There are two sauces typically served with shabu-shabu, a creamy, nutty, slightly sweet goma sesame sauce or a tart-soy ponzu sauce. I tend to do the meat in the sesame sauce and the veggies in the ponzu sauce. These are both easy to make at home for when you make nabe at home.
Ponzu
4 Tablespoons soy sauce
3 Tablespoons dashi
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 Tablespoon vinegar
kombu
Combine and let rest with kombu. The kombu will add umami to the sauce.
Goma-dare Sesame Sauce
3 Tablespoons nerigoma sesame sauce (NOT tahini)
2 Tablespoons dashi
2 Tablesppons mirin
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar
minced garlic to taste
It is nice to have finely chopped green onions and shichimi spice to add to the sesame sauce.
For the sukiyaki, a raw egg, scrambled well in a bowl is what many people will dip the cooked meat in.
The earthy flavor of gobo (burdock root) rounds out the osechi ryori which is filled with many sweets. The gobo is whacked (tataku or tataki) and cooked until tender and then dressed with a sesame dressing. Here you see my mortar and pestle for grinding the sesame seeds.
