Botan Nabe (Japanese Wild Boar Hotpot)
Learn how to make Botan Nabe at home with thin slices of wild boar shaped like a peony flower simmered in a sweet miso broth with tofu and vegetables. This beautiful dish is one of Japan's most unique hot pot recipes!
- Prep time
- 10 min
- Cook time
- 20 min
- Yield
- 2 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 800 ml dashi stock
- 5 tbsp sake
- 2 tbsp mirin
- 1 tbsp light brown sugar
- 1 tbsp sesame paste (nerigoma)
- 3 tbsp red miso paste
- 2 tbsp white miso paste
- 200 g wild boar loin (thinly sliced)
- 100 g firm tofu (grilled if possible, cubed)
- 100 g Napa cabbage (hakusai, roughly cut)
- 30 g Japanese leek (naganegi) (white part, diagonally cut)
- 50 g potherb mustard (mizuna) (mizuna)
- 50 g enoki mushrooms
- 50 g carrot (peeled and sliced)
- 30 g fresh shiitake mushroom
- 30 g fried tofu pouch (aburaage) (aburaage, sliced)
- 2 pinches Japanese sansho pepper (sansho pepper)
- 2 portions cooked ramen noodles (or udon noodles, to finish the soup)
Instructions
- 1
Take a large pot and add 800 ml dashi stock, 5 tbsp sake, 2 tbsp mirin, 1 tbsp light brown sugar and 1 tbsp sesame paste (nerigoma). Bring it to a boil over a medium/medium-high heat and allow to bubble for 1-2 minutes. Turn off the heat.
- 2
Place 3 tbsp red miso paste and 2 tbsp white miso paste pastes on a mesh spoon or ladle. Dip them in the broth and then whisk inside the spoon until fine enough to mix in with the rest of the broth.
- 3
Cut the vegetables and tofu and arrange them beautifully in the pot with 200 g wild boar loin rolled into the shape of a peony flower placed in the middle.
- 4
Return the pot to the stove and simmer over a medium heat until the vegetables are softened and the boar meat is cooked through. Eat as it cooks (or divide into bowls once everything is cooked). Sprinkle with sansho pepper to taste. Enjoy the leftover soup with cooked ramen or udon noodles.