Mille Feuille Nabe

Mille feuille nabe will bring warmth to your dinner table after a cold day. The napa cabbage and pork belly are simmered to tender perfection in savoury dashi broth. You can impress guests with this dish, as the multiple layers of napa cabbage and pork belly resemble a blooming flower.

On a cold day, there’s nothing better than having some hot pot to warm you up.

Ingredients

• Napa Cabbage – I found that napa cabbages between 900 g – 1200 g were a good size for my Dutch oven. Try to find enough napa cabbage so you can fill your Dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed pot completely too. This way, the napa cabbage slices will fit snugly.
• Pork Belly Slices (thinly cut) – I would suggest buying pre-sliced pork belly rather than slicing it yourself, unless you have a meat slicer. The pre-rolled up pork belly slices that are used for hotpot and are sold at Asian supermarkets are perfect for making mille feuille nabe.
• Dried Shiitake Mushrooms – I like to use dried shiitake mushrooms because that is what I usually have in my house. They have a long shelf-life since they’re dried, so you can just pull out what you need from the bag and hydrate the mushrooms you need for a recipe.
• Enoki Mushrooms – Not only do these make your dish look cute but they also absorb the umami flavours of the dish and become extra savoury.
• Dashi Powder –  This is basically bonito fish stock and is a staple ingredient in Japanese dishes. It packs a ton of umami to your dish.
• Sake – I use cooking sake for this recipe as it’s cheaper. It’s also higher in salt content and lower in alcohol content than drinking sake, so it has a different flavour profile.
• Mirin – This is another rice wine like sake, but it has a higher sugar content. It’s another staple ingredient in Japanese cooking.
• Ginger –  Adds a bit of a kick to the soup so it doesn’t taste bland.
• Garlic – Like ginger, I added this to the soup to add more flavour.
• Sesame oil –  Adds a bit of toasty, nutty flavours to the nabe.
• Ponzu – This is a citrus flavoured soy sauce.
• Shichimi Togarashi (Japanese seven spice)- This is a commonly used spice blend used in Japanese cuisine.

Equipment

• Dutch oven (or other heavy-bottomed pot)
• Colander

How to Make Mille Feuille Nabe

If using dried shiitake mushrooms, let them hydrate for about 30 minutes in boiling hot water. Meanwhile, we’ll be preparing our nabe.

We’ll be making the sliced garlic and ginger extra delicious by pan-frying them in oil first until they are browned before adding them to the broth. Set the garlic and ginger slices to the side.

Slice the napa cabbage into halves lengthwise.

Then, slice them in half again lengthwise into quarters. We’ll be keeping the core intact as that will help the napa cabbage stay intact as we slide the pork belly slices in between the leaves.

Then, slide the pork belly slices in between the leaves of the napa cabbage. This is the most time-consuming part of the recipe, but it is so satisfying in the end when you see the flower coming together. If you still have extra pork belly slices even though you covered all the spaces in between the leaves, you can slide in extra pork belly slices anywhere you want. It will all stay in place.

Cut the napa cabbage quarters in half widthwise.

Cut off the cores as well if needed to fit the napa cabbage in your Dutch oven. You’ll want about 2 inches of space between the lid and the surface of the soup. 

Place the sections of napa cabbage/ pork belly into the Dutch oven, packing the leaves very tightly. That way, the nabe will still look like a pretty flower in the end.

Push the slices of garlic and ginger in between the leaves, dispersing them well in the nabe.

Wedge the enoki mushrooms into the center of the nabe so they fit snugly. I try to fit in as much enoki mushrooms as I can.

This is optional, but you can score a cross-like shape on the tops of the shiitake mushrooms if you want. This is just for visual appeal of course.

Place the hydrated shiitake mushrooms and sliced carrots on top of the napa cabbage and pork belly.

In a large bowl, mix boiling hot water, dashi powder, sake, soy sauce, salt, mirin and sesame oil. Then, pour the soup into the Dutch oven. We want about 2 inches of space between the soup and the rim of the Dutch oven so the soup doesn’t boil over when covered.

If you don’t have enough liquid, add more boiling water. You want to submerge as much of the napa cabbage in liquid as possible. The napa cabbage will cook faster inside boiling broth and become extremely tender.

Bring the soup to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Let it simmer on medium heat with the lid on for 20 – 25 minutes or until napa cabbage is soft and pork belly looks cooked.

While the nabe is simmering, boil some noodles according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Drain the noodles with a colander and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process. The noodles are less likely to stick when you rinse them with cold water. I like to serve wheat noodles with the nabe. 

If you want, you can sprinkle some chopped green onions on top of the nabe.

I highly recommend serving this dish with ponzu sauce. If you can take the heat, add some shichimi togarashi to the ponzu sauce.

Take a piece of napa cabbage and pork belly and dip it in some spiced ponzu sauce. To us, it doesn’t taste nearly as good without this sauce. You get a refreshing taste of citrus that contrasts with the fat from the pork along with umami flavours and the heat from the spice.