Chinese New Year Calls For Hot Pots, Do-It-Yourself Fondues For Home Entertaining

Chinese New Year, or spring festival, officially begins today (January 22). As we bid farewell to the Year of the Ram and usher in the Year of the Monkey with copious wishes of goodwill and prosperity accompanied by symbolic gifts of pears (profit), mandarins (gold), and neen goh (advancement and friendship), all draped in auspicious wrapping of red and gold, endless bouts of feasting are, of course, de rigueur.

When we were young and we had Amah (our live-in housekeeper) to help with the cooking, dinners were elaborate affairs. A whole steamed fish, boiled goose, Lo Han vegetables, and various favourite stir-fried dishes would fill the table. But after Amah retired, a hot pot became the meal of choice because it was easy to prepare and no one had to be stuck labouring in the kitchen while others enjoyed themselves.

Similar to a fondue, and very popular in China, Japan (where it's called shabu shabu), Singapore, Korea, and Vietnam, especially during the winter months, the do-it-yourself hot-pot meal is easy to set up and even easier to serve. To set the table, you'll need a portable burner (one of the electric or butane-fuelled ones will do nicely) and a pot that will sit securely on it to hold the boiling broth. (In a pinch, a deep fryer will work as well.) At each setting, place a pair of wooden or bamboo chopsticks (plastic ones will melt when scorched), a small plate (to put the cooked food on), a small sauce bowl, a soup bowl (for the soup and noodles later), and, if possible, a mini strainer (you can get them at any Chinese kitchenware store), and you're ready.

When it comes to the ingredients, so long as everything is cut into bite-size pieces or thin slices that are quick to cook, your desire is your limit. Chicken, beef, pork, lamb, and venison are all good choices. To make easy work of these, put the cuts of meat into the freezer until partially frozen. This will make them easier to slice thinly with a sharp knife. Seafood such as firm-flesh fish, shucked oysters, scallops, prawns, and even slices of lobster tails, nicely arrayed on platters, will round out the opulent selection of meats. For balance, lay out a good variety of leafy vegetables such as napa cabbage, spinach, watercress, tat-soy, chrysanthemum greens, and baby bok choy on more platters. Mushrooms like shiitakes and enokis and other veggies like slices of bamboo shoot and lotus roots (and, of course, tofu) can also add interest. To complete the meal and to enjoy the rich broth, bowls of blanched Shanghai noodles, udon, or soaked cellophane noodles and perhaps some premade dumplings or won tons would be nice. The beauty of it is you can prepare all the platters and simply place them on the table, or on side tables, when you're ready to sit down for dinner.

The sauces are also do-it-yourself concoctions. Usually, I put out small bowls of chili sauce or chili-bean paste, good-quality soy sauce, satay sauce (often labelled Chinese barbecue sauce), toasted sesame paste, and, optionally, a bowl of raw eggs so the guests can mix their own sauces for dipping in the sauce bowls provided. (A raw egg, for those not squeamish, beaten into the sauce mixture, is meant to thicken the sauce, making it easier to coat and cool down the food.)

The only thing left to do is to bring the broth to a boil before placing it over the burner at the centre of the table, and then each person can start cooking their favourite foods in the broth. A simple chicken stock with a few slices of ginger root is the easiest, but you can also jazz it up by adding other seasonings like they do in specialized restaurants like the Landmark Hotpot House on Cambie and the HKYK Seafood Hot Pot Restaurant in Richmond. For colourful ideas, visit the Shabu Shabu Zone at the various T & T Supermarket locations, where you can pick up not only presliced meats in the frozen deli cases but also recipes and flavourings required for making a Thai Style Spicy & Sour Hot Pot, a Sichuan Spicy Hot Pot, a Taiwanese Style Hot Pot, and more. For optimal convenience, T & T offers two types of complete hot-pot packages at two for $9.99, which contain all the fixings, including a concentrated broth to which you simply add water and bring to a boil.

Here's to a prosperous 4701. Gung xi fa cai and happy feasting!

LANDMARK HOTPOT HOUSE 4023 Cambie Street, 604-872-2868. Open daily 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. HKYK SEAFOOD HOT POT RESTAURANT 120í‚ ­4260 No. 3 Road, Richmond, 604-273-3202. Open daily 8 a.m. to 4 a.m.