spoonfuls of broth into a small bowl, add the miso, and stir until smooth. Gradually add the miso mixture to the broth in the pot, stirring to avoid lumps. Once the miso has been incorporated, do not let the broth boil.

To make the chicken meatballs:

Gather all the ingredients. In a large bowl, combine the chicken, 1/2 beaten egg (reserve the remaining egg for another use), the ginger juice, soy sauce, corn starch, panko, and green onion. Using your hands, mix all together. Once the mixture becomes a little bit white and well combined, shape the mixture into a ball. Sprinkle with panko as needed. Refrigerate until final assembly.

To cut all the ingredients:
Cut the cod fillet into 2-inch chunks, peel and devein shrimp, cut the sliced pork belly into 2-inch pieces, and separate the leaves from napa cabbage and cut them into smaller pieces. Slice the carrot and cut out with a flower-shaped vegetable cutter.

Cut Leek diagonally into 1/4-inch-thick discs, and remove stems of shiitake mushrooms and make a decorative cut on the caps if desired.

To set up the table:
To prepare the stew ingredients, place the meatballs, seafood, pork belly, carrot slices, napa cabbage, leeks, and mushrooms on the platter.

Pour the ponzu sauce into individual dipping bowls at each place setting along with chopsticks, a soup spoon (optional) and a soup bowl.

Place a portable gas burner and the nabe, and the stew ingredients on the table.

To cook Chanko Nabe:

If cooking the stew ingredients on the stovetop, cook in batches. Add some of each of the ingredients to the broth, simmer (do not boil) until cooked, and serve them, returning to the stove to start a new batch as each previous batch is eaten. The vegetables cook more quickly than the meatballs and seafood.

Keep the broth at a simmer the entire time. If the liquid gets low, add a little water or chicken broth to have enough liquid to heat the noodles or rice at the end (even though you are thinning the broth, the flavorful ingredients you are cooking in it continue to enrich it).

When diners are ready, remove any solids in the broth and add the noodles or rice. Simmer until heated through, then ladle into the soup bowls and serve.