sukiyaki (japanese sweet hot pot)

This is probably my favorite Japanese food. It's my personal comfort food. It has sweet stock, thin-sliced beef, and raw eggs for dipping -- it's perfect combination. It is very easy to prepare (basically, just cut. haha) and you cook while you eat, so it's fun to chat with your family and friends while you wait for the food.

Ingredients:

[Sukiyaki stock]
Soy sauce - 2/3 cup
Mirin - 1 TBS
Sugar - 8-10 TBS (or more if you like it sweeter)
Water - 1 and 1/2 cup
Dashi powder (hondashi) - 2 tsp

Thin sliced beef - 1 lbs (or more if you want more meat) *See TIPS
Napa cabbage - 1 med
Tofu (medium firm) - 1 (cut in cubes)
Shirataki (white translucent yam noodle) - 1 packet
Shiitake mushroom - 8-10 (soften)
Enoki mushroom - 1 packet
Udon - 4 packets

Organic pasteurized eggs - 6-8

Prep:

1. Cut napa cabbage into 2 inch pieces (not too small as it gets small when it's cooked). 
2. Cut tofu, soften shiitake mushroom and cut the ends of enoki mushroom. 
3. Put all ingredients for sukiyaki stock in a pot. Bring to a quick boil, then turn the heat off.  
4. Defrost udon if it's frozen.

Cook:

1. Take out electric heating pot or portable gas stove with donabe (clay pot). 
2. Heat the pot with 2 TBS of oil. Take few slices of beef and fry until cooked half-way through. 
3. Add the stock slowly in the pot. Don't pour all at once. Just enough to cover half of the pot. 
4. Put other ingredients in the pot (not all at once, of course). Don't cook the beef too long. 

 Serve:

1. Dip in the raw egg and eat with rice. 

Dip in the beaten egg (should've taken the one with beef, but it was in my mouth:D)

TIPS

• You can use other mean, such as thin sliced pork or ground chicken/turkey balls will work well.
• Finish one round, take all the food out then start another round -- so it won't overcook.