Make a Chinese Hot Pot
Chinese hot pot, also known as Chinese fondue or Chinese steamboat, consists of various raw meats, vegetables, noodles, tofu, seafood and dumplings, which are dropped into a shared or individual pot of hot flavored broth using chopsticks in order to cook the items. The items are then fished out with chopsticks or a strainer and enjoyed, often with additional options of broth, rice, or Chinese barbecue sauce (also known as satay or sacha).
Chinese hot pot can include any variety of meats, vegetables or noodles depending on individual tastes. Traditionally, different ingredients were used depending on the region of China the dish was served. For instance, those who lived near the sea used seafood, while those who lived inland were more likely to use pork, lamb or goat. The origins of the Chinese hot pot have been dated back to over 1,000 years. The dish is usually served today to celebrate Chinese New Year, but is also a common wintertime meal. Here are a few steps on how to make a Chinese hot pot.
Steps
- Prepare a broth in a large pot or wok that will be used to cook the hot pot ingredients. There is no right or wrong way to prepare a broth, so feel free to get creative and customize your own. Examples of broths include: plain pork bone, pork bone with coconut milk, spicy mala (with varying degrees of spiciness), tomato, curry, and miso. You can also consider purchasing pre-made broth from some Chinese restaurants or pre-packaged ingredients of popular hot pot restaurants in Asian grocery stores.
- A simple broth can be made by boiling water with the addition of meat bones or fish heads and a combination of herbs (ginger, goji berries, red dates, bay leaf, cloves, star anise, whole dried red chilies, cinnamon bark, fennel), seasonings (white pepper, sichuan peppercorn), and vegetables (scallions, garlic, napa cabbage, mushrooms). You will want to boil the ingredients until the water has been reduced and becomes infused with the flavor of the ingredients; then, strain the broth.
- Traditional combinations include:
- 1) Plain: Chicken and/or pork bone, ginger, goji berries, red dates, white pepper, scallions, and optional napa cabbage and/or mushrooms;
- 2) Spicy Mala: Beef bone, ginger, garlic, chili oil, whole dried red chilies, bay leaf, star anise, cinnamon stick, cloves, and fried tofu puffs.
- In both recipes you can substitute the meat broth with vegetable broth for vegetarians or vegans.
- Slice a variety of meats and fish thinly to be cooked in the hot pot. Slicing thinly will ensure that the ingredients will cook quickly and fully.
- Choose any proteins (meat, variety of fish, or tofu) that you enjoy. Some common choices for Chinese hot pot include thinly sliced beef, pork, lamb (which you can marinate in red wine), chicken, thin fish fillets, squid, shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams, fish cake, fish balls (sometimes stuffed with meat or fish eggs), shrimp balls, cuttlefish balls, shrimp or fish paste, beef balls, plain tofu, fried tofu, ice tofu, tofu sheets, tofu puffs, and quail eggs. You can make your hot pot using the more traditional method of using the meats and seafood that are local to you.
- Select and prepare some vegetables.
- Wash and prepare some leafy greens. Popular options include: watercress, bok choy, tong ho, spinach, napa cabbage, cabbage, lettuce, snow pea leaves, daikon, taro, lotus root, winter melon, kabocha squash, tomato, and quarter cobs of corn. Mushrooms of all varieties are also common to Chinese hot pot preparations: king oyster mushroom, shiitake, enoki, and shimeji.
- Have enough noodles for all of your guests alongside the hot pot to eat with their selections as a side dish, or simply use the broth to cook the noodles at the end of the meal. The noodles will be infused with the flavors of all of the ingredients that everyone has cooked in it.
- You can use any type of noodle, and there are many options: knife-cut, rice noodles, egg noodles, ramen, udon, and glass noodles. Feel free to offer a variety, but note that several people will be full before you even get to the noodles at the end or want to skip them altogether.
- You can also provide rice to complement the meal, though not everyone may want it.
- Add other ingredients if desired. For more variety, consider incorporating dumplings, rice cakes, and tangyuan (sweet dumplings - with various fillings such as taro, sweet or salty egg, red bean, or no filling).
- Place a variety of condiments on the table where you are dining and encourage your guests to create their own sauce to dip their ingredients. Typical condiments to prepare a sauce include satay sauce, chive flower sauce, sesame paste, hot mustard, soy sauce, black vinegar, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, chili oil, and sweet chili sauce. You can also include chopped garlic, scallions, and raw egg. Give each guest a separate small dish to mix their sauce.
- A common sacha sauce recipe includes: Chinese BBQ sauce, soy sauce, black vinegar, chopped garlic, chopped scallions, and a raw egg on top. Some people will even separate the yolk from the egg white, adding only the yolk to the sauce and simply spreading the extra egg white across some raw meat to be cooked together.
- Transfer your broth, omitting any solids, into a wok, clay pot or any pot that is wide and shallow so that everyone will be able to easily dip their ingredients into it. Place an electric heating plate on the table where you will be eating and place the broth on top of it to keep it hot.
- You can also use a gas cooktop as an additional option.
- Try to arrange the seating so that everyone is sitting in a circle and has easy access to everything on the table. Eating a Chinese hot pot is a very communal experience. People gather around the pot, dipping their food, waiting for it to cook, mixing their own sauces and enjoying each other's company. Chinese hot pot meals commonly last a couple of hours because you are cooking and eating in small portions at the same time.
- Multiple hot pots can also be used, or individual hot pots. At home, a single hot pot would work well up to 4-8 people depending on the size of the pot.
- Oftentimes there are communal chopsticks, strainers, and ladles to be shared for moving items into your own bowl. As a courtesy to others, be sure to acknowledge and use these utensils.
- Enjoy!
Tips
- Reconstituted (soaked) whole dried shiitake mushrooms are a great, chewy addition.
- Experiment with different ingredients in your hot pot - from broth, to meat, to veggies, to sauce.
Warnings
- Notify your guests of cooking meats all the way through. Do not eat fish or shrimp that is still transparent. Make sure all meats are properly cooked before removing them from the hot pot.
Things You'll Need
- Wok, clay pot or a Shabu Shabu pot
- Broth
- Meats, thinly sliced
- Small pieces of seafood like shrimp, scallops or sliced fresh fish
- Side dishes like leafy green vegetables, noodles, mushrooms, tofu and dumplings
- Dipping sauce ingredients like sesame oil, hoisin sauce, soy sauce and sweet chili sauce
- Chopsticks or small strainers
- Electric heat plate
- Small dishes for sauce
