Homemade Hot Pot for Two – April 25, 2009

This the last April post. Woot! Now I’m only two months behind.

I’m slowly getting there….



So after our trip to Toronto, Jimmy and I had some tofu puffs in our fridge. The best option for using them all up? Hot pot!



I’ve made hot pot many times now, and I’ve been open to experimenting with what meats work best. The clear favourite was thinly sliced pork loin roast. This time, I wasn’t able to freeze it enough, so I couldn’t slice the pork as thinly as I normally do.



Here’s a photo of the aforementioned tofu puffs and some cubes of medium-firm tofu. You`ll notice the tofu puffs are sliced in half; this is to make them able to soak up more soup faster. The tofu puffs were delicious, as per usual. We toss a handful into the soup at the start of the meal and don`t start fishing them out until we have to refill the pot with broth.

I normally get soft tofu, but Jimmy doesn`t like how it breaks up easily in the hot pot. Though I agree that it`s annoying trying to fish out fragments of soft tofu, I love the texture of it. The medium-firm tofu held up to the cauldron of soup pretty well, and it wasn`t too firm for my tastes.



I also brought out some fake crab meat, pork balls, and more tofu puffs. As you can see, the crab meat is still frozen. It didn`t really matter in the end because we were just going to boil them.



We only had two types of vegetables this time because the grocery store didn`t have any fresh enokitake. Lame. This time, we only ate napa cabbage and bok choy.



Here, you can see our entire spread. Veggies in the back; shacha sauce (沙茶醬) for mixing into a dipping sauce; a bowl of dipping sauce containing soy sauce and shacha sauce; a squeeze bottle of hoisin sauce for mixing into a dipping sauce; the plate of tofu puffs, fake crab, and pork balls; a raw egg for mixing into a dipping sauce; and the plate of sliced pork. This picture doesn`t have the tofu platter with both types of tofu because I couldn`t frame it up nicely with all the other plates.

A quick note on the sauce: everyone mixes it differently. I like mine with an egg yolk, hoisin, shacha, and Sriracha sauce (not pictured). Slightly sweet, slightly salty, and slightly spicy—it`s the perfect dipping sauce for me. Jimmy mixes his with only an egg yolk, soy sauce, and shacha sauce. I find this too salty for my taste. Basically, if you grew up mixing a sauce one way, your tastes will reflect this. If you`ve never eaten hot pot before, experiment! The possibilities are endless!