Spicy Seafood Hotpot is a communal dish of mixed seafood, vegetables, mushrooms, tofu, and noodles cooked on a wide cooking vessel filled with spicy broth in a dining table with portable or built in stove tops.
While dining is already a communal family event (most of the times) but there are other dining styles that bring it up a notch, some examples are boodle fight, fondue, Korean Barbecue, barbecue and our post today, the hotpot. How does this differ from a normal dining experience? One word, interaction, more of it. Usually with dining, interaction stops at talking to each other because most of the preparation happens in the kitchen by either a chef or whoever cooks it at your home but with dining experiences like hot pot you are obliged to do more than just that, you participate because you share the meal, sometimes cook it the meal and prepare it with everyone, which becomes a fun experience.
I love hotpots, just the name of it reminds me of gathering, fun with friends and family and lots of food. While hotpots are usually carried out with large groups of friends and family you can still do it at home with lesser people, I suggest two at least and all you need is a portable stove top, a pot and any ingredients you love. It’s a good thing to serve at home since the preparation time is literally close to none, you just need to put all ingredients in the dining table and let the diner cook his own meal on a communal broth, this saves you time cooking on your own in the kitchen, giving you more time to mingle with your loved ones.
Hotpot is good to serve during cold or rainy days, it’s just the broth that gives warmth to your soul and the companionship that warms your heart. That is why I decided to do it at home the other day since its getting cold now from where I am, it’s also our last chance to do it in our backyard as the nights are getting darker and darker, it’s just in time before the long winter starts.
With hotpot there are no rules on what you can cook on that broth, as long as it is edible then you’re all good. Four our recipe today we opted to make it mostly seafood and since seafood are delicate, a good spicy broth will be our choice for its soup. We used white fish, variety of fishballs, shrimps, tofu, vegetables and noodles, the broth is a fusion of Japanese and Korean flavours where I used dashi as my base and infused with gochujang and yellow miso, all I need is to fire that stove up place the broth ingredients then sit back and relax, say and hear some stories with my family.
Spicy Seafood Hotpot is a communal dish of mixed seafood, vegetables, mushrooms, tofu, and noodles cooked on a wide cooking vessel filled with spicy broth in a dining table with portable or built in stove tops.
Such a yummy meal! I love seafood, this is definitely right up my alley. Those water-drop shaped fish balls are cute!
L love this but with clear soup/stock. Not into the spicy stuff, what they call Mala…nor the tom yam.
Nothing like a good fiery hot pot! That spicy flavor sounds invigorating for any time of year.
Sounds amazing, Raymund. I don’t think I have ever had a hot pot – I can see now what I was missing!
Once the broth starts to boil, can I add all the other ingredients and cook it like a stew?
Yes that is correct, Note that seafood cooks easily
Should we sautee the spring onions in oil before adding the other broth ingredients, or just throw the broth ingredients together and cook it?
Just put it all in the broth