Sichuan Hot Pot

Soup Base

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 5 spring onions, roughly chopped
• 6 slices ginger
• 3-5 bay leaves
• 10 cloves garlic (peeled)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 5 star anise
• 10 cloves
• 1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns
• 12 whole dried red chilies
• 100ml douban jiang (chilli bean sauce) 
• 3 tbsp fermented black beans
• ½ tbsp rock sugar
• 2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
• 3L chicken stock

Optional Side Ingredients

• Light soy sauce
• Sacha sauce
• Chili oil or paste
• Chinese black vinegar (or rice vinegar)
• Sesame paste (or peanut butter)
• Sesame oil
• Sesame seeds
• Salted peanuts
• Chopped coriander
• Chopped spring onions
• Chopped garlic

Fresh Ingredients for Hot Pot

• Hot Pot sliced beef / rib eye (frozen if fine)
• Sliced chicken
• Whole prawns (head on shell on)
• Fried tofu puffs
• Shiitake mushrooms
• Enoki / Shimeiji mushrooms
• Glass noodles (mung bean vermicelli)
• Spinach noodles 
• White Pak Choi / Kai Lan / Choi Sum
• 1 fresh lotus root

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Finely chop the ginger, garlic and spring onion. Add to a pestle and mortar with the fermented black beans, and sichuan peppercorns. Crush to a coarse paste. Fry on a medium heat in a well-oiled wok. Essentially creating a base chilli paste. Add the douban jiang, dried chili, cinnamon, bay leaves, star anise and cloves. 

Add the chicken stock a few spoons at a time. Deglaze the wok, getting all the bits off the bottom. Then add the sugar. Time to add more chicken stock to fill the wok. 

Finally, add the rice wine and bring to a boil. 

Now the fun begins. Place the prepared pot of broth on a hot plate in the middle of the table, and bring to a low boil or simmer. Place all of your prepared ingredients around it, and have everyone mix up their own dipping sauces. Time to tuck in! Just choose your fresh ingredients, place them in a spider and add them to the hot pot. When cooked, scoop out, place in a bowl, add some dipping sauce, and enjoy! The idea is to keep creating small plates for yourselves as you chat and cook together.