Rei Shabu

Today’s recipe is one of my favorite simple summer / warm-weather dishes, but it’s also a great low-carb or keto snack when you want to take a break from bigger cooking projects – chilled pork shabu-shabu, also called rei-shabu (“rei” means it’s chilled in Japanese). It’s a super-easy recipe that doesn’t involve getting the kitchen hot, which is great for hotter weather or if you’re simply over being in the kitchen after a big food-based holiday.

For this, I have my own little tip (from my mom, of course) on how to prep the broth so that the thinly-sliced pork doesn’t get tough. Some recipes just call for water and nothing else, but these little additions work amazingly to make the best, melt-in-your-mouth rei-shabu without altering the flavor of the meat.

As for the dipping sauce, we’ve always just used soy sauce and vinegar, but you can always use some pre-made ponzu or sesame dipping sauce for this – basically, the same type of sauces you’d get at a Shabu-Shabu (Japanese hot pot) restaurant.

Much like many Japanese entrees, you can serve this with a bowl of white rice, or just have this as is as a high-protein, low-carb item with a salad or some veggies on the side (Japanese pickles are great for this). The minimal amount of sugar in the cooking liquid in this recipe shouldn’t affect your blood sugar at all.

NOTE: For gluten-free, replace ponzu sauce with tamari & lemon / lime juice, or your preferred gluten-free “ponzu sauce.”

For an alternate low carb / keto dish, try my Shirataki Sukiyaki & Japchae recipe. If carbs aren’t an issue, check out my Gyudon, Beef Teriyaki, and Vegan Unagi Bowl recipes.

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb sliced pork (shabu-shabu, or otherwise very thinly-shaved) per serving
• Knob of peeled ginger
• 1 tblsp sake (does not have to be the expensive stuff)
• 1 tblsp granulated sugar
• Your preferred dipping sauce(s)

Directions

Fill a saucepan about 3/4 of the way with water. Add a peeled knob of ginger, and bring to a boil.

Add a tablespoon of sake, and a tablespoon of granulated sugar.

Once sugar has melted, bring heat down to a low simmer (or turn off completely for a bit). Start adding slices of pork, one by one. Because the meat is sliced super-thin, this shouldn’t take more than 5 – 10 seconds per slice.

Transfer the cooked pork slices to a plate, and allow to cool. You can also put this in the fridge, covered, for about half an hour. This doesn’t do well reheated, so the goal here is to only prepare what you’d eat in one sitting.

Serve alongside a bowl of rice, or with / on a salad if you’re doing low-carb or keto. Dipping sauces are simple for this, and mimic what you’d get for Shabu-Shabu at any Japanese hot pot restaurant. Ponzu and sesame dipping sauces work great; combine the two, to create a light salad dressing.