Lunar New Year Hot Pot

Tap an ingredient or step to check it off.

1. 1Step 1: Set up a pot that can sit in the middle of the table and get hot enough to keep the stock boiling; one pot can serve up to six people.
2. 2Step 2: Provide each person with their own bowls and utensils, plus ladles, tongs, or other utensils for cooking in the central pot.
3. 3Step 3: Prepare a flavorful broth: either make your own starting with a meat-based stock seasoned with spices and vegetables, or use a premade broth mix added to boiling water.
4. 4Step 4: Keep an extra pot of hot broth or boiling water on the stove to replenish the hot pot as it boils down.
5. 5Step 5: Offer sauces like sriracha, chili oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce, or hoisin sauce for dipping or adding extra flavor.
6. 6Step 6: Chop hearty greens like napa cabbage, gai lan, and bok choy into medium-sized pieces comfortable to pick up with chopsticks, and cook until tender.
7. 7Step 7: Add mushrooms like portobello, shiitake, enoki, and button for unique flavors.
8. 8Step 8: Watch vegetables as they cook at different rates to avoid overcooking and losing texture.
9. 9Step 9: Use thinly sliced meats like beef, pork, chicken, or lamb; they cook in less than a minute, and you can tell they are done by color: beef and lamb turn lighter brown, pork and chicken turn almost white.
10. 10Step 10: Add seafood like shrimp, fish cakes, or fish balls; these take longer, about two to four minutes.
11. 11Step 11: For a vegetarian option, add regular or firm tofu cut into cubes; it cooks quickly.
12. 12Step 12: Add noodles like thick-shaved, udon, vermicelli, or ban pho; if using dry noodles, cook them before adding to the hot pot.