ORIENTAL HOT POT
1 lb raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 chicken breasts, skinned, boned, and sliced very thin, across grain
1/2 lb beef sirloin sliced very thin, across grain
1/2 head Chinese cabbage or 1
lettuce heart, coarsely cubed
1 cup cubed egg plant or
15-ounce can (2/3 cup) water chestnuts, drained and thinly sliced
1 1/2 cup halved fresh mushrooms
4 cup small spinach leaves (stems removed)
14 oz cans (5 1/4 cups) chicken broth
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1 tablespoon mono sodium glutamate
1/2 tablespoon grated ginger root or
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Midnight supper, perhaps for New Year's Eve or after the show, can be an
exotic affair, even when you're in a hurry!
The foods are sliced ahead, the sauces made, then all stored in the
refrigerator.
When guests are hungry, the hostess simply heats the broth and sets out
the makings.
Genghis Khan hot pot is another name for this Chinese specialty. Or maybe
you've seen it on restaurant menus as volcano soup.
We present at table, an honest-to-goodness Mongolian cooker with a
charcoal chimney in the center, but you can put to good use any chafing dish or
electric skillet.
What's cooking?
Everything on the tray is raw, of course; chunks of eggplant, crosscut
strips of sirloin, halved mushrooms, thin slices of chicken breast, squares of
Chinese cabbage, shucked shrimp, fresh spinach.
The broth is chicken bouillon that boasts a faint overtone of ginger in
classic far-east style.
Individual bowls of fluffy rice are served at the same time as Hot Pot.
The "How-To".
Pick out a few choice morsels at a time, and drop them from chopsticks,
bamboo tongs, or a fork into the lazily bubbling broth.
In a few minutes, fish them out to dip into zesty sauces on your plate,
like peanut or red Sauce, Chinese mustard or ginger soy. Traditionalists will
poach eggs in the broth when it has taken on subtle flavor from the foods that
have simmered in it.
At the very last, the hostess may ladle the broth as a soup.
Delicious!
Dessert? Skip it, or serve a fruit bowl and candied ginger with coffee or
tea.
Etiquette: Use one set of chopsticks for cooking and fishing out tidbits
from Hot Pot, and use a second set for eating.
If only one set is provided for each guest, simply reverse your
chopsticks (large ends down) when you cook or help yourself to food.
Oriental Hot Pot, Chinese Mustard, Ginger Soy, Peanut Sauce, Red Sauce,
Hot cooked rice.
Shortly before cooking time arrange the meats and vegetables on large
tray or platter; use a bowl for spinach.
Set out dunking sauces. Provide bamboo tongs, chopsticks or long-handled
forks as cooking tools for guests.
Heat chicken broth in electric skillet or chafing dish or Mongolian
cooker.
Add bouillon cubes to hot broth and stir to dissolve; add MSG (optional)
and fresh ginger.
Heat to simmering.
For cooking, have broth barely bubbling.
Each guest picks up desired foods with chopsticks, and drops them into
the bubbling broth.
When his morsels are cooked, he lifts them out and dips into the sauces
on his plate. Serve accompanied by hot steamed rice and chow mein noodles.
Makes 4 servings.
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