Chinese Hotpot!

CHINESE HOT POT!

Hey people! To prepare for the upcoming winter, I introduce to you HOT POT! Chinese hot pot has a history over 1000 years, and is still considered the most popular dish for social gatherings all across Asia. It's believed to be popular for one reason! The large pot is placed in the centre of the table to share, allowing easy eating, chatting and drinking. What a great way to socialise over dinner :) 

The typical hot pot consists of stock, meats, seafood, vegetables with various dipping sauce. The two most popular hotpots are Sichuan hotpot and Beijing mutton hot pot. Let’s start with Sichuan Hotpot!



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Sichuan Hot pot is extremely popular all across China. It’s famous for its spiciness and ability to ‘numb’ your tongue :P This is all thanks to the special seasoning – Sichuan pepper. Like any other hotpot, you can add any of your favourite meats, leaf vegetables and noodles with dipping sauce (I recommend Sesame sauce). So for those of you wanting to challenge your taste buds, I recommend the Sichuan hot pot!




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Beijing Mutton Hot pot translates to Instant-boiled mutton. This hot pot is known to be the number 1 representative hot pot of Northern China. The ingredients typically include mutton meat, stock extracted from sheep-bone, ginger, shallots, mushrooms, Chinese dates and dried seafood. Unlike the Sichuan hot pot, the Mutton hot pot has clear soup and is an easy eat.

Here are some Hot Pot Hot-Spots:

Shangcheng Hotpot King @ 8a/363 Sussex St, Sydney

Sichuan Restaurant @ 248 Burwood Rd, Burwood

Enjoy! Jen

References
Luo, E. (2012). Hot Pot – China Sichuan Food. [online] Chinasichuanfood.com. Available at: http://www.chinasichuanfood.com/hot-pot/#introduce [Accessed 16 May 2016].


Wu, A. (2016). Chinese Hotpot — A Popular Chinese Dish You Should Try. [online] ChinaHighlights. Available at: http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-food/hotpot.htm [Accessed 16 May 2016].