Anyway, should you do Asian again, this will really impress.
First, get yourself a Fire Pot:
Then, here are some recipes for you to consider:
Chrysanthemum Fire Pot
Ingredients:
1/2 pound flank steak
1/2 pound chicken breast
1/2 pound lean pork
1/2 pound flounder filet
30 large shrimp
2 ounces cellophane noodles
2 packages instant noodles
1/2 pound Chinese celery or Napa cabbage
1/2 pound young Shanghai cabbage
8 eggs (optional)
2 quarts chicken broth
1 white chrysanthemum flower (optional)
Be sure to select a flower that has not been sprayed with insecticide.
Dip:
1/4 cup finely chopped scallions
1/4 cup minced Chinese parsley (cilantro)
2 Tablespoons minced ginger root
3 Tablespoons sesame paste mixed with 2 Tablespoons water
1/2 cup light soy sauce (different from "lite" soy sauce)
1/4 cup rice wine
2 tablespoons chili oil or sate sauce or both
Preparation:
1. Freeze meats and then slice them very thinly when only partially defrosted. Then cut the slices into two inch square pieces.
2. Cut fish fillets into one inch by two inch by half inch slices.
3. Arrange meats, fish, and shrimp attractively on one or more platters.
4. Soak the cellophane noodles in hot water until soft. Drain and place on a dish.
5. Wash and clean the vegetables, cut them into bite-sized pieces and arrange on one or two plates.
6. Set the dipping ingredients in bowls; let each person mix their own dipping combination. Some people put a raw egg into their dipping sauce.
7. Remove the petals from the flower and sprinkle them on the soup just before sitting down to eat.
8. Now each person chooses their own meat or seafood, and using their bamboo chop sticks, holds it in the hot stock until cooked to their own desired doneness. Once cooked, it is dipped it into one's own bowl of dipping sauce and consumed. The same is done with the vegetables. Add additional soup stock if/as needed, and at the end put all the noodles into the soup, let it return to the boil, and serve the soup at the meal's end.
Another way of serving this is to put the vegetables into the stock, cover the pot and allow them to lightly cook. Then each person can fish out what they like and serve themselves.
The above ingredient list is to give you ideas, this meal is very flexible, other items can be substituted, and the amount and variety is at the discretion of the hostess, who is only limited by imagination and creativity.
And, since the amounts people eat vary so, no nutrient analysis is provided.
Mongolian Fire Pot
This Swa Yang Ro or traditional Mongolian fire pot, is loved in northern China where the winter is bitter cold and many people do not have central heating. Lamb is raised on Mongolian grasslands, the price is reasonable, and the mutton is very tender. Chinese people also believe that lamb is easy to digest and beneficial to the circulatory system, and will give extra warmth.
Ingredients:
3 quarts chicken broth
2 to 3 pounds lamb tenderloin, partially frozen
6 squares frozen bean curd
1 1/2 pounds Chinese celery cabbage
4 ounces cellophane noodles
Dip:
4 Tablespoons sesame paste
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 Tablespoons chili sauce
1/2 cup rice wine or dry sherry
8 squares fermented bean curd
4 Tablespoons leek flower paste (jo hua jiang) or chopped fresh garlic
2 tablespoons sugar
1 ounce minced Chinese parsley (cilantro)
4 scallions
Preparation:
1. Slice the lamb paper thin then cut into two-inch squares and set out attractively on one or two platters.
2. Wash and cut vegetables into bite-sized pieces and put on plates.
3. Cut each defrosted bean curd square into eight pieces and place them in a bowl.
4. Soak the noodles in hot water until soft, drain and put into bowls.
5. Put chopped scallions and parsley in separate bowls; do likewise with the fermented bean curd.
Arrange platters around the fire pot filled with boiling soup, and you are ready to cook and eat as above.
As in the fire pot recipe above; no nutrient analysis is provided because each diner prepares their own dip and eats different amounts of the food items prepared.
