Chongqing hot pot
The pot simmering at the table with a red broth of beef tallow, chilli and Sichuan pepper, where everyone cooks their own meat and vegetables. In Chongqing it’s eaten at the height of summer, sweating.
Ingredients
- Spicy hot pot base (from Asian shops) or: 100 g beef tallow, 40 g dried chillies, 2 tablespoons of Sichuan pepper, 3 tablespoons of doubanjiang, star anise, cinnamon, ginger and garlic
- 1.5 litres of stock
- Wafer-thin slices of beef and lamb
- Tofu, mushrooms, Chinese cabbage, potato, noodles
- For the dip: sesame oil, chopped garlic, coriander and spring onion
How to make it at home
- Melt the tallow, fry the doubanjiang, ginger, garlic and spices, then the chillies and pepper, without burning them.
- Add the stock and let it boil for 20 minutes.
- Put it in a pot on a burner in the middle of the table, over a medium heat.
- Each diner cooks their own ingredients in the broth: meat for a few seconds, vegetables for a few minutes.
- Dip everything in the garlicky sesame oil before eating.
The trick: Pots with two compartments let you have one spicy broth and one mild.