On weekends, a hot pot is a great choice for days when you’re tired of rice. Let’s join TasteVN in the kitchen with 2 ways to make delicious and light bitter melon hot pot with vegetarian meat and mushrooms!
1. Bitter Melon Mushroom Hot Pot
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Preparation
1 hour 20 minutes
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Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients for Bitter Melon Mushroom Hot Pot For 7 people
Bitter melon 300 gr White tofu 400 gr Onion 100 gr Kohlrabi 50 gr Cassava 50 gr Sugar cane 50 gr Celery 50 gr Yellow melon skin 50 gr Carrot 120 gr White radish 170 gr Chicken leg mushrooms 80 gr Shiitake mushrooms 60 gr Lingzhi mushrooms 150 gr Enoki mushrooms 100 gr Green onions 30 gr Chives 20 gr Cilantro and parsley 30 gr
How to choose delicious tofu
- Good tofu will have a white color. In contrast, tofu with gypsum will typically be yellower; the more yellow it is, the more gypsum it contains. Therefore, you should avoid buying pieces of tofu that are yellow or have a yellowish tint.
- If the tofu feels soft to the touch and is light in hand, you should buy it. Pieces that are heavy, feel firm, and are somewhat hard should not be purchased.
- Pure tofu will have a fragrant smell, while tofu containing gypsum will smell like lime or have no smell at all.
- Good tofu will have the characteristic fatty taste of soybeans, while tofu containing a lot of gypsum will have a bitter taste.
- Additionally, to ensure quality and hygiene, you can make tofu at home.
-800x450-11.jpg "2 Ways to Make Bitter Melon Hotpot with Vegetarian Sausage and Light Mushrooms for Cooling Down 3")
How to prepare Bitter Melon Mushroom Hot Pot
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Prepare bitter melon
Soak the bitter melon in ice water to remove the bitterness, then cut it into thin slices about 0.3 cm thick. Rinse it thoroughly and soak it in a mixture of cold water with 3 – 4 tablespoons of sugar to help the bitter melon stay crunchy and not bitter.
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Prepare other ingredients
White radish, carrot, and cassava cut diagonally into 1 cm thick slices. Onion cut into wedges.
Tofu cut into medium-sized cubes.
Chicken thigh mushrooms washed briefly, cut diagonally. Note that mushrooms should not be washed for too long as they will lose their sweetness and aroma.
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Cook the broth
Put about a 2-liter pot of water on the stove, when the water boils, add the white radish, carrot, and cassava. Cook for 1 hour on low heat and skim off the foam during cooking. After 40 minutes, add celery and yellow melon rind.
Tip:
- Do not cover the pot or use a pressure cooker when cooking; otherwise, the broth will not be fragrant.
- You can add a little yellow melon rind to make the broth sweeter and clearer.
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Blanch the tofu
Put a 1-liter pot of water with 2 teaspoons of salt on the stove, when the water boils, add the tofu to blanch until cooked and take it out.
Tip: Blanching the tofu will help the hot pot broth not become cloudy while cooking. You can also fry the tofu.
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Cooking the hot pot
After cooking for 60 minutes, remove the vegetables, add the white radish and carrot back into the pot, add the chicken thigh mushrooms along with 4 pieces of rock sugar, 1 teaspoon of vegetarian seasoning, and 1.5 teaspoons of salt.
Lower the heat, add the tofu, chili, and vegetables, then enjoy. When eating, dip the bitter melon, shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, and reishi mushrooms to maintain the crispness of the ingredients.
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Final product
The Bitter Melon Mushroom Hot Pot is very fragrant, sweet, rich, and nutritious from the various vegetables, making it perfect for both vegetarian days and regular days!
2. Bitter Melon Vegetarian Pork Hot Pot
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Preparation
1 hour 30 minutes
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Difficulty level
Easy
Ingredients for Bitter Melon Hot Pot with Vegetarian Meat Serves 7
Bitter melon 500 gr Fresh tofu skin 200 gr Cassava 200 gr Carrot 100 gr Dried radish 100 gr Fragrant gourd 200 gr Dried straw mushrooms 20 gr Shiitake mushroom stems 10 gr Chayote 100 gr Green onions 50 gr
Ingredient Images
-800x450-7-1.jpg "2 Ways to Make Bitter Melon Hotpot with Vegetarian Sausage and Light Mushrooms for Cooling Down 18")
How to Prepare Bitter Melon Hot Pot with Vegetarian Meat
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Prepare the Broth
Put about 1.5 liters of water into a pot, then add the mixture of 200gr cassava, 100gr carrot, 100gr dried radish, 200gr fragrant gourd, 20gr dried straw mushrooms, 10gr shiitake mushroom stems, 100gr chayote, and 50gr green onions, and simmer for 60 – 90 minutes over low heat. After that, remove the mixture to obtain the broth.
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Boiled vegetarian sausage
Defrost the fresh tofu skin, use a pestle or mortar to grind it into a smooth mixture. Take about 1 tablespoon of vegetarian sausage and roll it into a ball. Reduce the heat in the hot pot and add the vegetarian sausage balls to boil.
Tip:
You can buy vegetarian sausage at vegetarian food stores or make it yourself following the recipe from TasteVN here: How to make vegetarian sausage – chewy and delicious vegetarian meatballs for various dishes
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Cook the hot pot
Wash the bitter melon thoroughly, then cut it into thin slices about 0.5 cm thick. Turn off the heat, add the bitter melon, and it’s done.
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Finished Product
The bitter melon hot pot with vegetarian meat is incredibly simple, light, and pairs perfectly with noodles!
How to choose fresh bitter melon
- Choose bitter melons that are medium-sized, elongated, with many tiny veins on the skin; when eaten, the bitterness will be milder.
- Avoid buying bitter melons that are dark green, have a swollen body, and shiny skin, as they may have been fertilized with too much nitrogen and growth stimulants.
Tips to reduce bitterness in bitter melon
- Soaking in water: Cut the bitter melon in half, remove the seeds, slice it thinly, wash it with cold water while gently squeezing the bitter melon by hand, changing the water 3-4 times; this will reduce the bitterness and make it sweeter.
- Blanching in hot water: Blanching bitter melon in boiling water will destroy the bitter compounds (at temperatures above 80 degrees Celsius). If rinsed in cold water afterwards, the bitterness will be completely gone. However, this method will also remove many of the valuable nutrients in the bitter melon.
See more: 6 simple ways to reduce the bitterness of bitter melon that anyone can do
Tips for successful execution
- Keep the bitter melon and mushrooms separate; add the bitter melon when you are ready to eat.
- Vegetarians often do not use strong-smelling spices like garlic or shallots to neutralize the flavor, so when tasting, you can use leeks as a substitute.
- The vegetarian hotpot broth can be replaced by simmering fruits like pears, apples, or sugarcane.
See more:
With 2 recipes for making bitter melon hot pot with minced pork and vegetarian mushrooms just now, TasteVN wishes you success in the kitchen to treat the whole family!
*Refer to the recipe and images from the Youtube channel Vành Khuyên Lê and Diệu Pháp Âm
