SOME LIKE IT HOT

Eating Hot Pot food is like Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We have three choices to cook our meal, "Some like it MALA HOT (fiery and numbing)  

some like it flavourful with mushrooms 🍄 and some like it plain with winter melon or white raddish." 

Aeons ago when life was simpler, this used to be called steam bowl. A boiling pot of soup on a stove/hot plate was placed in the centre with many different types of sliced meat to be "thrown in" and then "fished out." No fuss! 

My mum made this often and we kids thought it was such fun to dip the meats in and out of the boiling soup. Note to add, it was not a Goldilocks' meal then as there was only one choice - Mama Bear's plain soup.

 Now steam boat has evolved to "fine dining" status where meats are aesthetically presented. The meats are sliced paper thin for instant cooking and  to infuse the different dipping sauces. If the hot pot does not burn you, the prices surely will!

 There is a whole array of sauces to mix from to produce a "bespoked" flavour. 

Veggies presented like floral decorations are not appreciated as they too go for a good scalding.

Presenting the "Goldilocks Combo Hotpot", a meal to satisfy a range of palates.

STEAM BOAT IN SUMMER

This is a steam boat that I would have liked to travel on. It would have taken months to reach my destination but it would have been worth the experience of a slow and relaxing journey. I can't buy tickets for steam boats like these anymore, not even in themeparks. So the nearest thing to this steam boat is...

...THIS STEAMBOAT. It sure does not look quite the same, the only similarity is both produces STEAM. In Asia, steamboat refers to food cooked in soup in a pot that sits on a covered gas burner. Modern times now dictates that electric pots are safer but many restaurents still use the old fashion pots attached to gas cylinders beside or under the tables. We put all kinds of food into the soup that comes in two flavours - traditional plain broth or the spicy tom yam.

This plate offers squid cut into long strips, snails, bamboo clams and dried oysters.

Here is fish and meat paste made into balls, and Chinese mushrooms. There is also white pomfret (diamond-shaped fish) and prawns. The side dishes include honey chicken wings. We eat everything with chopsticks including the chicken wings. I know Colonel Sanders from Kentucky Fried Chicken says chicken is "finger-linkin' good" but why get our fingers dirty. It is a skill eating chicken wings with chopsticks but we start our chopsticks training with noodles very early - at around 2 years old .

Steam boat starts with selecting what we like and popping them into the soup. Close the lid of the pot, chat with our friends as we start on the side dishes of chicken wings, fried rice and curry chicken.

When the steam rises, the soup is bubbling hot and it's done. We scoop the meat into our little bowls and eat the meat with the many sauces provided. We start with the meat first followed by vegetables and lastly put in some noodles and crack an egg or two in. The soup with all the flavours of the meat and vegetables makes a yummy broth thicken with eggs and noodles.

The traditional clear broth steam boat.

It is a really perfect dish for winter. My friends studying abroad have steamboat very often as it is so easy to make. Boil some chicken bones and season with salt and pepper for the broth. Cut slices of all sorts of meat (chicken, beef, pork) or seafood. "Bung" it all in (that's what they tell me) and it's done. Anything goes!

MOBILE MEALS

Asians never stop eating. With our sunny weather we can hit the streets anytime for a bite. In our shorts and T-shirts, we check out food like insects to pollen. And eating cannot get anymore convenient than when food is delivered from mobile stalls just by the kerb. Our "Rojak Buah" (rojak - mixed; Buah - fruit) is not anything like the fruit salad of the West. This man delivers from his stall attached to his motor bike. He has a license to "food, " and everywhere his motor bike goes, his "rojak buah" goes. Into his orange mixing bowl he tosses chopped up papaya, unripe mango, pineapple, guava, "sengkuang," crackers and cucumber. He then "gels" it all together with a thick prawn paste with dark soy sauce and sprinkles in the toasted peanuts. Don't forget to add in the red chillies for that extra "kick."

The FAT ONE STEAMBOAT is locally called "lok lok" (boil boil) in Chinese or "dip dip" in English. Vegetables, seafood, meat, sausages and many types of meat balls are skewered on sticks. We just "lok lok" our food into the boiling troughs of water (steam boats) on both sides of the van. They cook really quick. Then, "dip-dip" into the sauces provided and watch your tummy get satisfied.