The hot pot is an ancient cooking method from China that has been popular since the Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD). It was introduced to Japan by Japanese immigrants during the Edo period (1603–1867). The name “hot pot” comes from the fact that it is cooked on the stovetop over a large open container of boiling water. In modern times, this dish has become very common all over the world, especially in Asia. 

Recently in Perth there have been Hot Pots and Mini Hot Pots popping up all over the place. Allow me to explain the difference between them. Basically Hot Pot is a communal soup between more than one person and the soup boils in front of you. Mini Hot Pot is generally for one person and the ingredients get cooked in the kitchen.

It’s very easy and fun to do this at home. Here are the pros and cons to having Hot Pot at home.

Pros:

1) You can get amazing ingredients. Quite often at the restaurants the ingredients are frozen. When you do it at home you can get some exquisite, fresh seafood. I like to get a whole fish and take off the fillets and cube them up. Sometimes I’ll get some live abalone and fresh squid etc. The ingredients at the restaurants are far more inferior to getting them yourself. Fresh seafood is a winner! Also you can get a lot of different types of meat. 

2) You will spend less and get better quality.

3) It’s a nice way to get some family and friends over for a fun dinner.

4) You can have it again for breakfast with the leftovers.

5) You can provide your own drinks.

Cons:

1) It’s impossible to get the variety of hot pot ingredients that the restaurants have. There are so many different kinds of raw meats and vegetables at a hot pot restaurant.

2) You have to clean up and there are usually quite a lot of bowls and serving plates

3) You need the equipment at home. Gas stove or electric burner and Hot Pot pot. The electric burner is more expensive. The gas stove is fairly inexpensive less than $40. Be sure to have back up gas cannisters. The gas stove is a portable stove, so it’s also great to use as a camping stove or even for a picnic or fishing. 

4) The dipping sauces at a hot pot restaurant are fun to make and have a huge variety. 

5) Prep time of the meats and vegetables. Also having to make your own hot pot broth.

I love doing both. Eating at a restaurant is a lot of fun. There are so many different kinds of fish balls and other raw ingredients. Also the broths are really good. You can get up to 4 different soup bases in a 4 way pot. I like to get a spicy broth as well as a mild broth to give my mouth a break. There are so many raw ingredients the mind boggles, from rice noodles, to raw meats, green vegetables and root vegetables, a HUGE variety of mushrooms like oyster mushroom, or shimeji mushroom. Then you have all the fun and crazy meats like pig’s brains, ducks blood, liver etc. Don’t forget to get some beef balls or pork balls. 

Dipping sauces at restaurants are fun and you can be creative. There are things like chili oil, sesame oil, sesame sauce, Szechuan pepper oil, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, corriander and sometimes black vinegar. Restaurants will vary what kind of dipping sauce options they have.

Cooking techniques you need a bit of common sense. I tend to put a few ingredients in at a time. If you throw them all in you will have some that overcook. The cooking time varies a little bit but try to put 1say some fish and fish balls in at the same time. I also like to put the noodles in at the end. Everything you are putting into the pot is adding to the flavour of the broth. So noodles at the end is a bit of a thing for me to get the most flavour. 

So many of the ingredients can be bought at the local Asian grocery stores. This includes some soup bases. I generally buy the spicy one as a base and I often make a Japanese Hon Dashi style broth. This you have a spicy broth and a slightly sweet broth as well. If you don’t like spicy food, just do a Japanese broth or a tom yum style or even just a home-made chicken stock.

Try not to get ingredients that will fall apart easily. Silken tofu will just disintegrate. Go for a firm tofu. And when prepping your food be sure to cut them up into no bigger than 1-inch pieces. 

While you are eating you will notice the water levels dropping. I always have a kettle boiled ready to top up with water. The good thing about restaurants is they top it up with stock from a large kettle or hot pot broth. 

One of the other important ingredients for me is Chinese BBQ sauce. This is great to dip your cooked ingredients in. I usually put some in my bowl and mix a raw egg in there. Trust me, it’s so good.

Be sure to tag @eatwithturner in any hot pot posts and I’ll be sure to share them.

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