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Hot Pot Ingredients
The list of foods that can be cooked in a hot pot is a long one. Variety is key, since you want to have a little bit of everything. Beef and seafood are two of the most popular foods to cook in a hot pot, but you’ll need to balance those more filling items with light ones like greens and other vegetables. For example, for a four-person hot pot, I like to have at least two types of greens; three to four non-meat items like tofu, mushrooms and daikon; two to four meat items such as liver, beef, chicken, and tripe; two to four different kinds of seafood such as fish balls, salmon, and shrimp; and some kind of noodle: rice noodles, udon noodles or yam noodles.
Here’s how to prep some of my favorite ingredients.
Greens and Vegetables
Meat and seafood may be the centerpieces of a hot pot meal, but the feast isn’t complete without vegetables. They balance out the heavier offerings and add flavor to the broth. You can add almost any vegetable to a hot pot, but I prefer ones that retain a little bit of texture even after cooking in the broth.
- Leafy greens such as watercress, Chinese spinach (ong choy, water morning glory), snow pea leaves, lettuce (iceberg, red, or green), and chrysanthemum greens (tong ho). These greens are best left whole or in big pieces. Once they hit the hot broth, they begin to wilt and usually require a cooking time of just 2 to 3 minutes or less.
- Hearty greens such as rapeseed vegetable (yau choy), Napa cabbage, and baby bok choy. With thicker stems, these greens take a few minutes longer than leafy greens to cook. Cut them in half and cook them for about 4 to 5 minutes.
- Root vegetables like daikon, carrots, lotus root, and potatoes. There are two ways to prep root vegetables: They can be cut into 2-inch chunks or sliced thinly, about 1/8 inch thick. One of the benefits of cutting root vegetables into large chunks is they can be left to simmer in the broth and flavor it; this is usually done with things like daikon and carrots. Just add them in the beginning before bringing the broth to a simmer, and let them do their thing.
- Mushrooms, including button mushrooms, portobello, shiitake, maitake (hen-of-woods), enoki, and shimeiji. Large mushrooms such as portobello and shiitakes should be stemmed and cut in half, and usually take about 3 to 4 minutes to cook. Mushrooms with thin, edible stems, like shimeiji, should be separated into small bundles and take 1 to 3 minutes to cook. Enoki mushrooms are ready as soon as they start to wilt, which takes about 30 seconds.
- Tofu, including regular or firm tofu, tofu puffs, pressed tofu, or bean curd sticks. Since tofu is already cooked, you’re basically warming it up in the hot pot. I like to cut regular and firm tofu into cubes; slice firm and pressed tofu 1/4 inch thick; and cut tofu puffs in half. Soak dried bean curd sticks in water overnight or at least 3 hours before cooking, then cut them into 2- to 4-inch long pieces.
- Tomatoes are one of my favorite vegetables in a spicy hot pot. The slight sourness of the tomatoes goes great with that fiery heat.
- Corn, just like daikon and carrots, can be used to flavor the broth. Slice the cob of corn into 2- to 3-inch segments and let it simmer.
- Winter melon and kabocha squash should be skinned and cut into 2-inch chunks before being simmered until tender.
Soy/tofu puffs.
Meats
Just about any meat is hot-pot-appropriate meat. Beef, pork, and lamb are best prepped as paper-thin slices. Dip them a few times in the hot pot broth and in a few seconds they are done. Unless you have a meat slicer at home, buying it pre-sliced is the way to go; you can find packages of thin pre-sliced meats in the freezer section of most Asian supermarkets. Just remember to thaw the meat before it’s time to sit down to eat. If you’re not able to find thin slices of meat, slice them as you would if you were prepping for a stir-fry.
- Beef, including fatty cuts (brisket, short rib, etc.), rib eye, and Asian beef tendon meatballs. Thinly sliced fatty beef is one of the must-haves for a hot pot feast; it’s usually labeled as fatty beef, beef for hot pot, and even pastrami beef in the frozen section of Asian supermarkets. If you’re unable to find fatty beef or want a second beef option, try rib eye. Slice it against the grain, about 1/4 inch thick (or even thinner). Unlike Western-style meatballs, Asian-style tendon meatballs have a bouncy bite to them. You can usually find them frozen or refrigerated right next to the fish balls at Asian markets. Once they start to float in the hot pot, which usually takes about 4 to 5 minutes, they’re done.
- Lamb, in particular shoulder and leg. Just as popular as beef in China, and more popular in certain regions, lamb is another must-have. It’s usually always served as paper-thin slices. Just like fatty beef, it takes seconds to cook and can be found in the frozen section of an Asian market.
- Chicken, especially breast and thigh meat. Slice both white and dark meat stir-fry size, about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. You can place it in the hot pot as is, but I like to marinate it with a splash of rice wine first, along with a little bit of salt, white pepper, and julienned ginger for a few minutes before cooking.
- Pork loin and belly: Just like beef and lamb, pork loin and belly are best sliced paper-thin—go for pre-cut.
- Offal: tripe, pork intestine, tongue, kidney, and liver are all delicious in the hot pot. Tripe and intestines, which are easiest to work with when purchased pre-cleaned, take at least 5 minutes to cook, but I like to leave them in the hot pot longer to soak up all the flavors of the broth. If you spot thinly sliced beef tongue at the supermarket, get it! It takes only about a minute to cook and is both tender and delicious. Kidney and liver should be thinly sliced, about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick (they’re also good cut thicker, and scored with a cross-hatch pattern to help the heat penetrate). You can cook them as-is in the hot pot, but I like to marinate them with a little bit of rice wine, salt, white pepper, and julienned ginger for a few minutes before cooking.
Seafood
Just like meat, the variety of seafood you can cook in a hot pot is endless. Here are a few ingredients to consider, plus tips on prepping fresh seafood as well as fish balls and fish cakes.
- Shellfish like shrimp, scallops, lobster, crabs, oysters, clams, mussels, abalone, and geoduck. Shrimp is probably one of the most popular seafood ingredients in a hot pot, and is usually cooked whole with both the shell and head on, but you can use headless and shelled shrimp too. Lobsters and crabs are a great addition, the only the tricky part is chopping them into large pieces while still alive, which of course can be upsetting to some folks. Oysters should be shucked and take only a minute or two to cook. For clams, make sure they are scrubbed clean of any grit and sand; small clams such as littlenecks works best for hot pot. For mussels, remove their beards and make sure they are cleaned well before cooking. For a fancy touch, abalone and geoduck are the way to go. Abalone should be sliced thinly and will take only a few seconds to cook. Geoduck is a small pain to clean, but it’s worth it! Slice the geoduck as thin as you can and be sure not to overcook it in the hot pot—few seconds is all it takes to enjoy this sweet and tender delicacy.
- Fish, including halibut, salmon, monkfish, bass, and most other types of fresh fish are great in a hot pot. Slice the fish about a quarter inch thick. When cooking, place the fish slices in a small strainer to prevent them from getting lost in the pot.
- Squid and cuttlefish, both fresh and dried, make a great addition to a hot pot. With fresh squid and cuttlefish, make sure you clean the body and the tentacle parts well. Slice the body roughly 2-inch strips, making cross-hatch cuts on the surface (or you can simply cut it into thick rings). Dried cuttlefish, on the other hand, requires a little more work. It needs to be soaked in water for at least 24 hours and up to two days. Once it’s rehydrated, slice it the same way you would with the fresh ones. Unlike fresh cuttlefish or squid, dried cuttlefish has bold meaty flavor.
- Store-bought fish balls and fish cakes, which you can find at any well-stocked Asian supermarket. They are usually always found in the freezer section and come in a variety of shapes and flavors. One of the most popular fish balls for hot pot are round Chinese ones, which are usually white or golden brown. These fish balls are bouncy and fluffy in texture with a strong fish taste. Other popular Chinese fish balls include fish tofu, which are square shaped, and Fuzhou fish balls, from the Fuzhou region of China, which are stuffed with minced pork in the middle. Fish balls can also be made with shrimp, lobster, and cuttlefish. Since fish balls are already cooked when you buy them, they don’t take too long to reheat. There’s no need to defrost them first, just drop them in the broth and when they float to the surface, they’re ready.
- Homemade fish balls are even better than store-bought ones, but they’re also a lot more work. To make them, you have to scrape all the meat off the fish, mince it with a cleaver, and then pound it by hand. The pounding and slamming of the fish paste is the most important part, producing a bouncy and springy texture. If that sounds way too messy (which it is), there is another seafood ball you can make at home that’s a lot easier: shrimp balls. I’ll walk you through ’em in the recipe part of this post.
