Chiritorinabe please

Feel like eating Japanese tonight? Maybe you haven't tried this.

It's called Chiritorinabe and it's a spicy stew-like soup with vegetables and meat that's savory and delicious.

At Oki Doki in Tustin, a mini-stove is brought to the table holding a square pan filled with vegetable broth and stacked with pork, beef intestine and vegetables.

After cooking down the tall pyramid of vegetables and meat and after eating all the soup, diners add rice to make a Japanese-inspired risotto that should satisfy any comfort food enthusiast.

Cabbage, spicy kimchi, bean sprouts, pork and beef intestine waiting to be cooked down. 

Here are some basic guidelines to help you get started: 

Step 1: Mix and cook down the ingredients. Wait until done, which means the beef intestine should taste buttery and tender until it falls apart in your mouth. This takes a while so don't rush. 

We never thought we would say it, but beef intestine is really good!

Step 2: After eating plenty of the hearty stew, add rice or noodles and cook down.

This still needs about five more minutes and should resemble the consistency of risotto. 

There are a wide variety of additional toppings available to add, ranging from pork cheek, leek or enoki, but we like to keep it simple.

1. Plain soup. (We don't add anything, it's good the way it is.)
2. "Japanese risotto" rice at the end.

Favorite part of the meal: The beef intestine is so buttery, tender and flavorful and the epitome of fatty goodness.

Editor's tip: Have the waitstaff help you. Yuki, a waiter at the restaurant made us the BEST chiritorinabe. If he's around, ask for him. Tip #2: Save some intestine at the end to mix with the rice. Yummm!

Here are a few other items we also love to eat at Oki-Doki:

Kakuni: Pork belly stewed until tender topped with bok choy. 

Halibut carpaccio with sea salt, lemon juice and yuzu citrus pepper. Simple but amazing, especially the yuzu citrus pepper. We wish they would bottle it up and sell it. 

Oki Doki's homemade sesame tofu served cold or hot (pictured) agedashi style. Instead of soy beans, this dish is sesame-based and has a unique texture and nutty flavor.  

Oki Doki is located at 13681 Newport Ave. #9 in Tustin near the 5 freeway. Closed from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on weekdays.