My favorite dish-Hot Pot

Chinese Hotpot is one of the most popular and one of my most favorite food in China. It usually consists of a simmering metal pot with broth in the middle of a table and all raw ingredients placed beside the metal pot. When the soup in the mental pot is simmering, people can put whatever they like into the pot. The history of hotpot is believed to date back to 1000 years ago during Jin Dynasty. The original ingredient was meat (beef, mutton, and horse) and the broth was not spicy. Mongolian horsemen cooked hot soup with meat to help them keep out the cold in winter months. Hot pot subsequently spreads throughout China. In the southern part of China, seafood and vegetables are the main ingredients for hot pot. The spicy chili hot pot is from the Sichuan and Chongqing region. In north China, there is a famous Beijing lamb hot pot also known as mutton hot pot.

Hotpot Types By Region

1) Chongqing Hotpot

It is my best-loved hotpot. The fresh and traditional spicy hot-pot of Chongqing provides many dining options. The hotpot in Chongqing is a representative of the city and a typical lifestyle. Chongqing Hot-pot can be found all over China. A popular hot pot in Chongqing attracts thousands of local people and foreigners a night. It is not surprising that people usually spend a whole afternoon to wait a table.

2) Beijing Style Hotpot

The typical ingredient of traditional Beijing hotpot is lamb. The simmering metal pot is replaced by charcoals and copper pot to heat up.  All ingredients are fresh and Beijing hotpot has the same way with any other hotpot to boil ingredients and meat. Beijing hotpot is also viewed as instant-boiled mutton in Beijing.

3) Sichuan Hotpot 

Here are some of the ingredients and condiments needed to make the Sichuan spicy hot pot broth: Sichuan bean paste, cinnamon stick, ginger, garlic, fennel seeds, sand ginger, liquorice, green cardamom, black cardamom, Sichuan peppercorn, star Anise, dried chili, fermented black bean.

Hotpot At Home

1. Hotpot Equipment

Induction cooker, pot, chopsticks, plates, spoons and bowls.

2. Ingredients 

Fresh vegetables, meat (beef, lamb, pork, chicken, meatballs), seafood (shrimp, fish, squid), etc.

3. Broths and Dipping Sauces

Little Sheep's Mongolian hot pot broth, Lee Kum Kee’s Seafood Hot Pot base, Haidilao hotpot source base, dipping sauce (thick chili sauce, sesame paste, chopped onion, garlic sprouts, coriander, oyster sauce, sesame oil, etc)

This youtube video gives you tips of eating Sichuan Hotpot at home