How To Prepare Easy Chinese Steamboat /Hot Pot At Home
Servings: 6 servings
I'm sharing how to prepare an easy Chinese steamboat or hot pot at home with an easy homemade and healthier steamboat soup base, essential ingredients, and basic equipment you can use to throw a steamboat/hot pot party at the comfort of your home.
Print Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
Easy soup base (clear broth):
- 2 lbs pork neck bones
- 10 cups chicken broth store-bought or homemade
- 1 lb daikon cut into large chunks
- 10 red dates pitted
- 2 green onions White parts only, cut into 3-inch length
Seasonings for soup base:
- 1 Tbsp Better-than -bouillon chicken base or as needed
- ½ tsp sugar
- ¼ tsp freshly ground white pepper
- Salt to taste
Protein:
- 4 oz fish fillet cut into slices
- 8 oz thinly sliced beef or other meat of your choice
- 8 oz shrimp with shells intact
- 6 oz fish cake
- 6 oz beef balls
- 6 oz fish balls
Meatless protein:
- canned quail eggs
- 14 oz extra firm tofu
Noodles:
- 6 oz bean thread noodles soak until soft
Vegetables (one or more of the following):
- 4 oz Napa cabbage
- 4 oz tang oh
- 4 oz fresh mushrooms enoki, shiitake, cremini
- 10 oz Bamboo shoots
Dipping sauce (any one of these or combination of these are fine):
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 5 bird's eye chili cut into small pieces
- sambal oelek Sriracha sauce works great too
- Sesame paste
Instructions
Prepare the easy soup base on the stove:
- Pour the chicken broth/water into a large pot. Bring to a boil and add the pork neck bones. Add red dates, ginger,white parts of green onion, and seasonings. Bring back to a boil and then lower the heat to let them simmer and partially covered over medium-low heat for 2 hours. Have a taste and adjust to your liking. Strain the stock and discard the solids
Prepare the easy soup base with Instant Pot pressure cooker:
- Pour the chicken broth/water into the inner pot of Instant pot. Add pork neck bones, red dates, ginger,white parts of green onion, and seasonings. Close the lid and turn the pressure release valve to sealing. Press pressure cooker and make sure it's on high pressure. Set the timer to 45 minutes and then do natural release. Have a taste and adjust to your liking. Strain the stock and discard the solids
How to freeze tofu:
- You need to use tofu that is packed in a tray with water in it. This method won’t work with tofu packed in carton material. Extra-firm tofu works best as it gives you the best spongey texture
- Place the whole block of tofu in the freezer and let it freezes for 24 hours or longerThis gives the best result versus cutting them into cubes and then freeze th
- Simply thaw them overnight in the fridge. Drain off the water and the defrosted tofu is ready to be used
How to enjoy steamboat/hot pot:
- Transfer the soup base to the hot pot. Put the portable stove and hot pot on top of the stove. Put this in the middle of the table where everyone can easily get to it
- Arrange ingredients in a similar category in one plateFor example meat with meat and seafood with seafood. Don’t mix raw food with vegetables
- Arrange the plates of steamboat ingredients around the stove. Only put out enough food for everyone. Keep the rest in the fridge and replenish as needed5. Prepare sets of utensils like chopsticks to pick up raw food and sets of utensils for guests to use for eating. So you don’t want to mix to prevent cross-contamination
- When the soup base comes to a simmer, maintain the heat level. everyone can start putting ingredients they want to eat into the soup base. Remember, the ingredients do not take long to cook so you want to remember what you put in
- In case something get lost in the soup, use a separate clean ladle to fish them out, don't use your personal chopstick or spoon that you use to get things out
Video
