Shabu-shabu hot pot (Shabu-shabu)

1. Put the kombu in a tabletop pot with the water and soak for at least 30 minutes.

2. For the sesame sauce, dry-toast the sesame seeds, grind them to a paste in a mortar and stir smooth with the soy sauce, sugar and water; for the citrus sauce, mix the soy sauce with the lemon juice.

3. Slice the half-frozen beef wafer-thin (1-2 mm), cut the Chinese leaf, tofu and spring onions into bite-sized pieces, trim the enoki and arrange everything on platters.

4. Heat the pot on a tabletop burner until almost boiling, removing the kombu just before it boils.

5. Add the vegetables and tofu to the broth first; everyone holds a slice of beef with chopsticks and swishes it 2-3 times through the hot broth ("shabu-shabu") until it just changes colour, then dips it in the sauces.

6. Skim the foam from time to time; at the end, finish the rich broth as a soup with rice or noodles.

Tip: The name imitates the sound of the meat swishing in the broth. Hold the beef in the broth only until it turns from pink to pale brown – that keeps it tender.