Preparation
3 hours
Cooking
1 hour
Difficulty
Medium
Sichuan Hot Pot is considered a famous traditional dish in Chinese cuisine. Try cooking this delicious hot pot right away for your family to enjoy more appealing dishes!
Ingredients for Sichuan Hot Pot For 4 people
Local chicken 1 bird Beef 500 g Seafood 300 g Eggs 5 eggs Tomato 1 piece Ginger 1 piece Onion 6 stalks Garlic 2 cloves Bay leaves 2 g Sichuan pepper 1 tablespoon Cloves 1 tablespoon Cardamom 4 pods Fennel seeds 1 tablespoon Dill seeds 1 tablespoon Dried cinnamon 3 pieces Green cardamom 10 pods White wine 2 tablespoons Black bean sauce 2 tablespoons Fermented rice 1/2 cup Sichuan green pepper 2 tablespoons Sichuan pepper powder 1.5 teaspoons Dry chili powder 3 tablespoons Dried chili 50 pieces (can be adjusted to taste)
Essential spices: cooking oil, salt, pepper, soy sauce, 3.5 tablespoons of cornstarch, 2 tablespoons of rock sugar.
Vegetables to serve: shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, bok choy, napa cabbage, chrysanthemum, sweet mustard… (depending on your family’s preferences).
Dipping sauce: 1 tablespoon of black bean sauce, a little toasted sesame, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, and 1/2 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce.
Utensils: Pot, bowls, spoon and chopsticks, pan, blender
Tip: The characteristic spices and flavors can be purchased at stores selling Chinese spices.
See more: What is mẻ? 3 quick ways to make mẻ sour, without mold, and how to keep mẻ for a long time
How to choose good beef:
- Choose beef that is bright red, with small white veins and bright yellow fat. Pressing the beef with your hand should not leave a residue and should not have a foul smell, indicating good quality beef.
- Female beef is usually tastier than male beef. The best is still the veal because it is tender, with white fat and fine fibers.
- Beef that is pale green or has round white spots between the fibers is infected with parasites or worms. Beef showing signs such as dark color, dark yellow fat indicates old cattle, which will be tough, with yellow bones, poor meat elasticity, mushy meat, and a slimy surface are signs of sick cattle, which is not good. These are types of meat that should not be purchased for safety reasons.
How to choose fresh shrimp:
- If buying frozen shrimp, you should choose shrimp that still have all their parts, feel firm, and have a natural soft elasticity (to avoid buying shrimp that have been injected with gelatin to increase weight) and especially should not have a fishy or spoiled smell.
- Choose live shrimp to ensure freshness, with shiny shells, looking robust, and when squeezed, they should have elasticity, and the shell should not be too soft.
- A small tip: Unless you are in a coastal area with fresh seafood available, when buying shrimp, you should pay attention to whether the seller uses a lot or little ice to pack the products. If the shrimp are packed with little ice but are still fresh and soft, then they are definitely treated with borax or urea.
How to choose chicken for broth:
- The chicken in this dish is just an ingredient for making broth, but if you want to eat the chicken meat, you should buy pre-cleaned chicken with bright yellow skin, firm meat, pressing it does not feel mushy, without bruises, blood, and no foul smell.
- You can buy industrial chickens but avoid buying hens raised for egg production as they have low-quality meat and very low nutritional value. When buying packaged chicken, pay attention to the production date and expiration date to ensure the chicken’s freshness.
- If you don’t want to eat chicken meat, you can go to food supermarkets to buy 2 – 3 whole chicken carcasses to make broth, which will help you save quite a bit of money.
How to make Sichuan Hot Pot
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Prepare the broth
Clean the chicken and let it drain.
Clean the ginger and slice it. Clean the onion and tie 2 – 3 stalks together for convenience.
Place a pot with about 2 – 3 liters of water on high heat until boiling. Add the prepared chicken, 3 – 4 slices of ginger, and the tied onion into the pot, and simmer the chicken for about 2 hours on low heat to obtain the broth.
Tip: If you have time, roast the onion and ginger briefly before adding them to the chicken boiling water; this will enhance the aroma and flavor of the broth.
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Prepare the spices
Soak the spices: Add the dry spices mentioned above into a blender, grind finely and mix the mixture well. Transfer the blended mixture to a large bowl, add 2 tablespoons of white wine, and soak for 30 minutes.
Prepare the chili: Put a pot of water on the stove, boil on high heat, then add 2 small bowls of dried chilies, boil for about 5 minutes and then remove. You should wear gloves and finely chop the boiled chilies to avoid getting your hands burned by the chilies.
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Make the sauce
Chop the roots of 2 – 3 green onions, and finely chop the leaves, set aside.
Heat a pan over the stove on medium heat, then add about 2 cups of cooking oil, add the chopped onion roots and sauté until fragrant, then add the chopped chili from above.
Add 3 tablespoons of traditional Sichuan sauce, 2 tablespoons of black soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of Sichuan pepper, 2 tablespoons of rock sugar, add the dry spices that have been soaked in alcohol, and finally add 1/2 cup of fermented rice.
Stir well until the spices are golden and release a fragrant aroma.
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Marinate the meat
Clean the beef and slice it thinly.
Marinate the beef with 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon of Sichuan pepper.
Add 1 chicken egg and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to the bowl, mix well to coat the beef.
Finally, roll each piece of beef in dried chili powder.
How to remove the smell of beef
- Take a piece of ginger, roast it until cooked, scrape off the burnt skin, pound it finely and rub it on the beef. Then rinse the beef with cold water, the beef smell will decrease.
- Tip to make beef tender: Marinate the meat with oil or add a little acidic solution like vinegar or soup to help break down the protein bonds in the beef muscle, making the beef softer and tastier.
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Make shrimp paste
Clean the shrimp, peel, remove the black vein, and chop finely.
Marinate the shrimp with 2 tablespoons of water, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, 1 teaspoon of Sichuan pepper powder, 1 egg white, and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch.
Place the prepared shrimp in a sealed tray and refrigerate for about 2 hours before serving.
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Make egg and meat wontons
Clean the pork and chop finely. Marinate the pork with 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of minced ginger, 1 teaspoon of chopped green onion, 1 teaspoon of pepper, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, and 1/2 tablespoon of water. Mix the ingredients well to make the wonton filling.
Dissolve 1/2 tablespoon of cornstarch in about 1 tablespoon of water. Crack 3 eggs into a bowl, add the dissolved cornstarch, and add 1 teaspoon of olive oil (or cooking oil). Whisk the mixture until smooth.
Heat a small fire, using a large ladle to make the wontons. When the ladle is hot, pour about 2 tablespoons of the egg mixture into it, spreading it evenly across the ladle.
Add the meat filling onto the egg, then fold the egg over. Wait for about 3 – 4 minutes for the meat to cook, then remove the wontons and set aside.
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Make the dipping sauce
Add 1/2 tablespoon of minced garlic, 1/2 tablespoon of chopped onion, 1 tablespoon of black soy sauce, a little toasted sesame, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, and 1/2 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce.
Mix all the ingredients together and you will have a delicious dipping sauce.
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Cook two types of spicy and non-spicy broth
Spicy broth: Add chili sauce to one compartment of the hot pot, the amount of chili according to your family’s taste. Add 1 tablespoon of sugar, 2 – 3 slices of ginger, a little chopped onion, and then add chicken broth. That’s the spicy broth done.
Non-spicy broth: Slice 1 tomato and clean the shiitake mushrooms. Then add the tomato, chopped onion, and remaining sliced ginger, about 100g of shiitake mushrooms, and a few jujubes to the pot for sweetness if you like, pour the remaining chicken broth into it.
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Final Product
Delicious and spicy Sichuan hot pot with its characteristic flavors is truly appealing, with shrimp, beef, wontons, vegetables,… full of taste and nutrition. Enjoying this delicious hot pot with family on a weekend evening is really enjoyable, isn’t it?
- People with gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases should not eat spicy hot pot but should use non-spicy hot pot to ensure health.
- Many people tend to like drinking cold drinks while eating this hot and spicy dish. However, for those with high blood pressure, drinking cold water immediately after eating spicy hot food can cause sudden changes in blood pressure, potentially increasing the risk of heart attack. Therefore, wait at least 3 minutes after eating hot pot before drinking cold beverages.
Sichuan Hot Pot is delicious and really easy to make, isn’t it? Let’s get into the kitchen and cook this delicious dish for your family. Wishing you success!
*Refer to images and recipes from the YouTube channel Taste Show.
