Sichuan Malatang Recipe: DIY Personal Hotpot
Servings: 2 people
The Mala Market
Ingredients
Sesame sauce
- ¾ tablespoon sesame paste
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- drizzle hot stock (unsalted)/water, just enough to make it runny
- pinch salt to taste
Malatang broth
- ½ cup hotpot base (scooped out of packet to get a proportionate amount of oil/paste)
- splash light soy sauce optional
- 2 cups hot water more if needed
- 1 tablespoon laozao (fermented sweet rice) optional
Add-ins (serving sizes optional)
- 8-10 whole wide sweet potato noodles, soaked 60-90 minutes (will expand upon cooking) or your fave instant/rice/wheat noodles
- 6-8 wood ear fungus, soaked 60-90 minutes
- handful tofu skin, soaked 60-90 minutes I prefer the thin strips/sheets, not sticks, for faster rehydrating
- handful mushrooms of choice (shiitake, oyster, enoki etc), larger caps scored cross-hatch bottom inch/toughness trimmed
- handful fave hotpot add-ins (i.e. fish/meat balls, crab sticks, sliced meats, wontons, etc) as desired
- 1 small waxy potato, peeled and sliced
- 2 handfuls greens of choice (cabbage, baby bok choy, yu choy, celtuce, snow pea tips, spinach, etc) approx. 1 cup per person — they cook down a lot!
- 2 cloves garlic, mashed into paste with a mortar/pestle, or minced and soaked in just enough water to cover for garnish
- 2 tablespoons roasted peanuts, chopped optional garnish
- cilantro, washed and chopped optional garnish
Instructions
- Soak wide sweet potato noodles for 1 hour in room temperature water. Soak tofu skin in water according to package instructions (denser types like "sticks" may take 6 hours, so be sure to read beforehand). Soak wood ear for 45-90 minutes, making sure to thoroughly scrub the ears of debris once softened and rinse in several changes of water until the liquid runs clear. Boil the soaked wood ear fungus for 2-4 minutes depending on size and set aside.
Sesame sauce
- Add ¾ tablespoon sesame paste to 1 teaspoon sesame oil and combine with just enough hot unsalted stock/water to make a pourable sauce. Set aside.
Malatang broth (can be prepared 1 day ahead)
- Heat a small (1.5-2 quart) or narrow pot over medium heat. Add the ½ cup of hotpot base and small splash of soy sauce, stir-frying until fragrant and oil turns red. Stir-fry slowly until simmering, then add the 2 cups water and bring to a boil. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes to meld the flavors. Optional: Strain any solids, pressing out oil, and discard.
Add-ins
- Add longer-cooking add-ins (frozen meat balls, mushrooms besides enoki, soaked wide noodles) to the simmering malatang broth while stirring so they don't stick. Return to a boil for 1 minute and add the sliced tofu skin and potatoes. Simmer 5 minutes, then add the enoki mushrooms, Spam, wood ear fungus and greens. Once boiling, add the laozao (optional) and any thinly sliced meat and cook 15-30 seconds longer until no longer pink and noodles are cooked through.Since the broth is not for drinking, the majority of the pot should be add-ins. Ideally the ingredients are just submerged enough to cook (see above photos).Turn off the heat and divide between two bowls. Garnish with drizzle of sesame sauce, cilantro and chopped peanuts. Mix well and enjoy while hot!
Notes
Other popular, tasty add-ins include: fresh seaweed, Vienna sausage/hot dog, squid, a variety of tofu puff/beancurd products, fried or dried, and anything else you can think of! A splash of milk is even popular throughout China for its creaminess and color.