Level 6 · Soft & Bite-Sized: soft, tender, moist food cut into pieces no bigger than 1.5 cm (about the width of a thumbnail). Some chewing is needed, but no biting. What do the levels mean?
Serves: 4 · Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients: Thinly sliced tender beef (such as shabu-shabu beef), potatoes, carrot, onion, dashi, soy sauce, mirin, sugar.
Steps
Cut 2 potatoes and 1 carrot into 1.5 cm cubes and slice 1 onion.
Simmer the vegetables in 2 cups dashi with 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp mirin and 1 tbsp sugar for 20 minutes, until very soft.
Add 8 oz beef, cut into short 1 cm strips, and simmer 10 minutes more until tender.
Thicken the broth with cornstarch so nothing is sitting in thin liquid. Check every piece squashes under a fork.
Shortcut: Instant dashi granules are fine.
Check the texture: press a piece with the side of a fork until your thumbnail turns white. It squashes and does not spring back. Cut every piece to 1.5 cm before serving, and keep sauces thick rather than thin and runny.
Use the food level recommended by your speech-language pathologist or doctor. Textures change with cooking time, cooling and reheating, so check the food each time before serving, using the simple fork and spoon tests in our swallowing guide. Sit upright to eat, take small bites, and stay upright for 30 minutes after.