The other day @derangedvisions said he went for hotpot dinner in America and @coquicoin mentioned that's she's never had one in Venezuela before. Hotpots are like fondue and are very popular in Asia, with each country and restaurant having it's own twist. One of my favourite is a ginger and duck hotpot available in Taiwan during the winter, served on a charcoal stove.
Hotpots can be eaten all year round, but they are even better in winter when it's cold as you have the hotpot cooking in front of you. Today I'll show you how to prepare and eat your own hotpot at home. It's a lot easier than you think and is also suitable for vegans.
First of all you need some sort of table top stove. It can be a camping stove, an induction or electric cooking plate, or you can get a proper electric hotpot cooker. Basically anything that can heat water to boiling point works. I'm using my multi cooker.
Next is a saucepan and the broth. The saucepan must sit on the stove safely and hold at least 6-8 litres of water. Shallow and wide saucepans works better. The broth is of your choice. Some use chicken, fish or meat stock. Some people buy hotpot soup base from the Asian supermarket. And if you're vegan, you can use vegetable stock. Basically it's up to you, as long as it's a thin and not a thick broth it will be ok.
Now for the food. Normally there will always be a plate of thinly sliced beef. I've used skirt today and sliced it myself.
You can also have pork, lamb, fish, chicken, prawns, tofu, noodle, anything you like as long as it doesn't take too long to cook and doesn't go mushy once cooked. There's no set ingredient to be honest. Here's what I had today, and are all typical hotpot ingredients.
Green leaf vegetable, mushrooms, corn on the hob - you just add it in the pot and let it boil to enhance the soup base, and at the end you can nibble away. Meat balls, pork balls and fish balls are always a favourite for everyone, and luncheon meat is popular as well. The box in the middle is beancurd sheet rolled up like a little cigar, great for vegans. And finally, I have some unsalted pork scratching sitting in my cupboard for a long time. The least two ingredients are great to soak up the soup base.
So you can see, making your own hotpot at home is very easy and versatile. You can use whatever ingredients to suit your diet even if you're a vegan.
Oh, I forgot, you need two more things to enhance your experience. First is a dipping sauce, normally soy sauce. I like to add a dash of sesame sauce, and finely chopped garlic and spring onions to mine. Some people add a raw egg to it, like the bowl you see in the first image. If you like hot and spicy flavour, you can have chilli sauce. Second, if you can get hold of these little mesh ladles or have a slotted spoon it will help you retrieve the food from the hotpot. Otherwise you can use tongs.
Source
Now all you need to do is lay out all the food on the table, and bring the hot pot to boil. The cooking of the food should be spaced out, for example throw a bunch of meatballs in first as it takes a few minutes and won't over cook. Meat slices can be cooked be each person themselves as it only needs to be quickly blanched, like the beef only takes 10 seconds or so. The idea is to eat the food straight from the hotpot via the dipping sauce.
Some people may question why all the hassle, and why not cook it in a saucepan and serve like a normal bowl of food? You can, but hotpot is all about the experience, like a barbeque. It's about no single person having to do all the cooking, it's about everyone can eat what they want when they want, and it's about sharing a prolong meal with friends over a good beer. What's not to like about it?
Have you tried a hotpot before, and if not, do you think you would enjoy it with friends and family? Let me know what you think?
I'm bookmarking this for future research. This looks awesome!
@lackofcolor 👀
Oeww that looks yummy! I definitely see us eating this.
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Man this looks amazing.
Thanks. We got no hotpot restaurant nearby luckily I can rustle up one easily at home
That looks incredible. That's a feast! 😋
Great for winter!!
Yeah it looks like it would be indeed.
Looks delicious
It is in deed!
This is great!!! It's easy as you said, and for sure the best part is the experience of sitting around the table with family and friends and living the experience of eating out of the hot pot.
After this, the first chance I get, I will make it. I have an electric camping stove that will work just fine.
Thank you for the mention and the how to ♡😊
It would be lovely to see what you make, maybe a Venezuela version! Do please tag me if you have one!!
Sure, I will! One of these days, I will embark on the adventure of doing a hotpot :)
First, I will go to the Chinese market to see what ingredients I can find. And I will mix them with some local products to see what comes out.
We usually do hotpot in very cold weather at home.. Just a small stove and a pot are enough to make a hotpot at home hehe. ..
Yes, it's lovely for winter isn't it!
Hot pots are great. We call them nabe in Japan and are a staple dinner in winter. Much of the same ingredients you used but also various types of fish cakes. I prefer pork and always douse my own bowl in ponzu.
There is some communal/family aspect to it as well as slowly eating, cooking and chatting. Everyone should try it.
I'm more familiar with shabu shabu because it's more like the hotpot we normally eat. Either way, they're great meals.
Ponzu is much nicer because soy sauce is too salty unless I water it down, then it losses its flavour. Maybe I'll get some ponzu instead in future. The Japanese fishcakes are very nice, and pretty!!!
Looks Delicious ! A Perfect idea to Make your picnic incredible. I love the way you have managed to keep everything in a proper manner. this is new for me, as far as i know hotpot is the box, which we use to keep our hot thing hot for a little more time. so, that we could eat them after short period of time. We also use them when going on to picnic or some party. I would love to try this idea with my family :) Thanks for sharing.
I think hotpot can have different meanings, and yes there are some that are used to keep food warm, great if you're taking packed lunch to school and work.
When it comes down to feasting I'd say you take the crown!
Those look really amazing!
Especially that sliced beef🤤
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I went to a hotpot things back a long time ago. I took the precious just in case it was terrible and I wanted to disappear. It was not. Hotpot's are awesome!
Glad you enjoyed your hotpot meal.
What's "the precious"?
Clearly someone who hasn't seen Lord of the Rings. It's a ring.
Nope! Is that why it's called the lords of the rings 😂🥴☺️
Haha, well yeah exactly.
I feel honoured to have met the only person on the planet to not have known this. I'll tell my alter ego also...He'll get a chuckle out of it.
You need to get out more LOTR geek!!!!! 😉😄
I'm a geek also.
No denying it...😁
Our version of a hotpot is totally different but I really like your hotpot! It must be a great way to entertain, especially on a cold winter's night.
It reminds me of the cheese fondues that were so popular back in the 70s, with the fondue pot in the centre of the dining table.
We make a sausage & vegetable hotpot which is more like a very saucy stew.
Thanks for sharing this @livinguktaiwan, I keep on learning new stuff here on Hive, never too old to learn, not so😉
Yes, the cooking/eating method is exactly like a fondue, just different base and ingredients.
I think the hotpot you're referring to is a meal in itself, the Brits cook it as well, the sausage and veggie one sounds delicious!
I've never tried it, but I had seen it on Asian movies, it's not the first time. I would gladly try it because it seems very interesting to use precisely in a moment of company with friends or family, to sit around food and share. But is it used for dinner or lunch? Or is it indifferent? Have a nice day ;).
It's all pretty flexible, but normally dinner as you tend to drag out the meal and enjoy it, but you can also have it for lunch at restaurants, eat as quick or slow as you want 🙂
Sorry for the delay. Thinking about it, you're right, it's certainly more ideal for dinner, since you can have more calm and time to enjoy everything in company. While at lunch we are often always in a rush. One evening I want to try to make this dinner with friends. Have a nice day.😉
That’s great, saw his post too. And seeing how you do it easy at home, I have to give it a go 😎
Thanks @livinguktaiwan 🤓 for sharing this with us.
Have a great Tuesday!
Hopefully you try it sometime @littlebee4 would love to see your version!
Thanks, hope I can soon. It looks like I get a rental property somewhere next week… unseen… and after I have contacted the movers I hope our belongings can be shipped quickly too, so I have our stuff back. Almost a month ago that I saw everything…
Will share my version too. Thanks for the inspiration 😎
Good luck with your rental and hope you settle down soon. I'm still in progress..... nearly three years on
Let’s hope… our plan is a rental for a year or so… and than to buy a cute little place to fix up and settle properly. As in a rental one never does. At least I don’t hehehe
Good luck with your search too and settling down one day 🤞🏻😊
That looks great. I was expecting a casserole but forgot they have this restaurant style too. 😅
It's all pretty flexible, the main thing is blanching the food in a soup base and enjoy it!!🙂
Yeah, they're very popular in many countries in Asia, I really miss them.
Daymmm!!! looks so homie goooood!!!! Makes me want to have it tonight again!!
You're so spoilt for choice, it's all over the place. So jealous 🥴
I'm running out of ideas what to cook at home for my monthly new recipe goal,this should be fine and easy but I doubt my parents will ever want to eat this. 😭
Would they prefer the traditional way of eating from a plate/bowl? I know some people think it's too much of a hassle, just give me my food!! 😄
I've done this with a fondue pot of oil, but I don't think I have ever done it with boiling water before. That is pretty interesting. I've actually never been much of a fan of fondue. I know like you said it is really all about the experience and the group of people you are with. Maybe that is my problem, I don't have enough friends to really make it an experience!
You make yourself sound like Billy no mates! You and Mrs Bozz can still make a nice romantic meal out of it 😉
We don't have many friends, but the ones we do have are quality.
Quality over quantity, that's what matters!!! Most people in our lives are acquaintances, only a handful of important ones become friends
brother I have two publications, one in Spanish and one in English and they are going to delete them both for God's sake.
Ooft - that certainly looks lively and fun. I've had fondue before, but not that style of hot pot - it looks great !!!
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It's similar to a fondue, or the chocolate ones that are becoming quite popular in recent years. This makes a good alternative dinner meal
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everything looks so delicious!!!!
It is in deed!
I would say the content has lower value and attract no outside views.
But hey as long it makes you happy, i am happy too
How's this 75 HIVE? Insane.
That's plenty of ingredients! But I'm sure the results are amazing :)
The good thing is that the ingredients are very flexible and you can basically have anything you like
Absolutely!
Hotpot is really perfect for the cold. ☺️
I haven’t tried adding corn on mine, so this is really a good reference for me to try it next time.
And oh, pork luncheon meat seems nice to add to, it’s similar to budae jjigae (no idea if I got the spelling right) but I haven’t tried it yet at home.
The beauty of hotpot is you can add whatever you want so I usually add the ingredients I am familiar of the taste. 😅
By the way, you cut those beef nicely!
Corn on the cob is a great ingredient to add as it's very cheap, adds flavour to the soup, and if at the end of the meal you're still hungry that will surely fill you up.
The pork luncheon meat is actually something I had from a Korean hotpot years ago (and yes, I googled it, your spelling is spot on 👍. Since then it's been a staple ingredient in my hotpot
Will definitely try the corn next time. I don't know how flavorful it will be, so I'm very curious.
I tried adding sausage on time on the hotpot, because I also saw it in the Korean hotpot, but the boyfriend didn't like it so not sure if he would like the pork luncheon meat too. But if it's just me eating, I'll definitely add it. 😂
This is indeed great😍🐂
😋
love the mushrooms and bean curd rolls.