Image courtesy of snoshuu

Dish of the Week: Chinese hot pot

Winter isn’t winter for me without huo guo, or hot pot. Whether you call it Chinese fondue, shabu shabu, Mongolian hot pot or steamboat, one thing is for sure – it’s hard to imagine a more soothing, communal dish.

Most families start off with an electric frying pan filled with chicken broth, and small bowls of dipping sauces. My family would always gather around a table with plates of thinly sliced beef and chicken, shrimp, squid, fish meatballs, napa cabbage, and bean thread noodles. Any food that cooks quickly will do well. Using chopsticks or slotted ladles ,drop your food in, and it should cook within seconds. Fish it out and drop it into your dipping sauce.

It’s worth noting that there is an optimal order of operations with respect to when you put in your food items. First is anything that takes a long time to cook (such as fish meatballs), and second is most flavorful first. By cooking meats and other flavorful items first, the result is a rich stock in which to cook your vegetables. All I have to say is mmm… meat-flavored vegetables. At the end, save the remaining soup and you’ll be able to get another simple, relaxing meal out of it.

Some people add hot peppers and other seasonings depending on their region of origin, but sometimes simplicity is best. That’s even more evident as you begin to prepare your dipping sauces. Most people stick to a combination of sha-cha jiang (Chinese barbecue sauce), soy sauce, sesame oil, and a raw egg. This probably works the best with more strongly flavored red meats such as beef and lamb. For white meat, a sauce of oil heated with salt, ginger, scallions, and garlic creates the best balance.

Though you can get hot pot at Bob’s 88 Shabu Shabu in Rockville (closed Jan. 27 due to health and safety code violations), this dish is so simple that it’s much more cost-effective to make it at home. Just put a pot on simmer, stand around, and dip away.