Vegan Soy Milk Hot Pot (Tonyu Nabe)
The Vegan Soy Milk Hot Pot (Tonyu Nabe) is a deeply comforting and nourishing pot of creamy, umami broth with assorted veggies, mushrooms, and tofu. It’s easy, fairly quick to make, and versatile.
Ingredients
Broth
- 2 cups soymilk unsweetened and unflavored (see note)
- 4 cups water
- 1 piece kombu 2x2 inches or 5x5 centimeters
- 2-3 large shiitake mushrooms sliced thinly (see note)
- 1/2 cup sake
- 3 Tablespoons white miso can add 1 more, depending on taste (see note)
Category 1 Ingredients
- 1 cup carrot sliced
- 1 cup daikon radish sliced
- 1/2 cup white onion sliced
Category 2 Ingredients
- 1/2 pound enoki and/or shimeji mushrooms separated into bite-sized clusters
- 1.5 cups napa cabbage chopped (see note)
- 1.5 cups bean sprouts (see note)
- 1/4 pound dried glass noodles (125 grams) can be made from rice, bean starch, sweet potato starch, etc.
Category 3 Ingredients
- 3 sheets aburaage (fried tofu) sliced
- 3 green onions sliced
Category 4 Ingredients
- 1 cup mizuna (optional) chopped
- 1 cup spinach
Garnishes to serve with
- shichimi togarashi (optional)
- ground toasted sesame seeds (optional)
Instructions
Assemble the broth
- Combine all the ingredients for the broth except for the miso (see note) in a large pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to a simmer and simmer for at least 10 minutes before adding the Category 1 Ingredients.
- You can prepare the rest of the ingredients as the broth simmers, but check on the broth and stir it occasionally.
Add in the ingredients in order (See note)
- Once the broth has simmered for at least 10 minutes, gently add the Category 1 Ingredients into the broth and turn to medium-high heat. Once the broth reaches a simmer, cook for 5 minutes before adding the Category 2 Ingredients.
- Once the broth returns to a simmer again, add the Category 3 ingredients.
- After the Category 3 ingredients have simmered for about 2 minutes, add the Category 4s. Add the 4s right before serving
Stir in the Miso
- Don't forget to stir in the miso if you haven't already. Hold it in a ladle then dip the ladle partway into the broth and whisk the miso into the broth using a fork or pair of chopsticks before stirring it into the rest of the soup.
Serve and Garnish
- Dish the soup with some ingredients into bowls. Serve with shichimi togarashi and ground toasted sesame seeds and let each diner garnish her own bowl.
Notes
A soy milk that contains only soybeans (as an ingredient) is best, if you can find it. I've found Japanese brands are more likely to be this way.
It's important to slice most of the shiitake mushrooms thinly, so their flavor is infused more effectively into the broth. You can choose to keep one cap whole (remove the stem), cut a design into it, and let it float on top, as I did in the photos.
You can either mix the miso into the broth from the beginning or add it at the end. I prefer to add it to the end, right before serving, since doing so helps preserve the macrobiotic properties of the paste and because I like to tweak the broth by adding slightly more miso at the end to make the soup saltier.
I use napa cabbage and bean sprouts as a sort of "filler" in the soup. If I have space remaining in the soup, I'll add more of them because I frequently have too much of them to begin with and because they're healthy and low in calories. Like free nutrition.
I included an "order" for adding the veggies to the broth to ensure each one is cooked but not overcooked, but you don't have to do it this way. If you want to be hands-off, you can add everything at once, at the point you'd add Category 1, and make sure everything simmers for 15 minutes before serving.
The broth may curdle at some point. You can either skim the curds and discard them or simply consume them with the broth.