Chinese Hot Pot

Today my family and I enjoyed a nice hot pot, or some would say Chinese fondue, for lunch. We only do this special meal every once in a while as it is not as efficient and takes a lot of preparation. Items needed to start a hot pot:

• portable butane stove
• butane fuel cans
• a large, wide, round pot
• chopsticks
• steel wire skimmers
  

My family uses a pot with a separator in the middle so we can have one side spicy and the other non-spicy. To get started, boil up some water in the hot pot.

We added a packet of hot pot flavoring to each section of the pot: spicy hot pot and pork based broth. Typical food cooked in the hot pot includes:

• thinly sliced meat
• leafy vegetables
• mushrooms
• wontons
• seafood

Today, we had shrimp, tofu, radish, beef, oysters, squid, a variety of fish balls, and several leafy greens. Each of us put in the item we want to eat into the water in the pot and watch it cook, taking in the flavors from the broth. When it's fully cooked, take it out, let it cool a bit, dip it into soy sauce mixed with a little sha cha sauce, and enjoy. After a while, the broth of the pot would be full of the yummy goodness taste from all the food that was put in there. We paired this broth with some noodles and we had the best homemade noodle soup ever.

Hot pot is a fun family meal. Everyone gathers around the table and has a part to cooking his/her own food. Just be careful with the stove as the fire and boiling water can be harmful if not careful. I have a blast every time my family does it.