Hot pot is a cooking method which comes from China. It’s prepared with a simmering pot of soup stock at the dining table, containing a variety of East Asian foodstuffs and ingredients. While kept simmering with a portable burner, ingredients are placed into the pot and are cooked at the table. The typical dishes to use are thinly sliced meat, leaf vegetables, mushrooms, egg dumplings, tofu and seafood. The cooked food is usually eaten with a dipping sauce.
On a cloudy and chilly day, hot pot is a fun, interactive way of eating, it’s a great way to spend time with friends and family while enjoying a tasty and diverse meal.
There are a couple steps to follow for preparing the pot. The first one is simmering the broth on its own and optionally you can add spices, herbs, garlic, spring onions or ginger. The second step is to add the ingredients to the hot broth and wait for them to cook, fish them out and eat them.
When sharing a large pot, an etiquette tip is to agree to share what is in the pot or keep track of what you put in it. An easy way to keep track of the ingredients is to hold each item in with a clean pair of chopscticks or lower a small metal strainer into it with the added items. Another thing to keep an eye on is that all ingrediends are cooked properly and after removing them from the broth you add them to your bowl. Then you can add in your dipping sauce or dip each item in your sauce individually. The dipping sauce should be made with soy sauce in which you can mix preserved bean curd, black sesame paste, sesame oil, minced garlic, finely chopped green onion.
