SPICY HOT POT BROTH

Ilived off hot pot for three months while I was in China.In case you are not familiar with hot pot，it is a popular dining concept in the Sichuan province of China whereby guests have a pot of boiling broth in the middle of a communal table and raw vegetables，meat and seafood are brought to the table for the guests to cook themselves in the broth.If you haven’t tried it，this is the most addictive style of eating that you can encounter-the hours easily passing by with your friends，dipping，drinking，dipping and then drinking some more，before you are kindly asked to‘piss off by the restaurateur in the early hours of the morning.

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

50ml rapeseed oil

120g fermented chilli bean paste

40g mixed whole Chinese spices

30g peeled fresh root ginger，sliced

30g spring onion，cut into 1cm sections

20g fermented soya beans

20g preserved vegetables

25g chilli flakes

1.5 litres chicken stock or water

40ml Shaoxing rice wine

200g beef dripping

10g sugar

10g ground toasted Sichuan peppercorns

5g salt

40g large dried red chillies，plus extra if needed

15g whole Sichuan peppercorns，plus extra if needed For the dipping sauce

100ml sesame oil

15g garlic，very finely chopped

15g fresh root ginger，peeled and very finely chopped

1g salt

1.Heat a drizzle of the rapeseed oil in a wok and stir-fry the chili bean paste，whole Chinese spice，ginger and spring onion until fragrant.

2.Add the fermented soya beans，preserved vegetables and chilli flakes and stir-fry briefly.

3.Pour in the stock or water and bring to the boil.

4.Add the wine，dripping，sugar，ground Sichuan pepper and salt，then taste and adjust the seasoning.

5.In a separate pan，heat the remaining oil and stir-fry the dried chillies and Sichuan peppercorns until fragrant，then pour over the prepared broth.If you want the stock spicier，add another dried chilli and more Sichuan peppercorns.

6.Transfer the hot pot stock to an electric table-top hot pot，ready for use.

7.For the dipping sauce，simply mix the ingredients together in a serving bowl and serve with the broth for dunking the cooked food.

CHEF’S TIP

You can literally put any ingredients into a hot pot，ranging from raw meat and fish to dried tofu skins and noodles.

Experiment to find out what you like best. For a communal hot pot, it may be advisable to prep some of your ingredients by putting them on skewers(as they do in some hot pot restaurants) so that you and your guests do not spend the whole evening fishing around in the broth looking for loose morsels of beef !

hancheng

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