What is Sichuan Hot Pot?
Feb 17th, 2008 by admin
In earlier posts, I’ve described how my family and I prepare hot pot at home in How To Make Chinese Hot Pot, and what dipping sauces to use in How To Make Chinese Hot Pot Dipping Sauces. As we are originally Hong Kong Cantonese, our style is Cantonese, using a more delicate and subtle soup base.
I don’t think I’ve ever had Cantonese-style hot pot anywhere else but at home or with other relatives. It’s so easy to put together that I don’t think my mother would ever consider paying for it in a restaurant. I’m sure that if I had been raised in Hong Kong, it would have been different, as people there eat out far more, because it’s cheap and many live in small homes. I should also point out that it’s more commonly eaten during the winter months, but we (as in my family) don’t eat it on a particular day, like Chinese New Year.
Over the years, I’ve dipped my toe, so to speak, into other regional variations of hot pot, which have always been measured against the hot pot I grew up with. Different places claim to be the birthplace of hot pot, including the city of Chongqing in Sichuan province, China.
Sichuan ‘mala’ (‘numb and spicy’) hot pot is really well-known all over the world. Sichuan or flower pepper (huajiao) is added to the heavy, oily soup base, which leaves a numbing, tingling sensation in the mouth. Living in Beijing, I ate a lot of food that was prepared with liberal dashes of Sichuan pepper, but I’m still undecided about whether I like this sensation or not. Chilli oil, chillies, garlic and onions are other key ingredients of the soup base.
The level of spiciness can be adjusted, although if you’re not a huge fan of spicy food, I’d be a bit cautious. I’d also avoid eating any of the whole chillis you find in the soup base, and not to drink the broth unless you can really take hot food.
Within the ‘genre’ of Sichuan hot pot, there are many sub-genres including fish head, medicinal/tonic and yuanyang or yinyang (double taste – one spicy, one mild) hot pot. This latter seems to be really popular, and it’s good because you can switch from the intensity of the spicy base and take a break with the mild one.
Any ingredients can be used, including things you probably won’t find so commonly outside China, like intestines, stomach, tendons, frogs and jellied duck’s blood, also known as ‘dark’ tofu. The dipping sauce is made with ingredients like sesame oil, chili sauce, peanut sauce, chopped chillies and garlic. It can be garnished with coriander. See below for one dipping sauce variation.
I’ve not prepared the Sichuan mala base before. I think unless you don’t mind buying all the ingredients, which will then most likely sit in your cupboard unused, you could cheat a bit and try a ready-made base. Lee Kum Kee, which produces good quality Chinese condiments and sauces, makes a Sichuan Hot and Spicy Soup Base for Hot Pot, which comes in a sachet and serves 4. The downside is that it contains MSG and some colourings, and I usually don’t like home-cooked food prepared with shop-bought sauces.
Last night we had Sichuan hot pot at a Taiwanese friend’s house, to celebrate Chinese New Year. We had one pot, yuanyang-style, divided into two sections, one for the spicy base and one for non-spicy. Then we had a separate pot for vegetarians.
It was exciting because I could eat non-vegetarian ingredients without having to worry about the vegetarian husband – including the most gigantic razor clams I had ever seen, fresh king prawns and thinly sliced, excellent quality rib-eye beef. We also had organic salmon and cod fillets, fish balls, fried tofu puffs, tofu, winter melon, tomato, enoki mushrooms, tong ho (also known as edible chrysanthemum, a leafy Chinese vegetable that is a must for hot pot, see photo below), Chinese cabbage and rice vermicelli.
The hot pot base was ready-made, from famous Chinese company Chongqing Cygnet Group, which has 300 hot pot restaurants across China and is owned by ‘China’s hotpot queen’ He Yongzhi, one of the richest women in China. Ingredients include vegetable oil, fermented broad bean sauce, red pepper, prickly ash, salt and spices (not listed).
All you have to do is add the paste to the water when it reaches boiling point. My friend saved half the packet for the second half of the meal, because with boiling water being constantly added to top up the base, the spiciness becomes diluted. This version didn’t have any ‘mala’ sensation though (or the whole chillis!), unlike the freshly made hot pot base, which meant that I wasn’t left gasping or choking. It was perfect as it simply left a tingling sensation in the mouth, so I didn’t need to take a break and use the non-spicy base. Best of all, it wasn’t oily or heavy either.
The dipping sauce was prepared by mixing plenty of shacha sauce (Chinese barbecue sauce, made from soybean oil, garlic, shallots, chillis, brill fish and dried shrimp), one raw egg (optional), plenty of freshly chopped coriander, freshly chopped red chillis (optional), chilli sauce (optional) and soya sauce (optional). I used the shacha sauce, raw egg, coriander and a dash of soya sauce. It was delicious, and I’m definitely going to use this dipping sauce from now on.
If you’d like to try Sichuan hot pot in a restaurant, there are now several places offering this in London.
- Snazz Sichuan – the last time I was there, the hot pot menu was still in Chinese only. You can still ask for it though. The pot is divided into two sections, with the mild base and the fiery version
- Bar Shu – here also, the hot pot is yuanyang/yinyang
- Red ‘n’ Hot – my friend recommends sitting upstairs and avoiding the buffet downstairs. Hot pot is £20 per person, and you can eat as much as you like. Again it’s yuanyang/yinyang
- Angeles – also supposed to be authentic Sichuan-style
I’d love to hear about your Sichuan hot pot experiences!
Contact Details:
Angeles
405 Kilburn High Road
London NW6 7QE
Tel: 0871 474 6681
Bar Shu
28 Frith Street
London W1
Tel: 020 7287 8822
www.bar-shu.co.uk
Red’n'Hot
59 Charing Cross Rd
London WC2H 0NE
Tel: 020 7734 8796
Snazz Sichuan
New China Club
37 Chalton Street
London NW1 1JD
Tel: 020 7388 0808
Check out the Useful Info page for more informational posts on Chinese food.
Hey Helen,
Guess what? I’ve had my 2nd hotpot meal this week. My friends and family have really enjoyed it especially the weather is getting a bit colder. Would show you some pics…..I am the expert now!
My friends are now hooked to the yummy XO sauce but unfortunately they won’t be able to get Lee Kum Kee version in London.
(so i am locking mine up!!!)
Gong Hey Fatt Choy!! I think it’s time for me to visit Yauatcha soon. heeeeheeeee
Hello!
I’ve had to completely re-edit this since it was posted, as I went to have Sichuan hot pot last night at a friend’s house. So new photos and all that!
I’m going to have to ask someone to send some LKK XO sauce from Hong Kong, getting desperate. But I like this new dipping sauce from last night a lot.
Gong Hei Fat Choi! Chinese New Year is lasting forever (any excuse to eat…)
There’s another place to have it in London – at the Sichuan restaurant in Acton!
http://tamarindandthyme.wordpress.com/2008/02/03/an-early-chinese-new-year-dinner/
It’s on a Chinese menu but they’re really helpful and you can easily ask them for it!
Hi Su-Lin!
Thanks for this link, what a feast you had! Hot pot’s becoming so common these days. Great news for hot pot lovers of course.
Gong Hei Fat Choi (when’s Chinese New Year going to end?!). I need to stop eating…
i have heard about sichuan hotpot but i think it’s too hot for me.
Grand Sichuan on Christie Street in manhattan has fantastic hot pot! I tried it for the first time this weekend, and i’m hooked for life. It left me sweaty, and my mouth numb, and I couldn’t get enough. 50 bucks for 4, including 2 gigantic heaps of delicious fried rice.
Hi Justin
Glad there’s a Sichuan hot pot place near you. I’m still slightly wary of overly hot Sichuan cuisine, but it’s nice once in a while. I might try it when I go to China later this year! There, my mouth will definitely be numb…
Helen Yuet Ling
*Great* post! I’ve tried Angeles, Bar Shu & Snazz Sichuan and would also highly recommend Chilli Cool in Bloomsbury. I’ve heard that Red & Hot is not so good if you can’t order in Chinese which is a shame.
Next stop: making hot pot at home!
Niamh – thanks! You’ve been to a lot more places than I have. I walk past Chilli Cool every day (twice) on the way to work and back. I managed to read the Chinese characters – Old Chengdu! My friend went to Red & Hot – shame the menu is in Chinese, though if you just want hot pot, that shouldn’t be too tricky.
Now you’ve inspired me to get all the equipment out and have hot pot for the next few months! All I need is the Sichuan hot pot broth mixture which I mentioned…
Helen Yuet Ling
Hello Helen!
Yes, the hot pot broth mixture. Where can I get that? I am definitely going to make some.
It’s a shame that some restaurants limit the best of their cuisine to Chinese diners, I must admit it frustrates me, and that is one of the main reasons that I have never been to Red & Hot. However, I want to try, so will risk it in the New Year.
Yum yum!
I recommend Little Lamb on Shaftesbury Avenue for hot pot. They have a special deal where for £20 per head, which covers the broth and 5 hot pot items each.
I also think Chilli Cool is very good – it’s better than Snazz Sichuan in my opinion. It’s weird having two Sichuan places near my offices – not that I’m complaining.
Niamh – I think you can get it in any Chinese supermarket. The particular one we had was sent from Taiwan, and was produced in mainland China. I’ll try and have a look this Sunday and let you know the details if I’m successful!
Sung – I was thinking of going to Little Lamb tonight actually, but then thought I could feed four people for around £40 at home. I prefer having hot pot at home rather than in restaurants, for some reason. But thanks for the tip. So you work near Kings Cross then? I looked at the Chilli Cool menu this morning on the way to work, interesting!
Helen Yuet Ling
Some of our closest family friends (in Luton, growing up) used to do a huge steam boat for Chinese New Year (and sometimes for our New Year too). Actually, because of the number of guests, they usually had two or three steamboats on the go. The stock container parts were rings or moats around a central pillar in which the heating element was located. I think. And they just contained a flavoursome stock which our friends had made, I think over days, a lot of work just on the stock alone. Surrounding the steam boats were plates and plates of ingredients to cook in the stock. Each guest had a long-handled metal spoon with a wire basket at the end. You would pop the items you wanted to cook into your basket spoon and dip it all into the stock to cook. As well as meat and seafood and vegetables I remember these tiny individual omelettes with a meat filling. So many other goodies. And alongside all the steamboat items there were also main dishes laid out on their huge kitchen table. Roast duck, all kinds of seafood and meat dishes, noodles. The eating went on all afternoon and evening! They live in a huge farmhouse and back then, it was still surrounded by fields and had all it’s outbuildings in tact (but abandoned). We kids would alternate between stuffing our faces and racing about climbing and playing in the buildings, gardens and fields. The house itself also had plenty of hiding and playing places. Later, the owners of the land sold off much of the surrounding lands to developers though they retained a decent garden. The house now sits amidst a housing estate, the only historic, individual building in the lot! But the pay off was that they gained ownership of the house they were previously only renting and were connected to mains for sewage and everything. Many happy childhood memories in the people and parties in that house. Infact, I think I’ll try and visit them next week.
Wow, what a lovely account of hot pot feasts! Can’t wait for the winter, because I haven’t had hot pot for months…
Hi
Please help ! For the above hot pot buffet restaurants in central London , could you please kindly provide the updated price ? Do they have any time limits (ie 2 hours to 3 hours)? What kind of seafood do they include ?
Any new comments about the above restaurant ?
Many thanks
T123 – sorry, I didn’t make this so clear in my post. I don’t eat hot pot in restaurants in London, because I can do it at home, so I have none of the information that you’re after. There are probably a few more that do hot pot now, since I wrote this post!
Helen Yuet Ling
Hello,
I am new to central London and was wondering if you can recommend me a place to buy all of the hot pot goodies (enoki mushrooms, meatballs, thinly shaved beef, seafood, etc etc). It’s been a while since I’ve had the szechuan(mala) hot pot and I am craving, I will try one of the places mentioned above. Also, my mother makes a peanut butter dipping sauce, has anyone had it before?
Cheers
Kevin – any Chinese supermarket in Chinatown would be fine. I personally shop at See Woo on Lisle Street but I am sure they will all stock everything you need. Sorry I can’t help with the peanut butter dipping sauce. I’m sure your mum knows best!
Helen Yuet Ling
Hi,
I just come London for nearly three months. I want to try sichun hot pot but you recommend a lot of restaurants. So, if I want to try real one sichun hot pot, I must try which one? Could you give me some idea?
Thank a lot