Hot Pot at Home 打邊爐
By Michael · from our van kitchen
Hot pot is our favorite meal. When we roll into a big city, one of the first things we do is search for hot pot spots. But hot pot at home, in the van, is a different story, and it changed a lot over the years.
Hot pot in our first van
Back in our first van, before Spencer, we did hot pot in the van all the time. We had a dinette with a table about double the size of the one we have now, so there was room for the pot, the stove and all the food around it. We’d go to H Mart, wash some clams, cut beef tripe, get corn and daikon ready, open up the soy products, and never forget the fatty beef. We even did it outside once, at Rocky Mountain National Park I think. It was really cold and kind of snowy, and hot pot was super warming.
Since Spencer, we mostly stopped. Our table now is way too small, a boiling pot is a little dangerous with a kid around, and all the hot pot food takes up a lot of fridge space. So these days we’d rather go out for hot pot in the big cities.
The night it just turned into hot pot
Then, crossing into Canada, it happened by accident. In Thunder Bay we stocked up at the Real Canadian Superstore before a long stretch of wild camping around Lake Superior. To my surprise they had boxes of sliced fatty beef from T&T, $15 a box, so I grabbed one. That night we parked at a rest area right on the lake. It was 59 degrees and foggy.
The plan was a simple soup: tomato, a little corn, onion, mushrooms and spinach, plus two concentrated beef bone broth tablets. But I had the fatty beef, and I had just made shrimp paste. So once the soup was done, I switched to a smaller pot and we hot potted a little. Like, why not? You can watch me make it.
The shrimp paste is the secret
Shrimp paste is Rina’s favorite thing in any hot pot, so I’ve started making it myself. Chop up the shrimp, season it with salt, a little pepper and a little garlic powder, and keep throwing it. That night it came out with a nice chewy, bouncy texture, and I think it’s because I kept throwing it. Throwing it adds air to it. The shrimp paste was so good.
Another night in the van we went even simpler: a store-bought hot pot shrimp paste squeezed into Korean beef bone broth with wontons. The shrimp flavor just elevates a beef soup.
Everyone has their own sauce
That Lake Superior night we didn’t have much sauce, not even the sa cha. When we’re stocked up, Rina’s mix is sa cha sauce, a lot of garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, and red bean curd if they have it. Mine is sa cha, a little soy sauce, garlic, peanut sauce or sesame paste, hoisin, oyster sauce and cilantro.
I cooked some for Spencer first. He got beef and shrimp paste, and corn after that.
Ingredients
The soup (our Lake Superior night)
- A tomato soup to start from
- Corn
- Onion
- Mushrooms
- Spinach
- 2 concentrated beef bone broth tablets
Or the simple way
- Water, brought to a boil
- Your favorite soup base
Homemade shrimp paste
- Shrimp, chopped up
- Salt
- A little pepper
- A little garlic powder
Things to cook in the pot
- Sliced fatty beef
- Clams, washed
- Beef tripe
- Corn
- Daikon
- Your favorite soy products, like tofu
- Duck feet
Dipping sauce (mix it all in a bowl)
- Barbecue sauce
- Peanut sauce
- Sesame oil
- Hoisin sauce
- Sriracha
- Garlic
- Red bean curd
- Soy sauce
Steps
- Shop at a Chinese supermarket. That's where we get everything for hot pot. If you're new to hot pot, they usually sell hot pot sets there too: a pot that's split in the middle so you can do two soup bases, and stoves that run on butane, or an electric version.
- Prep the food. Wash the clams, cut up the beef tripe, prepare the corn and the daikon, and open up your soy products.
- Make the shrimp paste. Chop up the shrimp and season it with salt, a little pepper and a little garlic powder. Then keep throwing it. That's what gives it the chewy, bouncy texture.
- Make the soup. The simple way is to boil some water and add your favorite soup base. On our Lake Superior night I started with a tomato soup with corn, onion, mushrooms and spinach, then tossed in two concentrated beef bone broth tablets for more flavor.
- Mix your dipping sauce in a bowl. Barbecue sauce, peanut sauce, sesame oil, hoisin, sriracha, garlic, red bean curd and soy sauce is the mix from our first van.
- Once the soup is done, switch to a smaller pot. It makes cooking a little easier in a small kitchen.
- Cook the shrimp paste and the fatty beef in the soup, then bring it over to the table. Cook some for the kids first.
- Dip it in your sauce and enjoy.
Amounts are what I said in the video. Where I didn't measure, it says "to taste". Cook it your way.
