For great casual entertaining or as a break from plain-Jane family suppers, try sukiyaki…the Asian fondue!

Sukiyaki is prepared tableside, with diners cooking their own vegetables and meats, and because the cooking medium is simply a light broth instead of oil or cheese, the meal couldn't be healthier.

Although originally a Japanese cooking style, most Asian nations have embraced "suki" and transformed it to their own tastes. The technique is incredibly popular here in Thailand, and suki restaurants are everywhere, and are a real favorite for family get-togethers.

To have a suki meal/party you need:

The soup

The soup can be either meat or vegetable based, but it should be fairly mild. The act of cooking all of the vegetables and meats in the broth will intensify the flavors, and as such if you begin with a strong broth, it can get overpoweringly potent. A vegetable broth, slightly diluted is perfect.

The soup will need to maintain a steady simmer at the table for diners to cook throughout the meal. You can get electric soup-pot's that are perfect for this, you could use a standard fondue set if it's quite large, and if your crackpot goes high enough to maintain a simmer, you could use this as well.

The sauce

Thais rarely eat food without a bit of a kick, and suki is no exception. The soup and boiled meats and vegetables are thus enlivened with a "suki" sauce that is spicy/sour/sweet, and perfect for the meal. You could try to make your own, but you'd be much better off heading down to your local Asian grocery store to pick up a bottle. Since most Asian countries have a form of suki, they're almost sure to have something.

The meats and vegetables

You can use whatever meats or seafood you enjoy. Some common additions are pork, beef, chicken, squid, shrimp, mild fish, small meatballs, and for the adventurous liver and other offal…although I think it's awful in suki!

Meats should be sliced very thinly so they will cook in a few seconds in the simmering broth. It can be helpful to slice the meat partially frozen to get the thin slices that you need. Shrimp, squid and fish cook very quickly in the broth and can be left whole.

Some common vegetables are Napa cabbage, green onions, Asian mushrooms (enoki, shitake, clouds ear…) bok choi, baby corn, and any others you might like to add!

How to do it

The vegetables and meats should be on trays easily accessible to all. The vegetables are usually added first, and given a minute or so to cook, and then guests simply use their chopsticks (you could also use slotted spoons for the chopstick impaired!) to cook the meat or seafood as desired. All guests are given a bowl for the soup, and they eat the meats and vegetables out of the bowl of soup using the spicy sauce as desired to pep it up.

It is really very tasty; a lot of fun, and it couldn’t be much healthier. Try an Asian fondue!