Q. Is there any correct order to put ingredients in Nabe (hot pot) ?

A. Yes there is ! Basically things that take long to cook first and things that cook quickly, things that become tough when cooked too long and things easy to break down later. .
🍲Starting lineup : Vegetable that grow under ground such as daikon radish, carrot, burdock root, bottom part of nappa cabbage, chicken cut into chunk, crab body.
🍲Second stream : shiitake mushroom, middle part of nappa cabbage, Shirataki noodles (look like rice noodles), firm tofu, meatballs, medium thick fish slices.
🍲Third stream : Shimeji mushroom, Enoki mushroom, top part of nappa cabbage and other leafy vegetables, silken tofu, thin fish slices, thinly sliced pork or beef, other seafoods like oyster and crab legs. .
I’m too lazy to put ingredients one by one depending on how long I want to cook them. So I just put the starting lineup at the bottom of the pot so they stay in the broth, the second stream next so they are partially in and partially above broth, and the third stream on top so they are completely off the broth at the beginning. As they cook, stating lineup shrink and things on top gradually sink into the broth !
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Texture is very important in Japanese cuisine so we normally try not to over cook things but when it comes to nappa cabbage in Nabe, I like it very much over cooked and “kuta kuta ( texture word for intentionally over cooked vegetable that almost melt in your mouth)” ! .

Best part of Nabe comes after you finish all the ingredients in the pot. Into the broth left in the pot, we add some cooked rice and beaten egg. Rice soak up all the broth full of umami and become like porridge or risotto !

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