2 tablespoons groundnut oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
1 tablespoon freshly grated root ginger
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
2 tablespoons chilli bean sauce
400g/14oz firm fresh dofu, cut into 2.5cm/1 inch chunks
200ml/7fl oz hot beef stock
1 teaspoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon cornflour blended with 2 tablespoons cold water
2 large spring onions, sliced
sea salt and ground white pepper
steamed jasmine rice to serve
FOR THE MARINADE
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon Shaohsing rice wine or dry sherry
1 Put all the ingredients for the marinade into a bowl and stir to combine. Add the minced meat and leave to marinate for 10 minutes.
2 Heat a wok over a high heat. Add the minced meat and cook until browned, then transfer to a bowl and put to one side.
3 Put the Sichuan peppercorns into a small pan and dry roast until fragrant, then remove from the heat and crush in a pestle and mortar, or place in a plastic bag and bash with a rolling pin. Reheat the wok and add the groundnut oil. Stir-fry half the crushed Sichuan peppercorns to release their aroma, then stir in the garlic, ginger, chilli and chilli bean sauce. Add the minced meat and dofu and stir-fry gently for 2 minutes.
4 Add the hot stock and bring to the boil, then season to taste with the soy sauce, salt and pepper. Add the blended cornflour and stir to thicken. Stir in the spring onions. Sprinkle on the remaining crushed Sichuan peppercorns, and serve with steamed rice.
This is a mouth-tingling numbing hotpot! The spicy soup stock base is a delicious broth in which fresh ingredients are poached – like a Chinese fondue. The Mandarin word for such a feast is ‘Huo-guo’, meaning firepot, because all the ingredients are cooked in a hotpot!
I love this kind of feast, it is easy to prepare and great for interaction with friends. All you need is an electric wok, set up in the centre of the table, plenty of soup ladles and away you go. I had this dish in Chengdu in the middle of summer and it was fantastic. Be warned – this is extremely spicy.
Spicy hotpot
SERVES 4
FOR THE SPICY SOUP STOCK BASE
2 tablespoons groundnut oil
3–4 long dried Sichuan chillies or long dried chillies
50g/2oz whole Sichuan peppercorns
1 tablespoon chilli bean sauce
1 tablespoon chilli sauce
1.7 litres/3 pints hot vegetable stock
2 star anise
6 dried Chinese mushrooms
1 small handful of dried tangerine peel or zest of 1 orange
250ml/9fl oz chilli oil
2.5cm/1 inch piece of fresh root ginger, peeled
250g/9oz fish balls
250g/9oz fish cake, sliced
2 medium red chillies, deseeded and sliced
1 small handful of Chinese cabbage/leaf, sliced 2.5cm/1 inch thick
1 small handful of deep-fried dofu
1 small handful of fresh dofu, cut into 2.5cm/1 inch chunks
1 large spring onion, roughly chopped
FOR THE POT
1 plate each of:
thin slices of beef, pork fillet and lamb
raw prawns, shelled and deveined
slices of monkfish
fish balls
fresh squid rings
Chinese cabbage/leaf, shredded
dried vermicelli mung bean noodles, pre-soaked in hot water for 5–6 minutes and drained
fresh firm dofu, cut into chunks
enoki mushrooms and baby corn
VINEGAR, CHILLI AND SOY DIPPING SAUCE
To share on the table:
3 tablespoons Chinkiang black rice vinegar or balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
SPECIAL TAIWANESE DIPPING SAUCE
To serve 1:
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon oriental satay/barbeque sauce
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh coriander
1 tablespoon finely sliced spring onion
1 First make the spicy soup stock base. Heat a 2 litre/31/2 pint capacity wok over a high heat and add the groundnut oil. Add the chillies and Sichuan peppercorns and stir-fry until fragrant.
2 Add the chilli bean sauce and chilli sauce and then pour in the stock. Add the star anise, dried mushrooms, tangerine peel or orange zest, chilli oil and ginger and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low-medium and simmer for 20 minutes.
3 Ten minutes before serving, add the remaining spicy soup stock base ingredients.
4 Whilst the stock is simmering, place all the ingredients for the pot on serving plates, cover with clingfilm and put into the fridge. To make the vinegar, chilli and soy dipping sauce combine all the ingredients and put to one side.
5 To serve, arrange all the ingredients on the table. Transfer the soup base to an electric wok and set it up in the centre of the table. Let guests help themselves and cook the ingredients in the spicy broth. Let each guest prepare their own Taiwanese