Mille Feuille Nabe

Step 1

In a small saucepan, add 5 cups of water and bring to a boil.

Step 2

Reduce the heat to low and drop in 2 dashi packets and the knob of ginger, simmer for 10 minutes.

Step 3

Turn off the heat, discard the dashi packets and ginger, and add sake, soy sauce and salt. Stir to combine then set aside.

Step 4

Thinly slice scallions and add to a small bowl.

Step 5

Pour in some ponzu and add some chili sauce (optional).

Step 6

Cut a head of napa cabbage into quarters.

Step 7

Keeping the core intact, gently wash the layers of cabbage leaves. Make sure to drain and shake out as much water as possible. If any leaves naturally come off during this process, keep them to the side. They can be used to stuff any gaps in the dish during the assembling process.

Step 8

Form the layers by alternating a cabbage leaf with thinly sliced pork belly and tatsoi leaves.

Step 9

Try to adjust your pork belly layers to fully cover the cabbage leaves by cutting or doubling up on pork belly, as needed.

Step 10

Once the layers are fully assembled, carefully cut into 2 inch wedges.

Step 11

Add the wedges to your pot, starting from the outer rim and working your way to the center. Each stack should show a bit of green, pink and white to fully display all the layers.

Step 12

Continue packing the layers in a rosette-style shape. I suggest adding the thicker wedges (of the whiter cabbage base) towards the outside, leaving the more tender yellow leaf wedges for the center of the pot.

Step 13

At the center, place your mushrooms

Step 14

Make sure all the layers are tightly packed. If there are gaps, stick in the cabbage leaves that fell off during the washing and assembling process. You can also use mushrooms, I like beech or enoki.

Step 15

Pour the dashi soup broth over the layers. Depending on the size of your pot, you may have leftover broth. I like to pour in less broth, as the soup will bubble up and spill over the stove if there's too much liquid.

Step 16

Turn the heat to medium high and bring the pot to a boil. Skim off any fat that foams to the surface.

Step 17

Reduce the heat to medium low, cover and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until the cabbage leaves are soft and the pork has turned tan-white.

Step 18

Serve with the dipping sauce and some rice!