With napa cabbage, fried tofu, mushrooms, and mochi simmered in kombu dashi, Mizore Nabe, a Japanese hot pot with grated daikon, makes a perfect meal to warm up in the winter!
How many styles of Japanese hot pots have you tried? You probably tried Shabu Shabu, Sukiyaki, Yosenabe, and maybe Soy Milk Hot Pot.
Are you ready to add another new favorite to your lineup? Let’s try Mizore Nabe! We’re going to grate lots of daikon radish for this recipe!
What is Mizore Nabe?
Mizore Nabe (みぞれ鍋) is a Japanese hot pot with a generous pile of grated daikon in the pot with veggies and mushrooms. Once simmering, the daikon melts quickly and becomes translucent like sleet or fallen snow! This is why the hot pot is also called yukinabe (雪鍋)—literally “snowy hot pot.”
Table of Contents
Ingredients for Mizore Nabe
- Veggies: daikon radish, napa cabbage, carrot, mizuna, negi (long green onion)
- Meat: A typical choice would be thinly sliced pork belly, but I used thinly sliced pork loin for pork shabu shabu
- Mushrooms: shimeji, shiitake, etc
- Tofu: aburaage (deep-fried tofu pouch)
- Mochi: kiri mochi (rice cake)
- Hot pot broth: kombu dashi, sake, mirin, soy sauce, salt
- Dipping sauce: ponzu and chopped green onion
Find the printable recipe with measurements below.
Jump to RecipeKey Equipment
- Set up the table by placing a donabe pot or an electric hot pot in the middle. Make sure it’s reachable from every seat.
How to Cook Mizore Nabe
Preparation
- Make hot pot broth. Make the kombu dashi and add all the seasonings to the dashi.
- Cut ingredients: Cut vegetables, mushrooms, and tofu. Grate daikon radish.
- Set up the table: All the prepared ingredients should be on a large platter or smaller plates and placed around the hot pot. A bottle of ponzu sauce and small bowls for the dipping sauce should be prepared. You also bring out communal cooking utensils (ladle, fine-mesh skimmer, long cooking chopsticks, etc.) and individual bowls.
Hot Pot Stage 1: Vegetables + Mushrooms
- Add the ingredients: When everyone is at the table, add the vegetables to the simmering broth. Place the grated daikon on top.
- Cook: Cover and cook for 10 minutes, or until the ingredients are tender, or until each ingredient is cooked through. While waiting, people can enjoy small side dishes along with drinks.
Hot Pot Stage 2: Thinly Sliced Meat
The great thing about cooking meat for a hot pot is we normally use thinly sliced beef or pork that can be cooked in a flash. Here are a few things you need to know before cooking:
- Add the meat: Add the thinly sliced meat to the simmering broth in a single layer and cook for 30 seconds, or so until no longer pink. Do not cook too many slices at the same time. The temperature of the hot pot broth will drop too quickly.
- Serve: Transfer the cooked ingredients to an individual dish and dip in the ponzu sauce to enjoy.
Pro Tip
Typically, there are more ingredients than you can fit in the pot, so add them to the pot in stages as you eat. There are no official “hot pot rules,” but it is courteous to take out and divide all the cooked food before adding raw or uncooked ingredients to the same pot. It is also considered a kind gesture to pick up some food from the pot and serve it to the person sitting near you.
How to Prepare the Dipping Sauce
We enjoy the cooked food by dipping it in the ponzu sauce (ポン酢). You can add chopped green onions or shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice) for spicy kicks.
Ponzu is a citrus-based sauce with a tart-tangy flavor similar to a vinaigrette. It contains a mix of ponzu (citrus juice of sudachi, yuzu, and kabosu and vinegar), soy sauce, sugar or mirin, and dashi. You can make my Homemade Ponzu or Yuzu Ponzu, or buy a bottle on Amazon or from local Japanese grocery stores.
Nami’s Recipe Tips
- Defrost your meat overnight – Thinly sliced meat is so hard to separate! If you purchase frozen meat, make sure it is thawed completely overnight in the refrigerator.
- Get thick and big daikon radish – Daikon radish is in season during wintertime, and you can easily find thick, fat, big daikon at the markets. The greenish top of the daikon, right under the leafy parts, is the sweetest part of the daikon. When you are at a grocery store, make sure to pick a good one! The amount of enzyme contained in daikon radish is said to be one of the highest among vegetables. Why enzyme is good? You can read more here.
- Use “Oni Oroshi” (Demon Grater) – There is a special grater for grating daikon in Japan, and it’s called oni oroshi (鬼おろし), or a demon grater. The blade is coarser and more jagged than a normal grater, and it got its name because it looks like a demon’s tooth. The grater is typically made of bamboo and comes in a triangular fan or rectangular shape. With coarser blades, the oni oroshi does a better job in grating daikon, yielding a fluffy, airy texture. Usually, grated daikon contains a lot of moisture (juice), but with the oni oroshi, you’ll have less moisture escaping from the daikon. The grated daikon is known to have less spiciness when you use the oni oroshi for the task.
- Drain the daikon liquid – Because I don’t use the oni oroshi, it releases a lot of water when I grate it. (It’s truly unfortunate, hence, it’s worth getting an oni oroshi!) The excess moisture will dilute the broth, so you must gently squeeze out the water. You don’t have to hard press it.
Variations and Customizations
- Use what’s in the fridge. Besides the typical hot pot ingredients, be creative and use what’s in the fridge, if you have to!
- My favorite hot pot add-on. One of my favorite special additions to throw into the mix is kiri mochi, a Japanese rice cake, for added texture. I typically stock up on kiri mochi around the Japanese New Year, and the hot pot is a lovely way to use up all the mochi.
- Vegan/vegetarian version. I used kombu dashi to make a vegan/vegetarian-friendly broth. Kombu is dried kelp, a type of seaweed, that contains a ton of umami, so you won’t miss the flavors! Simply leave out the sliced pork for a vegan or vegetarian hot pot.
What to Serve with Mizore Nabe
I’d like to suggest serving some appetizers and sides like Spicy Edamame, Karaage, Agedashi Tofu, Spinach Salad, and Gyoza so people can enjoy them while waiting for the hot pot to finish cooking.
For beverages, sake or shochu is a wonderful choice, and mugicha or barley tea for a non-alcoholic.
Storage and Reheating Tips
- To store: Once Mizore Nabe is cooled to room temperature, store it in an airtight container and refrigerate immediately for up to 2 days.
- To freeze: You can store it in the freezer for up to a month, but remove the tofu as it will change its texture.
- To reheat: Thaw it in the refrigerator overnight. Warm it thoroughly on medium heat over the stove.
Frequently Asked Questions
From my experience shopping around in my local area, I found that farmers markets and well-stocked Japanese and Korean grocery stores are the best places to buy daikon radishes (either Japanese or Korean varieties). Other Asian grocery stores sell them, but they tend to be dry, taste bitter and are not fresh.
Yes, you can. For this recipe, it’s better to use fresh and juicy Korean daikon rather than dry, bitter daikon radish.
More Japanese Hot Pot Recipes You’ll Enjoy
If you love this Mizore Nabe recipe, you’re in for a treat with these other irresistible hot pot recipes.
Mizore Nabe (Hot Pot with Grated Daikon)
Ingredients
For the Broth
- 4 cups water (for the Zojirushi Gourmet d’Expert® Electric Skillet, you will need to double the broth recipe)
- 1 piece kombu (dried kelp) (5 g; 2 x 5 inches or 5 x 13 cm per piece)
- 3 Tbsp sake
- 1 Tbsp mirin
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
For the Hot Pot Ingredients
- ½ head napa cabbage (1.5 lb, 680 g)
- 1 bunch mizuna (Japanese mustard green) (4.6 oz, 130 g)
- 2 carrots (3 oz, 85 g)
- 1 Tokyo negi (naga negi; long green onion)
- 1 green onion/scallion
- 1 package shimeji mushrooms (3.5 oz, 100 g)
- 4 shiitake mushrooms (1.4 oz, 40 g)
- 2 pieces aburaage (deep-fried tofu pouch)
- 4 pieces Japanese rice cake (mochi)
- 1 daikon radish (1.3 lb, 600 g)
- 1 lb thinly sliced pork loin (optional; skip for vegetarian/vegan)
For Serving
- ponzu (you can make homemade ponzu sauce)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
To Make the Broth
- In a large pot (heavy-bottomed pot, donabe, or electric hot pot like this one), add 4 cups water and 1 piece kombu (dried kelp).
- Add 3 Tbsp sake, 1 Tbsp mirin, 2 Tbsp soy sauce, and 1 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt to the pot. Mix them all together and set aside.
To Prepare the Hot Pot Ingredients
- Napa cabbage: Remove the core of ½ head napa cabbage, separate the leaves, and rinse them carefully. Then, cut them into 2-inch (5-cm) pieces.
- Cut the tough bottom part of the leaves into smaller strips/pieces.
- Mizuna: Cut 1 bunch mizuna (Japanese mustard green) into 2-inch (5-cm) pieces.
- Carrots: Using a vegetable peeler, peel 2 carrots into thin ribbons.
- Negi and green onion: Cut 1 Tokyo negi (naga negi; long green onion) diagonally into ½-inch (1.3-cm) pieces. Thinly slice 1 green onion/scallion.
- Shimeji and shiitake mushrooms: Discard the bottom of 1 package shimeji mushrooms and separate them. Remove the stems of 4 shiitake mushrooms.
- If you‘d like, you can carve the mushroom caps to make them look like a flower by following my shiitake hanagiri tutorial.
- Aburaage and kiri mochi (option 1; mochi bag): Cut 2 pieces aburaage (deep-fried tofu pouch) and 4 pieces Japanese rice cake (mochi) in half.
- Stuff the kiri mochi into the aburaage pocket. Using a toothpick, seal the opening.
- Aburaage (option 2): If you don‘t want to make mochi bags, you can simply cut the aburaage into bite-size pieces.
- Kiri mochi (option 2): Simply toast the mochi in the toaster oven until it becomes puffy.
- Daikon radish: Peel and grate 1 daikon radish using a grater (I use a ceramic grater).
- Drain the grated daikon to remove excess moisture (liquid) by gently pressing it down. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- Put all the ingredients on a large platter (or several platters). Prepare small individual bowls each filled with 2 Tbsp ponzu and some chopped green onion.
To Make the Hot Pot
- Bring the broth to a boil over medium heat. If you‘re adding root vegetable chunks (carrot, gobo, etc.), start cooking them while you are heating up the broth. They take a longer time to cook. Right before boiling, discard the kombu (or use it later to make Furikake Rice Seasoning or Simmered Kombu).
- Once boiling, add various kinds of ingredients to the pot and arrange them by sections. For example, group the napa cabbage in one area while mushrooms stay in one area. This way, you can choose what you want to eat. Close the lid and cook for 8–10 minutes. Keep an eye on leafy greens. Dish them out early if they turn soft and ready to eat. Dip the cooked food in ponzu sauce to enjoy. To cook the meat, add a few slices of the 1 lb thinly sliced pork loin to the simmering broth and cook for 30 seconds. Do not overcook. Once all the cooked ingredients are served and cleared from the hot pot, add a new batch of ingredients. Cover the lid and start cooking for 10 minutes. Add water if the broth is low in the pot. Repeat 1–2 more rounds until you finish all the ingredients.
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store them in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
