JAPANESE HOT POT

ORIENTAL HOT POT 1 lb raw shrimp, peeled and deveined 2 chicken breasts, skinned, boned, and sliced very thin, across grain 1/2 lb beef sirloin sliced very thin, across grain 1/2 head chinese cabbage or 1 lettuce heart, coarsely cubed 1 cup cubed egg plant or 15-ounce can (2/3 cup) water chestnuts, drained and thinly sliced 1 1/2 cup halved fresh mushrooms 4 cup small spinach leaves (stems removed) 14 oz cans (5 1/4 cups) chicken broth 3 chicken bouillon cubes 1 tablespoon mono sodium glutamate 1/2 tablespoon grated ginger root or 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Midnight supper, perhaps for New Year's Eve or after the show, can be an exotic affair, even when you're in a hurry! The foods are sliced ahead, the sauces made, then all stored in the refrigerator.

When guests are hungry, the hostess simply heats the broth and sets out the makings.

Genghis Khan hot pot is another name for this Chinese specialty. Or maybe you've seen it on restaurant menus as volcano soup.

We present at table, an honest-to-goodness Mongolian cooker with a charcoal chimney in the center, but you can put to good use any chafing dish or electric skillet.

What's cooking?

Everything on the tray is raw, of course; chunks of eggplant, crosscut strips of sirloin, halved mushrooms, thin slices of chicken breast, squares of Chinese cabbage, shucked shrimp, fresh spinach.

The broth is chicken bouillon that boasts a faint overtone of ginger in classic far-east style.

Individual bowls of fluffy rice are served at the same time as Hot Pot.

The "How-To".

Pick out a few choice morsels at a time, and drop them from chopsticks, bamboo tongs, or a fork into the lazily bubbling broth.

In a few minutes, fish them out to dip into zesty sauces on your plate, like peanut or red Sauce, Chinese mustard or ginger soy. Traditionalists will poach eggs in the broth when it has taken on subtle flavor from the foods that have simmered in it.

At the very last, the hostess may ladle the broth as a soup.

Delicious!

Dessert? Skip it, or serve a fruit bowl and candied ginger with coffee or tea.

Etiquette: Use one set of chopsticks for cooking and fishing out tidbits from Hot Pot, and use a second set for eating.

If only one set is provided for each guest, simply reverse your chopsticks (large ends down) when you cook or help yourself to food.

Shortly before cooking time arrange the meats and vegetables on large tray or platter; use a bowl for spinach.

Set out dunking sauces. Provide bamboo tongs, chopsticks or long-handled forks as cooking tools for guests.

Heat chicken broth in electric skillet or chafing dish or Mongolian cooker.

Add bouillon cubes to hot broth and stir to dissolve; add MSG (optional) and fresh ginger.

Heat to simmering.

For cooking, have broth barely bubbling.

Each guest picks up desired foods with chopsticks, and drops them into the bubbling broth.

When his morsels are cooked, he lifts them out and dips into the sauces on his plate. Serve accompanied by hot steamed rice and chow mein noodles.

Makes 4 servings.

NOTE: If you're lucky enough to own a Mongolian cooker, fill chimney of cooker with charcoal and add charcoal starter. Pour cold chicken broth into cooker. Cover cooker, then light charcoal. When broth is hot, continue as above.

#japanese #hotpot