Today I’m going to show you how to make the infamous Szechuan hotpot, Ma La Ting (麻辣燙). It’s not a stew or a soup, but a totally different format of cooking and eating. Think of a more elaborate, exotic fondue. But here you have a fiery, umami soup base which is kept at a continuous rolling boil and an enormous library of ingredients to dip, cook and eat. It’s a social dish, and it can go on for hours (a bit like Monopoly) but you could make just for yourself like I am today. Let’s go… 🇨🇳
INGREDIENTS (can serve 1-6x)
MA-LA HOTPOT AROMATICS:
10-20 dried Chinese chillies (BEST BUY)
5x cloves garlic, slit in half
2 inches ginger, sliced into coins
1x cinnamon stick
8x star anise
6x cloves
1 tablespoon Szechuan peppercorns (often called ‘Prickly Ash’ on packaging) (BEST BUY)
4x dried bay leaves
75g lard, beef fat or neutral oil for cooking
MA-LA HOTPOT UMAMI BOOSTERS:
5-10x fermented black beans (sometimes called ‘douchi’) (BEST BUY)
1x tablespoon fermented broad bean paste (written ‘doubanjiang’ or ‘toban jiang’) (BEST BUY)
LIQUIDS:
2-3 litres of stock (chicken, beef or vegetable)
Water as required
TYPICAL HOTPOT ADD-INS:
Vegetables: Sliced Potatoes, Sliced Lotus Root, Mushrooms, Corn, Cauliflower, Pak Choi, Lettuce
Dumplings: har gau (Prawn/shrimp dumplings), jiaozi/gyoza, wontons, fish balls, pork balls, prawn paste
Meats: sliced pork belly, sliced lamb, sliced beef, luncheon meat, hotdogs
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Noodles: Egg Noodles, Rice Noodles, Udon Noodles, Yam Noodles, Instant Noodles, Pasta Shapes
Other: Tofu (soft, firm or ‘puffed’ tofu), Tofu Skins, Fried Dough Sticks (You-Tiao), Rice
Let’s get our whole spices ready. The keyword in Szechuanese cookery is ‘ma la’. It means ‘numb heat’. Szechuan peppercorns (often labelled ‘Prickly Ash’) (BEST BUY) give you a special numbing sensation (the pre-ground stuff never gives you the same edge) and the dried chillies give you the heat. Chinese dried chillies have a special, mellow heat hence why a lot is needed (BEST BUY). I’ve ripped them open and tossed the seeds out. You don’t want them in the broth. This ma-la seasoning combination is the foundation of most Szechuanese dishes.
Now for our umami boosters. The umami comes from two other ingredients: fermented black beans (douchi) (BEST BUY) and fermented broad beans & chilli paste (written as ‘doubanjiang’ or ‘tobanjiang’) (BEST BUY). You can find these in every Chinese supermarket, just keep your eyes peeled (sometimes these products have dramatically different translations on the packaging and the shelf tickets.) These are the umami building blocks. Now let’s cook.
First, toast the whole spices (except the bay leaf, garlic/ginger and black beans). Place them into a cold pan and set it onto medium heat. Starting in a cold pan helps the spices toast evenly, rendering their essential oils within and not just on the surface. If you can pop a lid on it helps the toast them more broadly, like a little oven.
Next, you need fat. Traditionally you’d use lard or beef dripping. You could use a vegetable oil if keeping this meat-free. About 75g of fat, straight into the hot pan. Now the spices have rendered their essential oils, this fat will carry their flavour/aroma compounds throughout the dish and will allow it to cling to your food add-ins later. Continue cooking the spices in the fat for 1-2 minutes, on low heat, until it takes on a light colour (depending on how many dried chillies you use) and the spices become dark and mahogany.
Now the bay leaves, garlic and ginger. These will cool the oil and introduce water, which prevents the whole spices overtoasting. Cook these for a minute, making sure they don’t get more than golden-brown.
Now for the umami boosters. A tablespoon of dobanjiang (chilli broadbean paste) and the 5-10 fermented black beans. You can use less doubanjiang to tame the heat if you want, and use more of the fermented black beans. Fry these for 30 seconds until the oil is stained red, and that is the core of a ma-la hotpot base done! MAKE AHEAD: If you want, you could chill this spiced fat completely until the it sets solid and keep it as a ‘ma la’ hotpot base ‘block’. Because the ginger and garlic contain some water, it will spoil after a few weeks in the fridge, though you could freeze it or simply make it without garlic/ginger if you wanted to store your solid ‘hotpot block’ at room temperature long term.
If you want complete your hotpot right now, simply go ahead and add 2-3 litres of stock. You could go for beef stock, chicken stock or vegetable stock, depending on which add-ins you may fancy later. Once added, bring to a rolling boil then simmer it for 15 minutes to extract as flavour much from the spices. After that we’re going to remove all the bulky spices, they’ll be spent by now.
I removed all the roughage and discarded it. Everything. Some people like to leave the spices/aromatics in as you cook your add-ins, but you might risk chewing on some cloves which isn’t great. You can always strain it and add some more dried chillies to control the heat level as you eat and deplete the broth/fat.
Now your have some stock in, top it up with some water, ensuring you have at least 1.5-2 inches of depth for dunking your add-ins. Season it with about a tablespoon of sugar and a dash of salt, until the broth tastes well-seasoned and good enough to eat off a spoon. You’ll need to taste often throughout your hotpot experience, as the broth will reduce down and get saltier, stronger and spicer. Your main aide will be water; add a bit now and again. Embrace the slick of oil on the broth, that’s the carrier of all the spices and technique you’ve used so far, and it acts as a cloak that blankets your add-ins in flavour. Speaking of which, let me get into the basic etiquette and which add-ins to use!
First, create your own dipping sauce. Hotpot restaurants have a table dedicated to dipping sauces; and everybody has their own signature one they like to make. Chinese supermarkets often sell these sauces together in their hotpot section. Some core ones you’ll see:
- Shacha: a salty Chinese barbecue sauce (silver label) (BEST BUY)
- Sesame/Peanut Sauce, available in bottles or sachets (BEST BUY)
- Black Vinegar: an essential Chinese ingredient, made with sticky rice. You can use malt vinegar in its place in a pinch (BEST BUY)
- Toasted Sesame Oil, for aroma
I personally like a mixture of all four of these, and I’m good to go. (BEST BUY)
Keep your hotpot broth at a rolling boil at all times, adjust your temperature to keep it as such. This will help everything cook quickly without dipping the temperature of the broth when you add any chilled add-ins. If you have add-ins that take a while to cook (eg, potatoes, large dumplings) add them in early. One of the first things I like to add to hotpot is noodles. Traditionally, people do this at the end. But hear me out. Adding some form of starch early on is actually beneficial. The starch from the noodles (or it could be sliced potatoes) actually alters the tension of the broth, which helps it to cling to the add-ins much better. It also helps to emulsify some of the oil into the broth while at a rolling boil and makes the broth taste more flavourful.
COOK'S INSTINCT by @anthonyshock is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Wontons are great in hotpot. You can buy these already made and frozen at all Asian supermarkets. some other ones I like: har gau (prawn dumplings), pork balls, fish/squid balls, snow mushrooms (or any mushrooms. I like to go for these guys next because they add their distinctive flavours to the broth, transforming it as it boils each round of food, and lending it’s flavourful ‘ma-la’ oil to your add-ins.
Then there are ingredients I love towards the end. These are what I call the ‘sponge party.’ These add-in will take on a lot of the flavours which are now added into the broth. Puffed tofu, or deep fried tofu, is available in every Asian supermarket. It soaks up flavour literally like a sponge, and it’s actually my favourite add-in. Another mind-blowing member of the ‘sponge party’ is lettuce! The shape of the leaves actually brings up a lot of the flavourful oil when removed and served from the broth, and it can shock you how good it is! Be warned, you’ll get a good smack of heat!
Finally, I end on sliced meats. Hotpot often requires wafer-thin meat, which cooks within just 10 seconds when held under the boiling broth with your chopsticks. Eat it straight from broth, and don’t worry about double-dipping, the boiling broth will effectively sanitise your utensils for the next dip. You can buy these meats frozen in wafer-thin, machine-cut rolls at Asian supermarkets, usually in the freezer, and most will offer sliced lamb, pork belly and beef. Any of the meat fat rendered into the broth will get soaked into your tofu puffs or other member of your sponge party. It’s a an exciting marriage of ingredients.
When you’re ready to call it a night, this is where many people will add in either rice or dried egg noodles. If you add just the right amount, the rice/noodles will cook and effectively soak up all the ma-la broth that remains, and some people even create fried noodles or rice right there in the hotpot! A fun way to end your hotpot experience for sure - if you’re not already full!
Sharing food this way is a wonderful way of experimenting with flavours with other people, or even challenging yourself to something new. It’s worth investing in a portable induction hob if you plan on eating this at the dinner table, and you can get ‘ying-yang pots’ where you can have two different broths on the go at once. (BEST BUY). Personally, I enjoy standing in my kitchen, pan on the hob and having the time of my life.
COOK'S INSTINCT by @anthonyshock is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
