Chinese Hot Pot

Chinese Hot Pot / Steamboat / Fondue

This meal is called different things by different people. In Singapore, we call it the 'Steamboat'. Connie's family in Guatemala calls it the 'Hotpot' and I think in Europe, this is called the Chinese fondue. Different names, but the concept is similar - blanching fresh ingredients in a hot broth, and dipping in various sauces. What makes this meal special is its communal quality. It is a meal to be shared with family and friends, and because it involves time, it is best enjoyed leisurely with plenty of conversation. It is therefore not surprising that the hot pot is often featured in one of the most significant meals for a Chinese family, and that is on Chinese New Year's Eve.

We have the hot pot at home quite frequently, especially when the weather turns cold. It usually requires a trip to an Asian supermarket that serves fresh seafood and beef sliced very thinly. So today, we'd like to share our latest hot pot adventure. This is a modest spread, that really does not compare against the ones served on festive occasions. The key is to find fresh ingredients, because as you will soon see, the ingredients are basic and raw.

Level: Easy

Time: 20 minutes

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

0.8 lbs marbled beef - very thinly sliced

0.5 lbs of prawns

0.25 lbs of sashimi quality fish

0.5 lbs of nappa cabbage

0.5 lbs of choi sum

Fishballs / dumplings (readymade)

2 handfulls of cilantro

4 spring onions (sliced)

1 red jalapeno

2 Thai chilies

2 cloves of garlic

2 tbsp olive oil

Soy sauce

Preparation

1. For the sauces, prepare a set for each person in the meal as below:

2. Heat the olive oil in a pan. Pour the oil between the cilantro / spring onion bowl and chilies / garlic bowl equally until ingredients wilt. Then pour 1-2 tbsp soy sauce, and a drizzle of sesame oil on each. The end results should look like this.

3. Clean the vegetables, and cut to bite size as preferred.

4. Slice the fish.

5. Lay out the beef.

6. Clean the prawns.

7. Add fishballs, dumplings, noodles etc to the fare as you wish. In our case, I had some chive dumplings which I bought ready made from the supermarket.

8. You may want some side dishes or relishes. In our case, we always have kimchi.

9. Pour hot water in the pot, add a slice of ginger and bring to boil. Arrange all ingredients for easy access around the hot pot.

10. When the water boils, cook the ingredients in the boiling water. We prefer to blanch and eat piece by piece, as opposed to adding all ingredients in the boiling water at one time - but do as you prefer. 


Just remember that vegetables cook slowly and meats rather quickly so be on the lookout! 


You may want to have steamed rice or cook some dried noodle in the broth in the end to complete the meal. The soup in the end, has a delicious flavor from the seafood, meats and vegetables. Enjoy with good company! :)


Copyright delimilli 2011