Japan – Hot Pot

by Zayna Khan

This dish is a traditional dinner usually cooked sometimes or even on special occasions to have a huge bowl of soup/ broth with many foodstuffs dipped into it. This dish is a family dinner dish, in which all the members have to eat from the same huge bowl of hotpot. In which many food items dipped into the soup or broth. Fire is burning below the pot sometimes, it may harm so better to turn it off. The pot is usually hot so it keeps the soup hot in it. From this concept, this dish named ”HOTPOT”.

This is also known as Soup Pot, Fire pot or Soup food.

There are so many item added into the soup to make it more popping and delicious. You can make it either vegetarian soup or non veg. You can add leavy vegetables, meat balls, cheese, food items like dumplings, noodles etc.

Huge bowl of simmering soup having all the delicious food stuff into it, placed at the centre of the dinning table. This may include many food items like :

• Sea food
• prawns
• Noodles
• Corns
• Tomatoes
• Peas
• Bamboo shoots
• Mushrooms
• Potatoes
• Dumplings
• Leafy vegetables ( spinach etc )
• Bell pepper
• Sprouts etc.

SERVING OF HOTPOT

This dish is served in a huge bowl which is fixed in a deep fried pan. This makes the hotpot simeering all the time. To make it hot or simmering, electric pan is used to serve into it. If electirc heating pan is not available, burner is used instead of this heating to keep it hot all the way.

This is the non electric heatin stainless steel pan. At the bottom of which burner is burning.

Even you can serve this dish in small individual bowl, but this method is not the traditional method to serve hotpot.

But the concept of this dish is ” eating from the same bowl, sharing is caring ”. Nowadays this kind of concept is now seen, but as from the tradition of Japan, we can see it there.

Regional Versions of HotPot

There are many different varieties of this dish served through out the world. Following are some of them :

• Japenese Hotpot
• Cantonese Hotpot
• Mongolian style Hotpot
• Shabu Shabu
• Thailand’s suki
• Chongqing Hotpot
• Mala Xiang Guo
• Swiss style Hotpot
• Cahn Chua etc

Hotpot is a full-flavored water-based dish, also included in soup or broth dish. This dish is served usually at dinners like family gatherings and get-togethers to enjoy a pot of meal together in the same bowl.

Nutritions

• Calories : 690 kilocalories
• Carbohydrates : 70 grams
• Protein : 35 grams
• Fat : 20 grams
• Fiber : 4 grams
• Vitamins : 500 IU

Ingredients of making hotpot

1. Broth

• Butter 2 tablespoons
• beef slices 1 lbs
• Onions 1/2 cup
• sake 1 tablespoon
• Dashi 1 cup
• Soya sauce 1/2 cup
• Sugar 2 tablespoons
• Water 1 liter

Method

• In a cooking pot, add butter and sauteed the onions into it.
• After 4 minutes of the frying, add beef fillets into it. Let it cook for 10 minutes to make it slightly brown from the outer side.
• Add water with other ingredients like dashi, sake, sugar and soya sauce.
• Let it simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until meat cooked enough.
• Now check if the meat is tendered enough. Keep it aside.

2. More stuff to add into broth

• Mushrooms 1 cup sliced
• Scallions 1/2 cup chopped
• Cabbage 1/2 cup sliced
• Boiled Tofu 1/2 cup chopped
• Boiled yam 1/2 cup chopped
• Green onions 4 chopped
• Cooked rice 1/2 cup

Method

Now add these ingredients into the beef broth and cooked for 10 to 15 minutes. To make it infused into broth.

3. Varieties of cooked meat to add into broth

• Thinly sliced pork meat 1 cup
• Shrimp paste 1/2 cup
• Octopus meat 1 cup
• Fish balls 1/2 cup
• Chicken feet 4 to 6

Method of cooking

• Take pork meat and cooked for 8 to 10 minutes in water and salt.
• Now take cooked shrimp and turn into paste. This can be added into the broth to make hotpot more flavorful.
• Just boil chicken feet, octopus meat and fish into water and salt.
• Now these cooked meat is ready to add into broth.

Cuisine : Japanese cuisine

Course : Main course

Time : 2 hours

Yield : 8 to 12 people

Serving temperature : hot

Taste : sour, salty and spicy