Hot pot has always been very popular in China.  The long cold winter seasons in some parts of China might have necessitated the Chinese to sit around a boiling hotpot for a long time and converse heartily while enjoying delicious food cooked in the hotpot.

Talking about a traditional Chinese hotpot dish, four things that come to mind are:

• Hot pot dishes are very delicious irrespective of the ingredients;
• Hot pot dishes are very healthy;
• Hot pot is a great way to socialize;
• Hot pot is a warming activity for cold, winter climates.
• Hotpot is very easy to prepare

Hotpot is known in China by its Mandarin name ‘huo guo’, which literally means ‘fire pot’. It is also known in some Southern Chinese regions as ‘steamboat’.

Origin of Hotpot

Hot pot is a very old method of preparing a delicious and healthy communal dish followed by the Chinese for over a thousand years. The exact origin of the Chinese hotpot is disputed as it has different accounts of Mongolian, Sichuan and Northern Chinese origins.

It is fair to assume that the cold weather might have naturally prompted the Chinese to innovate a warm communal dish like hot pot. You are sitting close to a warm burner, which itself is comforting in a cold climate. Besides, the ingredients used are mainly the warming items following the ‘yin and yang’ concept practised in Chinese medicine since ancient times.

Hot pot was traditionally favoured during the winter season mostly, although later it became extremely popular and an inevitable dish on the Chinese dinner table irrespective of the weather.

Variations of Hotpot Dishes

To make a hot pot, you need five primary categories of ingredients such as basic broth (usually a mix of water, spices and salt), meat&seafood, starch, vegetables, and condiments. Plenty of choices are possible in each of the above-mentioned categories, and with this reason, there are innumerable varieties of hot pot dishes.

In China, the style of hot pot dishes varies according to the region, including varieties widespread in Hunan, Beijing, Yunnan, Guandong (Cantonese), Manchurian and Hubei regions. But still, the most popular hotpot dishes are the Sichuan hotpot and Beijing mutton hotpot.  

Sichuan Hotpot is a little spicier than many other versions with the use of Sichuan peppercorns. For someone who is less accustomed to pungent flavours, Sichuan hotpot will be a real challenge. Beijing mutton hotpot makes use of mutton as the main ingredient and is regarded as the representative of Northern Chinese hotpots. Lamb and beef are the most commonly used meat ingredients for hotpot, as they are yang (warming food).

How to Make a Hotpot

Preparing a hot pot dish must follow a long chain of activities which include preparing the ingredients, adding items to the broth, checking if they are cooked well, sharing with the participants, repeating the process, and so on.

Hot pot requires five fundamental categories of ingredients such as basic broth, meat & seafood, starch, vegetables and condiments. 

1. The Broth

The Broth can be made of any soup base you want.  It is usually a mix of water, salt, spices and vegetables.  For a Sichuan style hotpot, you can find a readymade hotpot soup base with spicy Sichuan flavour here, which suits as a basic broth. Another option is Little Sheep brand’s spicy hotpot soup base, which is also a really good one if you want to avoid the hassle of preparing a broth from the scratch. If you want a seafood soup base, we have a ready-made seafood flavour soup broth.  

1. Meats and Seafood

Meat can be anything from thin lamb slices, thin beef slices, fish, chicken, pork, tofu, egg, lobster, fish balls and rolls, shrimp, oysters, squid and so on.  Usually, a combination of these ingredients is prepared.

3. Starch

The most popular starch ingredient used in hotpot is glass or cellophane noodles. They cook quickly and soak up the flavour of the soup broth. Other types include udon noodles, rice, Chinese rice cake called ‘Nian gao’, Dumplings and Tofu.

4. Vegetables

All types of vegetables are good in a hotpot.  Some suggestions include Chinese Cabbage, Chinese Spinach, Choi Sum, Pak Choi, Daikon or White Radish and Enoki mushrooms.  

5. Condiments

A wide range of condiments is used as dipping sauces to enhance the flavour while serving hotpot, which may include light soy sauce, sesame paste, sesame oil, chilli oil and sauce, fresh chillies, minced garlic and fresh coriander.  A lot of times, everyone would create their own dipping sauce with a mixture of the different condiments.  One popular one would be light soy sauce, fresh coriander and fresh chillies.

The cooking of hotpot and serving them all takes place at the dinner table, which makes it a special shared group event rather than a separate dish served per person. It starts from the dinner table where you have a burner with a pot in which the simmering stock of water with your broth is kept. You can buy this hotpot burner here.

Before starting the hotpot, all the ingredients need to be perfectly prepared and assembled around the burner. A set of cooking accessories and serving utensils also need to be on the table including mini tongs, strainers, spoons, bowls, and chopsticks. Please find a set of accessories in our table and kitchenware section. 

Generally, the order of adding ingredients starts with the broth, meat and seafood second, followed by vegetables. If you have any dumplings and fish balls, they are the next followed by tofu. Noodles go almost at the end because you fill up on this ingredient the most. The condiments and dipping sauces are used at the time of serving.

A lot of customization takes place at the serving time. One can fill their bowls with their favourite ingredients from the hotpot. This makes hotpot a fun-filled interactive group party dish which is especially good on a cold winter’s night.

Hope you enjoy making your own hotpot!