by Geraldine Duncann
Mongolian Fire Pot is an excellent way for people who have little or no experience with preparing Chinese food to serve an excellent and authentic Chinese meal. And, you can prepare it as economically or as extravagantly as you wish. If you can steam a pot of rice, make or buy broth or stock and use a knife to slice and chop food, then you can put together an excellent Mongolian Fire Pot. Fire Pot is perfect for a buffet and it also lends itself well to a pot luck. You supply the broth and the steamed rice and your guests bring plates with the raw ingredients arranged on them.
It would of course be best if you own a fire pot or two. If you do not, you may use any electric or canned heat fondue pot or chafing dish. It is also traditional to eat out of Chinese rice bowls and to use chop sticks, however, if you don’t have any, then use any smallish round soup bowls and forks or spoons.
There are also special little wire baskets with handles that are used for scooping the cooked food out of the fire pot. If you don’t have any you may use any slotted spoon.
If you are planning to serve fish and seafood, I feel it is best to have a separate fire pot containing fish stock or broth. The flavor of most fish and seafood, except calamari, is a bit too invasive to work successfully with mammal or fowl.
The Ingredients:
- Chicken, Beef or Fish, stock or broth, (homemade or commercial)
- Fresh ginger root
- Fresh garlic
- Chinese Five-spice
Raw Ingredients:
- Lean Beef, very thin strips about 1 inch wide and 2 inches long
- Lean Pork, very thin strips about 1 inch wide and 2 inches long
- Chicken breasts, sliced very thin
- Chicken livers, sliced thinly
- Peeled prawns
- Scallops
- Boneless firm fleshed white fish cut into bite size cubes
- Boneless salmon, cut into 1/4” by 1” by 2” slices
- Sliced mushrooms
- Green onions, cut into 2 inch lengths – (including some of the greens)
- Yellow onions, cut into chunks
- Broccoli florets
- Cauliflower florets
- Snow peas – (edible pod peas)
- Bean sprouts
- Bock Choy
- Broccoli Rabb
- Celery, cut into 1 inch pieces on the diagional
- Peppers cut into strips
- Thin green beans, cut into 3 or 4 inch lengths (Oriental foot long beans are best)
Prepared Ingredients:
- Fresh Oriental noodles
- Cellophane noodles
- Tofu cubes
- Water chestnuts, sliced
- Bamboo shoots, sliced
- Fish cakes
- Imitation crab
- Frozen Pot Stickers or won ton
- Soy sauce
- Hoy Sin sauce
- Sweet Chili Sauce
- Prepared Hot Mustard
- Sesame Oil
- Other appropriate Chinese sauces
- Steamed rice
To Assemble:
To begin your fire pot, make your stock or broth. Begin with defatted homemade or commercial stock or broth. Add several cloves of crushed garlic, two or three slices of fresh ginger root, an onion, quartered and a pinch of Chinese five-spice. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about twenty minutes. Strain the broth and set aside.
Meanwhile, Steam_your_rice and prepare the other ingredients. Choose as many or as few of the ingredients as you wish. After they have been sliced or chopped, arrange them attractively on serving plates. Prepare your fire pots and set them on your table. Pour the stock or broth into them. Arrange the plates of ingredients to be cooked on the table along with small bowls of the various sauces and a large bowl of steamed rice.
The diners pick up bits and pieces of food to be cooked and place them in the hot broth in the fire pots. When the foods are cooked to each person’s liking, he or she fishes them out with one of the little wire baskets or a slotted spoon and places them on his bowl of rice. They may then add the various sauces and other condiments at will.
If you live where there is an oriental grocery, you will fine a variety of Oriental condiments such as sauces and pickles. Experiment. It’s fun.
For dessert, serve a plate with a variety of Chinese sweets: candied ginger, candied coconut, preserved kumquats, almond cookies and of course Chinese fortune cookies even though they are not Chinese.