hot pot

Hot pot is one of the my favorite meals - not only is it delicious but it brings back good memories of long dinners with my family. Now that I no longer live with my parents, I don't get to have it as often...until recently when I figured out how easy it is to prepare! The first time I made it myself was last year during one of the bad snowstorms we had. I woke up to about 2' of snow and the first thing that popped into my head was, "I want to have hot pot." My roommate and I trekked through the snow to the Asian grocery store which was an adventure - but so cool to see the city completely covered in white and be so still. We had Eric and some friends over and we ate hot pot and drank wine all night long. It was so much fun.

If you're not familiar with hot pot, its basically a broth that you bring to a boil in a "hot pot" which is similar to a slow cooker but gets a lot hotter. You can get one at an Asian grocery store - or you can just use a larger pot and cook everything on your stove, which is what I do. The only nice thing about having a real hot pot is that you can bring it to the dining table and everyone can participate in the cooking. So, you have a boiling broth, some raw veggies and seafood, drop them into the broth and cook them. You eat everything with rice and a little bit of soy sauce with chilli flakes. Sounds good? It is!!













Ingredients:

- water
- bottle of Asian barbeque sauce - I use the Bull Head Brand - it comes in a 4.5 oz bottle with a silver label (can be found at an Asian grocery store)
- unsalted peanuts
- fish sauce
- sugar
- veggies - suggestions: bok choy, chinese broccoli, watercress (my favorite), mushrooms
- seafood/meat - suggestions: shrimp, fish balls, shrimp balls, scallops, sliced beef
- soy sauce
- chilli pepper flakes

Preparation:

- take about a handful of peanuts and cook in a skillet on the stove until browned
- fill a large pot or hot pot with water - make sure you don't fill it up too high since you want to have enough room for the seafood and veggies
- the peanuts, bbq sauce all go in the pot of water along with some fish sauce and sugar to taste
- bring to a boil and you're ready to go!
- fill a small bowl with soy sauce and add the chilli pepper flakes - I pour this sauce over everything but its not necessary - I don't make the broth that salty so this adds a lot of flavor and heat which I love!