The Ultimate Guide To Cooking Chinese Hot Pot: A Step-By-Step Visual Journey

Chinese hot pot is a fun and social meal to share with family and friends. It's an interactive dining experience where everyone cooks their food in a simmering pot of broth at the table.

To make a Chinese hot pot, you'll need a heat source, a pot, and a variety of raw ingredients like meat, seafood, vegetables, tofu, and noodles. You'll also need dipping sauces to add extra flavour.

Here's a step-by-step guide to hosting your own Chinese hot pot party:

1. Prepare the broth

You can either make your own broth or buy a pre-made one. If you're making your own, simmer meat or vegetable stock with aromatics like ginger, scallions, and mushrooms. For a spicy kick, add dried chillies and Sichuan peppercorns.

2. Choose your ingredients

Select a variety of raw meats, seafood, and vegetables. Popular options include thinly sliced beef, pork, lamb, chicken, fish, shrimp, and squid. Don't forget vegetables like napa cabbage, bok choy, mushrooms, and leafy greens.

3. Prepare noodles and dumplings

Noodles and dumplings are essential for a Chinese hot pot. Choose from wheat noodles, rice noodles, shirataki noodles, and frozen dumplings.

4. Make dipping sauces

Provide a selection of dipping sauces for your guests. Common options include sesame paste, soy sauce, oyster sauce, chilli oil, and peanut butter.

5. Set up the table

Place the heat source and pot in the centre of the table. Arrange the plates of ingredients, dipping sauces, and individual bowls and chopsticks for each guest around the pot.

6. Start cooking!

Turn on the heat and wait for the broth to boil before adding your ingredients. Cook your ingredients in small batches to avoid overcrowding the pot and lowering the temperature. Enjoy your hot pot feast!

Choosing your broth: the base for your hot pot can be anything from chicken or pork bone to coconut milk, or even spicy mala

Choosing your broth is the first step in making a Chinese hot pot. The base for your hot pot can be anything from chicken or pork bone to coconut milk, or even spicy mala.

A simple broth can be made by boiling water with meat bones or fish heads and a combination of herbs, seasonings, and vegetables. For example, you can use ginger, goji berries, red dates, bay leaves, cloves, star anise, whole dried red chillies, cinnamon bark, and fennel for seasoning, and white pepper and Sichuan peppercorn for spices. For vegetables, scallions, garlic, Napa cabbage, and mushrooms are good options.

If you want to get creative, you can try a plain broth with chicken and/or pork bone, ginger, goji berries, red dates, white pepper, and scallions, or a spicy mala broth with beef bone, ginger, garlic, chilli oil, whole dried red chillies, bay leaf, star anise, cinnamon stick, cloves, and fried tofu puffs.

For a more traditional Chinese hot pot, use meats and seafood that are local to you. For example, if you live near the sea, use seafood; if you live inland, use pork, lamb, or goat.

You can also purchase pre-made broths from Chinese restaurants or pre-packaged ingredients from popular hot pot restaurants at Asian grocery stores.

Selecting your meats: choose from beef, pork, lamb, chicken, fish, shellfish, or tofu

Selecting your meats

Choose from beef, pork, lamb, chicken, fish, shellfish, or tofu

The most widely used meats for Chinese hot pot are beef, lamb, and pork. However, chicken, fish, shellfish, and tofu are also great options.

Meat for hot pot is typically sliced paper-thin so that it cooks quickly while still having enough surface area to absorb the delicious oils in the broth. When the meat is cooked, it will literally melt in your mouth.

If you're shopping at a Western-style grocery store, ask your butcher to thinly slice any fatty cuts or lean meats for you. For beef, fatty cuts such as brisket or ribeye are recommended. Chicken thighs cut into bite-size pieces, thinly sliced pork loin, or thinly sliced chicken breast are also good options.

For pork, use thinly sliced pork belly, shoulder, or loin. Lamb is widely eaten in Sichuan and northern Chinese hot pots and is excellent cooked in a spicy broth. For the best lamb cuts, use either the leg or shoulder.

Beef options include brisket, short rib, ribeye, sirloin, flank steak, or thinly sliced beef against the grain.

For chicken, use boneless breast or thighs, thinly sliced.

Animal offal cuts like liver or kidneys are also popular options in Chinese hot pots. These can be purchased at any Asian market. Be sure to slice them thinly to ensure the best texture.

Meat can also come in meatball form, which is easier to cook as they only take 4-5 minutes and will float to the surface when they are ready to be eaten.

Fried pork is another option, though it only needs to be placed in the broth for a few seconds, otherwise, it will get soggy.

Fish and shellfish

Fish is a great addition to hot pot, but it's important to choose a species with firmer flesh. Firmer fish like salmon, cod, or halibut are better choices.

Any shellfish, ranging from shrimp or crab to clams, will be excellent for hot pot. Chinese hot pot is all about the combination of flavors, so it's perfectly fine to mix seemingly separate ingredients like shrimp and lamb. Use pork with shellfish if you're looking for a more classic flavor combination.

A distinct element of Chinese hot pot is fish and shellfish balls. These are made from pounded fish or shellfish molded into balls with a distinct bouncy texture. Some variations are even filled with corn or pork. These seafood balls are available ready-made at any Chinese grocery.

Squid is another option for hot pot and comes in two forms: body and tentacle. The body of the squid is usually the softer meat while the tentacles are chewy. Squid is naturally salty, and it's important to find the right dipping sauce to complement the taste and texture.

Tofu

Soft tofu is the most common type of tofu and will absorb the flavor of the hot pot. Since tofu is already cooked, you just need to warm it up in the hot pot, which will make it gooey and delicious. Be careful, it will be molten hot.

Frozen tofu has a completely different taste and texture. It reabsorbs a lot of water from the hot pot broth and gets the flavors embedded within its spaces. It will have a much bouncier feel to it.

Fried tofu puffs are made by cutting tofu into squares and deep-frying it. They are deliciously crispy on the outside, and the broth will simply add flavor.

Preparing your vegetables: wash and chop leafy greens and mushrooms

Preparing your vegetables is a key step in the hot pot process. Here's a detailed, step-by-step guide to washing and chopping your leafy greens and mushrooms:

First, select your vegetables. For leafy greens, popular options include watercress, bok choy, spinach, Napa cabbage, and lettuce. For mushrooms, enoki, shiitake, king oyster, and shimeji are all great choices. You can also include other vegetables like daikon, lotus root, and corn to add variety to your hot pot.

Once you've gathered your ingredients, it's time to start preparing them. Wash your leafy greens and mushrooms thoroughly under running water. Remove any dirt or debris that may be present. If your mushrooms have long stems, trim them to a manageable length.

Now, it's time to chop. For larger leaves like Napa cabbage, cut them into smaller, bite-sized pieces. Baby bok choy, on the other hand, can be left whole. As for your mushrooms, separate any clumps into smaller bundles. This will make it easier to cook and eat them.

After chopping, you may want to blanch your vegetables, especially if you're using frozen or pungent ingredients. This will help remove any excess moisture and improve their texture. Simply boil them for a few minutes, then remove them from the heat and drain the water.

Finally, arrange your prepared vegetables on a platter or in bowls. Keep them separate from the raw meat and seafood to avoid cross-contamination.

Remember, the beauty of hot pot is its versatility, so feel free to experiment with different types of vegetables and mushrooms to find your perfect combination. Enjoy your hot pot feast!

Cooking your noodles: cook noodles in the broth at the end of the meal to soak up all the flavours

When it comes to cooking your noodles, it's best to add them to the hot pot at the end of the meal. This way, they'll be infused with all the flavours from the broth and the ingredients that have been cooked in it.

There are a few different types of noodles you can use, such as knife-cut, rice noodles, egg noodles, ramen, udon, and glass noodles. You can also use thin fresh white noodles, fresh spinach noodles, or shirataki noodles. If you're using shirataki noodles, you can add them directly to the boiling broth and they'll be cooked in seconds.

If you want to cook your noodles in the broth, make sure to follow the package instructions for cooking time. You don't want to overcook them and end up with soggy noodles.

If you have any leftover broth, you can use it to make noodle soup another time. Simply cook your noodles in the broth and add any leftover ingredients or vegetables you have on hand.

If you prefer, you can also serve the noodles as a side dish without cooking them in the broth. However, cooking them in the broth at the end of the meal is a great way to soak up all the delicious flavours and create a tasty dish to end your hot pot experience.

Making your dipping sauce: combine soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, chilli oil, and more

Making your own dipping sauce is a fun and creative part of the hot pot experience. It's easy to do and you can experiment with different ingredients to find your favourite combinations. Here are some ideas for how to make a delicious sauce with soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and chilli oil.

Ingredients

• Soy sauce is a common choice as a base for hot pot dipping sauces. It's salty and harmonises the random things you may throw in. You can use light soy sauce or seafood-flavoured soy sauce, which has oyster extracts in it to give it extra umami.
• Oyster sauce is another good option, adding umami and a well-rounded, sweet flavour.
• Sesame oil can be added for extra sesame flavour, or a sesame-flavoured sauce without the thick consistency of sesame paste.
• Chilli oil will add a mild heat and rich flavour without overpowering the whole sauce.

Other ingredients

You can also add some or all of the following to your sauce:

• Chinese sesame paste (different from tahini, as it's made from toasted, unhulled sesame seeds and has a darker colour and more intense flavour)
• ShaCha/Chinese BBQ sauce, which is vaguely reminiscent of XO sauce
• Chinese black vinegar or rice vinegar
• Fish sauce (for fish lovers only!)
• Hoisin sauce, which has a sweet flavour
• Fresh garlic and herbs, such as scallions and cilantro
• Sugar, to bring out the flavours
• MSG, to give it some zazazu

Tips

• If you can't find Chinese sesame paste, you can use peanut butter as a great alternative.
• If you're vegetarian or vegan, Bullhead also makes a vegan ShaCha sauce.
• If you have a shellfish allergy, you can use vegetarian oyster sauce, which is made with mushrooms.
• If you want to thin out your sauce, add water gradually and whisk continuously. You can also use hot pot base instead of water to boost the taste.
• If you're using peanut butter or tahini as a base, add sesame oil for a very delicious nutty flavour.

Frequently asked questions