Chop Suey

Chop suey (Chinese: ; pinyin: suì; literally "assorted pieces")

Much like the popular dish Chop Suey this blog will be a mix of assorted thoughts, stories, pictures and the like from our adventures in China.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Food Volume 2: Hotpot

Continuing on with our food recounts, here comes a personal favorite of ours: hotpot.

There are several types of hotpot to be found around China: fish, pork rib and tofu just to name a few. Here is Guiyang however, is the only place you can find bean hotpot. Let me lay the scene for you.


Imagine. Sitting around a table with some friends, talking and laughing, maybe sharing a "gambe" (basically, cheers) over a round of Chinese beer.  Then, a waiter brings out a large pot filled with water, oil, beans, meat and a few vegetables. He then lights the burner underneath the table to begin cooking the pot's ingredients. Next comes the plates of food. And by plates, I'm talking anywhere between 6-10 plates (depending on number of people, hunger level, etc). These plates are filled with yummy goodness to throw into the pot to be cooked along with the existing beans and meat. In our experiences we have had:

  • more beans
  • bread (or what we thought was bread...apparently its tofu). 
  • chinese cabbage (looks like lettuce)
  • noodles
  • mushrooms
  • some type of breaded pork thing
  • chinese melon 
  • some other type of meat...we don't really question the meat. 
  • potatoes


When the food has been sufficiently heated, people eagerly start grabbing different foods from the pot. As always, there is a small bowl of spices that you dip the food in before eating. For the rest of the meal, you and your friends sit around the table enjoying this wonderful warm awesomeness on top of a bowl of rice. 

In the continuing adventure in Chinese cuisine, I am determined to learn to cook a mean bean hotpot. All of the Chinese friends I have asked say, "oh, that is such an easy dish to make!" We shall see... Until then, Carl and I will gladly continue to indulge in the wonder of hotpot. 






1 comment:

  1. I vote that you send in a recipe as a guest contributer to a a little food blog we know and love. souper. :)

    ReplyDelete