Sasha's Kitchen: Mongolian Hot Pot ("Chinese Fondue") Part Deux

Prior to writing this post, I have unfortunately not had the opportunity yet to dine at a restaurant where Mongolian Hot Pot (known as "Chinese Fondue") was served - certainly my loss.  However, after reading about Hot Pot from guest Bloggers Kelly and Eric, I decided that I had to give it a try myself.  Truthfully, Mongolian Hot Pot is meant to be served to a group of diners, such as at a dinner party.  However, since it was my first try, and I was recipe testing, I decided to prepare Hot Pot for two - myself and my husband, Brad.

The first step was purchasing a hot pot.  I didn't get one of the fancy traditional hot pots, but the model I purchased at Tarzian West Housewares in Brooklyn was perfectly acceptable for making Hot Pot.  I bought the Presto Kitchen Kettle Multi-Cooker/Steamer which can function as a Hot Pot, among other things.  Apparently it can also be used for a wide variety of other tasks, from braising to deep frying, so I will be sure to use it next time I prepare my deep-fried NOLA beignets.  Thus, I selected my hot pot, which is pictured below.  It came with an internal basket, but I plan on purchasing additional small metal baskets on my next excursion to Chinatown, to use for a dinner party so each participant can have their own basked to make their hot pot fondue.  Last night, however, we made do with one basked and made one hot pot concoction that we shared.

The next step was to prepare the broth in the hot pot.  Although some diners may just use a simple beef or chicken stock, that would not do the trick for me.  I think the broth is really the most important ingredient in hot pot because it gives all the other vegetables and meats their flavor, as you want them to "soak up" the savory broth.  I was extremely pleased with the broth recipe I concocted, so I am going to share it below.  I really wanted something with a chicken broth / coconut flavor with lots of thai and asian spices, and a just a bit of heat.  I accomplished that in a very satisfying way.

Sasha's Mongolian Hot Pot Broth

7.5 cups of low sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup white cooking wine

2/3 cup coconut milk (leftover from the coconut meringue buttercream cake I baked on Saturday)

1 tsp sesame oil

2 T rice vinegar

1 tsp diced garlic

1 1/2 tsp powdered ginger

1/4 tsp saffron

1/2 tsp dried lemongrass

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

salt and pepper to taste

I prepared the broth in the hot pot and allowed it to simmer, much the same way I would have prepared a broth if I did it on a pot on my oven.  Like I said above, I was quite pleased with the results.

The next step was to select the ingredients that would be cooked in the hot pot - and for this step, the sky's the limit.  The possibilities are endless but I settled on the following:

london broil

fresh scallops (cut into small pieces, perhaps I should use baby scallops next time instead)

onions

tofu

broccoli
udon noodles

Next time, I will probably include some red pepper as well!  I seasoned all of the ingredients differently, using various combinations of pepper, soy sauce, scallions, rice vinegar, and sesame oil.  The tofu, broccoli and scallops were actually my favorite because they really absorbed the tasty broth extremely well.  I cooked my hot pot at about 200 degrees (my husband wanted me to turn up the heat, but I preferred to keep it down, and allow the ingredients to cook a bit more slowly).

My results were delicious - I recommend serving with just a bit of the broth, and with a homemade sauce made of soy sauce, rice vinegar, a bit of sugar, ginger and a touch of sesame oil.  I plan to get those mini-baskets very soon, and have a hot pot dinner party in the near future using my broth recipe to cook up everything and anything that I'm in the mood for.

Click here to read Eric in Jersey City's Hot Pot Post; Click here to read Michelle in Toronto's Chinese Eggplant Cuisine.

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Sasha's Kitchen: Mongolian Hot Pot ("Chinese Fondue") Part Deux

Eric's Kitchen in Jersey City: Hot Pot

This past weekend my girlfriend Jenn and I went to my Mom's house and she cooked 'Mongolian' Hot Pot which is one of my favorite meals. All you're really doing is cooking a bunch of meats, seafood and veggies in chicken broth but it's a great meal that is perfect for large groups of people and a fun experience.

The two keys items you need to make this happen are the 'hot pot' so that you can bring the broth to a boil (keep it covered to start), and a bunch of little baskets so that everyone can cook their food.


The actual meats and veggies used can certainly vary. This time around we used thinly sliced chicken, beef, lamb, small scallops, shrimp & fish. Normally we use monk fish or even red snapper but this time my Mom went to the Asian market and they had fish that was simply called 'hot pot fish'... It tasted similar to monk fish but wasn't. We also kept rice noodles, snow peas, mushrooms, Napa cabbage (bok choy also works great), spinach and vegetable dumplings on hand as well as lots of extra broth to keep the level high enough to cover people's baskets.


The other key item we make sure everyone has is dipping sauce. We had oyster sauce for the meats and a soy sauce based sauce that my Grandma makes really well. It's just soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, ginger, scallions, cilantro, a little sugar and sesame oil.

Another good tip is to make sure each meat has a serving fork or spoon so that people don't end up with juice from the raw meats on their eating utensils and plates or bowls. Everyone just fills their baskets with whatever meats and seafood they want and lets the baskets rest on the edge of the hot pot. We usually just throw veggies and noodles in as needed and serve with bowls also so you can make soup as you go. You can also always just throw whatever is uneaten in at the end, let it cook and have soup as leftovers.

Hot Pot is also mentioned in Kelly's entry on the best Chicago Bites of 2009

Eric's Kitchen in Jersey City: Hot Pot