Shabu-shabu (しゃぶしゃぶ)

Shabu-shabu (しゃぶしゃぶ) is a Japanese dish featuring thinly sliced beef boiled in water. The term is an onomatopœia, derived from the sound emitted when the ingredients are stirred in the cooking pot.

The dish is related to sukiyaki in style: Both consist of thinly sliced meat and vegetables and served with dipping sauces, although shabu-shabu beef is sliced much thinner and cooked piece by piece by the diner, whereas sukiyaki arrives from the kitchen completely assembled. Also shabu-shabu is considered to be more savory and less sweet than sukiyaki, and is a more expensive dish with finer vegetable ingredients and better cuts of beef.

The dish is prepared by submerging a thin slice of meat or a piece of vegetable in a pot of boiling water or dashi (broth) made with konbu (kelp) and stirring it. Cooked meat and vegetables are usually dipped in ponzu or goma (sesame seed) sauce before eating, and served with a bowl of steamed white rice. Once the meat and vegetables have been eaten, leftover broth from the pot is customarily combined with the remaining rice, and the resulting soup is usually eaten last.

Photo:

"Shabushabu". Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shabushabu.jpg#/media/File:Shabushabu.jpg