Sichuan Spicy Hot Pot Food

SICHUAN HOT POT

Steps:

• For the soup base:
• In a wok over medium heat, add the oil and the ginger. Cook the ginger for about a minute until caramelized, making sure it doesn't burn. Add the bay leaves, whole garlic cloves, cinnamon stick, star anise, and cloves. Cook for another 2 minutes, until very fragrant.
• Add the Sichuan peppercorns, dried chilies (whole), and the spicy hot pot soup base. Cook for another 2 minutes, and then add the chicken stock. Bring to a boil and transfer to the pot you'll be using for your hot pot meal. You want the pot to be relatively wide and at least 6 inches deep.
• To make the dipping sauce, simply combine whatever mix of ingredients you like.
• To assemble the hotpot, simply plug in your hot plate, place the prepared pot of broth on top, and bring to a low boil or simmer. Place all of your prepared ingredients around it, have everyone mix up their own dipping sauces, and dive in. Each person just takes whatever they want, adds it to the pot, waits for it to cook, and then dips it into their sauce. As the water evaporates as you're cooking, add boiling water to the pot as needed. You can also serve rice with hot pot (we do), but it's not mandatory.

SWEET AND SPICY SWEET POTATO SOUP

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat; cook and stir shallots in the hot oil until soft, about 3 minutes. Stir apples, ginger, zest from 1 lime, red pepper flakes, and cayenne pepper into the pot. Reserve lime juice. Cook and stir mixture until apples are very soft, about 15 minutes.
• Pour chicken broth into pot; add sweet potatoes and salt. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Puree soup with an immersion blender until smooth. Stir reserved lime juice into soup. Garnish with lime wedges to serve.

SICHUAN SPICY HOT POT

Steps:

• Make the base stock by combining beef or pork bones or chicken skeleton with water, ginger, scallion, bay leaves. Bring to boil then simmer for 3 hours. Alternatively, season with the bouillon of your choice to skip the 3 hours of boiling bones.
• To make the aged-spicy paste, chop the Szechuan Spicy Bean Paste, soaked dry chili, ginger, garlic, and black bean. Combine 4 tbsp of oil and all the chopped ingredients, cook in low heat for 10 minutes. Stir frequently. Add the rest of the dry spices and cooking wine and sugar to the paste. Continue to cook in low heat for another 30 minutes then turn off the heat.
• Before serving the hot pot, combine the aged-spicy paste with base stock and bring to boil. Add additional ginger, dried chili, and salt to taste.
• Enjoy the spicy goodness!