Christmas Series: Hot Pot Dinner!

I am so excited to share this recipe with you! I had a lot of fun planning, cooking and eating it!

As I was looking for a fun recipe for a Christmas dinner party, I wanted to stay away from fake turkeys, or any traditional food. I wanted something refreshing, original and shareable. When I imagined it, I wanted people to have to talk to each other, have fun and share something good. To me, this is what Christmas is about.

While browsing my cookbooks, I stumbled upon Isa’s mushroom hot pot. This was it! I really wanted to modify this recipe to make it more like a Chinese fondue where people cook their own food in a rich broth.

So I grabbed my boyfriend and we went on a mission to the Asian supermarket. I really wanted to find fun vegetables, mushrooms and fragrant herbs to make this hot pot exceptional, while still paying a reasonable price for everything. I really suggest investing your local Asian store as they often have a great selection of vegetables, mushrooms and herbs for a fraction of the price you’d pay in a regular supermarket.

Needless to say, we were not disappointed. This is so exciting! It was a lot of fun to try out, and everyone around the table was full and happy.

Here is what you need (for 4-5 people):

For the broth:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 cubes of vegetable broth
• 8 cups of boiling water
• 2 tsp corn starch
• 1 onion
• 1 red pepper
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 lemongrass stalk
• 1 inch fresh ginger root
• 3 whole star anise pods
• 1.5 cinnamon stick
• 5 lemon leaves
• 3 tbs tamari sauce
• 1/2 tsp ground white pepper
• 1 can (8.5 oz) coconut milk
• 4 fresh or dried shiitake mushrooms (if you use dried, soak them overnight)
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1/2 bunch of cilantro with the stalks (around 1 cup)

For the vegetables (These are the ones I used, but feel free to change them to what you have, like and find.)

• 8 fresh shiitake mushrooms
• 1 cup fresh oyster mushrooms
• 8 king oyster mushrooms
• 1 bunch of enoki mushrooms
• 1 bunch shimeji mushrooms
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1 small broccoli head
• 1 small chinese or zucchini squash
• bamboo shoots (I bought a small head in an air sealed pack, but canned would work too)
• 1 can of slices water chestnuts
• 1 can of baby corn
• 10 mini bok choys
• 1 bunch of chinese broccoli or mixed greens
• kelp noodles
• fake meat of your choice (we used textured vegetable protein,or TVP)
• fried tofu (you can buy this ready-made in Asian supermarkets)
• lime slices (to serve)

Here is what you do:

1. In a large pot, place the oil, chopped onion, chopped garlic cloves and minced ginger root. Cook on medium heat until fragrant. Add the salt and saute until the onions are translucent.
2. While the onions are cooking, dissolve the vegetable broth cubes in 2 cups of boiling water and add the corn starch. Mix until completely dissolved.
3. Slice the 4 shiitake mushrooms thinly (including the feet) and add them to the onions. Also slice up the red bell pepper (1/2) and add it to the pot. Continue to stir until the red bell pepper is softened.
4. Take your vegetable broth and add it to the onion mix. Stir a little.
5. To your broth, add the cinnamon stick, star anise pods, and lemon leaves. Stir until fragrant and add the rest of the water (6 cups).
6. As the broth is cooking, start cutting your vegetables and display them on a plate. If you feel like you have too much of something, add it to the broth. This will give more flavour to your broth and will also make ‘fishing’ possible during the meal. I ended up adding about 1/3 of the vegetables to the broth while it was cooking. I find that the assortment of mushrooms really create a rich flavour. If you are using TVP, it would be a good idea to soak it in water now, just remember to squeeze the extra water out before serving. You can also drain and rince the kelp noodles.
7. Taste the broth and add the soy sauce and pepper accordingly.
8. Let the broth simmer.
9. Once you are done cutting all your vegetables and are ready to serve, add the coconut milk and cilantro, and bring back to a simmer.
10. Take your lemongrass stalk, and cut a few centimeters off both extremities. Then, cut the stalk in 3 or 4 parts. With a pestle or heavy cup, crush the lemongrass and add it to the broth. Adding it at the end really helps keep the flavour as it is quite volatile.

To serve, make sure every one has a skewer stick or a little metal basket. Each person will pick and choose whatever they want cooked, put it in their basket and cook it in the broth. If you want, you can add lime juice to your own bowl, but I find that unnecessary. Still, it’s nice to have that option. We used a portable cook top to keep the broth simmering throughout dinner.

The broth was thick, savoury and full of wonderful flavours. It was very filling even if we just ate it as is without rice or noodles. The kelp noodles have a very crunchy texture which is interesting, but you don’t need to plan a full portion per person. They are just a nice add-on I find.

The TVP really is great in this recipe as it takes on all the broth flavours and really gives the chewy texture of meat.

It was a lot of fun to eat this with my family this week-end. I had a great time preparing the vegetables with my mom, and the men enjoyed the richness of the broth… which was consumed entirely!

This is truly a must try, so let me know how it turns out!