Posted by Hotpot is one of my favorite party meals, there are lots of varieties, and very easy to prepare.
What is a hotpot?
Hotpot is a flavorful broth traditionally served inside a large metal pot. The broth is brought to a boil and left simmering for the duration of the meal. Raw ingredients, such as meat and vegetables, are placed into the simmering broth and thus cooked. The cooked pieces are dipped into dipping sauces for additional flavor. Hot pot is considered a main course and is usually served without rice or noodles on the side.
A hotpot party usually lasts for hours, and while the ingredients are being cooked, the soup also gets tastier and tastier with the ingredients adding extra flavor to it.
Final product served on the table:
Preparation of the broth
In the middle of the table sits the pot containing the broth for cooking the raw ingredients. There are a few ways to prepare the broth:
- Buy the packaged broth from the shop, you can find many on Ochama, use invitation code “linjiang” to get 15 euro vouchers!
- Make your bone broth with your favorite spices (I usually make the broth from one of the following ingredients – beef bone with marrow, spare ribs, chicken soup, or seafood )
- The broth can also be made of veggies! I made a mushroom-based broth recently when welcoming a vegetarian friend for a hotpot lunch.
A very typical setup for a hotpot is a pot with separation from the middle, to enjoy 2 broths at once, you can get such a pot here.
Preparation of the ingredients
The best part of having a hotpot is that you can make it as simple or as fancy as you want. Like most meals, it consists of a few building blocks: protein, fiber, and carbohydrates, for a simple version, you can buy all the raw ingredients from an Asian shop or on Ochama, you just need to pre-cut them as preparation.
Protein:
As building blocks for protein, you can have access to thinly sliced meat (the best is beef or lamb), tofu, tofu skins, homemade or ready-made meatballs, etc.
Fibers:
Mushrooms:
All kinds of mushrooms go well with the hotpot, as they absorb the taste from the broth well, and also give extra taste to the pot, my favorite ones are Chinese black mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, king oyster mushrooms, enoki, etc.
Leafy greens:
The most popular one is Chinese cabbage, bok choy, and spinach, for super spicy broth, it is suggested to add them a bit at a later stage, otherwise, the leafy greens absorb the spice dramatically, making it tastes very spicy. On the other hand, also makes the soup a bit diluted.
Winter melon:
Winter melon is a typical hotpot veggie that tastes very soft.
Carbohydrates
Typically I prepare potato, lotus, and potato noodles as part of the source of the carbs.
Dipping sauce for hotpot
During the meal, we usually also prepare our dipping sauce in a ball. Depending on the region, the dipping sauce can also be quite different.
A typical dipping sauce in my region is minced garlic, (lots of) sesame oil, and oyster sauce, in the northern regions, they like to add sesame paste also. There are no big rules, just do what you like!
Hotpot preparation:
If you prepared the broth yourself already, just serve the broth pot on the induction hotplate on the table.
If you buy the spicy butter pack from the shop, it is recommended to pre-bake it, to have the maximum flavor out, before adding boiling water to it.
The preparation of the ingredients and sauce is really simple (for a simple hotpot version of course), you just need to pre-soak some of the dry ingredients, cut the fresh ones, and then put them in plates on the table.
During the meal, the guests can prepare their sauce, and cook their favorite food in the pot.
A small tip – use hotpot scoops!
Usually, in mainland China, the group uses the eating chopsticks directly to fetch the content from the pot. Since the pandemic, and also with the increasing hygiene standard, the Hotpot scoops have become essential when serving hotpot, both at home and in the restaurant, make sure you get them for yourself and your guests!
After the meal:
After the meal, the soup is usually very dense, it can be used as a sauce for the next meal. For the non-s spicy soup, you can also drink it directly, the soup contains so much flavor now, super delicious!
Tip! – If you used the store-bought spicy butter broth, don’t throw the hot spicy soup directly in the drain, as it is so greasy, that it will for sure block the pipe! The trick is the let the soup cool down until the butter solidifies on top, then you can scoop the fat from the top and through it to the garbage bin, then the soup can empty to the drain.
To sum up, the essentials for a successful hotpot:
An induction hotplate, or a portable stove to be placed on a table
Hotpot scoops for a more reassuring experience
Chopsticks for an authentic experience
I hope this article is helpful for you to try some other ways of eating! Check out other food topics such as:
Chinese E-commerce is in Europe!
A bite of Belgium – My favourite Belgian sweets
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_pot
https://myfoodbook.com.au/tips/12-different-types-of-mushrooms
https://goodmaison.com/blogs/recipes/5-dips-for-your-next-hotpot