A Steaming Pot of Celebration in a Moo-ving Year

Steamboat or Chinese Hot Pot is very popular during Chinese New Year (CNY) as it takes a lot less effort than a full-on spread of dishes.  Some families would even have this as their reunion dinner.  If not, it's bound to feature at some point in one of their meals during the course of the 15 days of CNY.

As families gather over a pot of hot, bubbling broth (within the comforts of air-conditioning, of course) and various steamboat ingredients, it's a time for sharing joy, along with sharing good food and conversation.

So, when the lady boss of a place I frequent weekly for breakfast gifted me a bottle of her home-made chilli sauce (which she makes only once a year, she said), I volunteered to hold a steamboat dinner at my place...to celebrate the end of CNY though it wasn't quite on Chap Goh Mei day itself but a few days earlier on a Sunday for everyone's convenience.

An enjoyable steamboat starts with a good soup base.  Going with a clear soup base (like chicken soup which is easiest to cook and probably the most failproof option) is the safest bet as it goes well with any kind of steamboat ingredients + it's also the most accepted and well-liked stock of many.  I like to keep the stock simple with just choi yin kai (kampung chicken) bones and good quality dried cuttlefish, sometimes I would add some kei chee (wolfberries) or white peppercorns.  Although you can also use celery, onions, spring onions, carrots and what-nots, I don't think it's really necessary as you'll be adding meat, seafood and vegetables during the course of the hot pot experience which will further add flavour to the soup, so no need to make the initial soup base too complex.  So, I prepared two big pots of chicken soup.

To complement a tasty soup base, you'll need good ingredients to go into it, of course.  So, I tried my best to procure these ingredients but it wasn't easy as most of the places (near me) seemed to have run out of them, a testimony that steamboat ingredients are well sought after during CNY.  In the end, these were what was available which I managed to source and procure.

#1 - Pork Meatballs, non-fried version (25 pcs) @ RM15 (RM0.60/pc).

#2 - Pork Meatballs, fried version (25 pcs) @ RM15 (RM0.60/pc), both these were from a stall selling sam kan chong noodles.

#3 - (Frozen) Pork Balls with spring onions @ RM11 for a box of 15 (that I frequently buy from a meat shop).

#4 - (Frozen) Soup Wantans (40 pcs) @ RM9 for a box of 20 pcs.

#5 - (Frozen) Mini Sui Kow (pork with chives & pork with mushrooms) @ RM13 for a box of 15 & 14 pcs respectively (I bought the wantans and dumplings from the same meat shop).

#6 - XL-sized Sea Prawns @ RM50 (size 26/30).  I initially thought the size indicated the number of prawns I'd be getting but turned out I was wrong.  There were only 20 large prawns in the box making it RM2.50 per prawn.

#7 - Tilapia Fillet @ RM12 (which I sliced into smaller pieces).

#8 - Siakap Fillet @ RM13.50 (all the seafood were from Vfresh and they were adequately fresh). 

#9 - Quail Eggs (2 boxes) @ RM3 for a box of 15 (which I boiled and peeled).

#10 - Baby Corn @ RM2.50 (these were fresh ones which I cut into two).

#11 - Abalone Mushrooms (2 pkts) @ RM3.30/pkt (which I tore up into smaller pieces).

#12 - Japanese Firm Tofu (2 pkts) @ RM1.60/pkt (which I cut into cubes).

#13 - Fried Beancurd (2 pkts) @ RM5.30/pkt (bought from the supermarket).

#14 - Fish Paste Beancurd (which my sister-in-law made).

#15 - Fish Maw & #16 - Pork Belly Slices (which my sister-in-law brought).

3 types of greens @ RM16, #17 - kangkung, #18 - yin choy & #19 - bok choy (I almost got a 4th veggie, yau mak, but it got left behind when I went to the checkout counter which ended up a blessing in disguise as I bought too much already).

#20 - Yee Mee has always been the choice noodle (for my family) compared to meehoon when having steamboat though I personally find that it often changes the broth from clear to cloudy with a much saltier aftertaste.  Luckily, this only happens towards the end of the steamboat meal and I try to have my bowl of soup before that.

#21 - Eggs (we were so full by the end that we could only muster enough stomach space for 3 yee mee and 3 eggs).  Was that too much food?  Hehe! ;D

I had wanted to buy fish balls and fish wantans too (from my favourite fish ball noodles shop) but my sister-in-law thought there was already too much food when I told her what I had bought thus far.  In the end, I did buy too much food (and couldn't finish) coz (as a host) we're always afraid there won't be enough.  Next time, I better allocate just one piece of each ingredient per person and it'll be enough since we have so many varieties (but, then again, when the ingredient is tasty like the pork balls from the sam kan chong stall, we finished all 50 pcs without any problem!).  I think we would have been able to finish the fish balls (RM0.70pc) and fish wantans (also RM0.70/pc) too if I had gotten them.  What wasn't enough was the soup though.

You can't very well have an enjoyable steamboat meal without the condiments, right? ;)  So, I prepared three....chopped garlic & bird's eye chillies, fried shallots (I actually thought I made quite a substantial amount but with anything crispy, there's never enough) and soy sauce mixed with fried garlic.  And, of course, there was the 'gift' of fresh sambal.

For dessert, we had these....a last minute addition at the end of our steamboat meal (someone tekan tekan the phone for delivery lah) with flavours of Belgian Chocolate, Coffee & Strawberry (coffee was what I enjoyed the most of the three).

I don't think we had ever had steamboat meal at home during CNY in KL (but we certainly did when we were in Ipoh), so this was a first experience for us.  Looking back, I learned a few things from this so-called virgin experience (haha!) of making steamboat at home.

One, you have to boil a lot more soup than you think you need (even two large pots were not enough) as the soup gets reduced from all the boiling and boiling.  It progressively got more concentrated as the ingredients kept boiling, so we needed more soup to thin it out.  We ended up trying to drink the soup conservatively as there wasn't enough! >_<  My sister-in-law commented that the chicken soup was good (when she tasted the initial broth when it was still light and ching) but I certainly didn't feel it was at the end when it got too intensely-flavoured (and cloudy in look).

Two, the sources and suppliers of the ingredients bought are equally important.  Even though I had bought 50 meatballs from a sam kan chong stall, not a ball was in sight at the end of our meal.  That means, the good stuff (however much) will get eaten.  The common, frozen commercial stuff you buy off the shelves in supermarkets (or even from steamboat suppliers), you can expect leftovers if they're not good.  In the end, I'd rather pay a little bit more for good quality, house-made stuff from my favourite noodle shops.

Three, the type of ingredients you buy is also crucial to a good pot of steamboat.  I made a mistake of buying frozen wantan and sui kow coz, as they defrost, the pastry skins tend to stick together and you end up either throwing them in all lumped together or they get torn when you try to separate them.  Worst still, the bits of pastry get ridiculously soft and bits of it end up in the soup thereby thickening it.  Another ingredient you have to be careful with is fried beancurd.  The poor quality ones contribute a lot of oil to your soup base. The same goes for fish maw as they tend to soak up a lot of soup when rehydrated.  And then there's the yee mee which can be salty and oily thereby causing the soup to become cloudy and too salty.

Four, you don't really need to have XL-sized prawns for steamboat (there are better ways to use them). Because overly big ones take a longer time to cook (for one), they end up releasing too much prawn-bisque flavour into the soup (and thereby causing the soup to be murky as well).  Those medium-sized prawns (that we usually get when we eat steamboat outside) are good enough.

Five, the fish fillet I got (though fresh) was flaky and broke into pieces in the soup as a result of all the ladling action going on in the pot.  When it comes to fish, we have to know what kind is best for steamboat and we need to fish them out immediately after cooking because of their delicate texture to prevent them from breaking into tiny bits and pieces.

Steamboat may seem easier to assemble than cooking but, like all cooking, it gets better with practice. ^_* I've learned a thing or two from my first time and I'm sure our next steamboat experience will be much better.  For one, don't overbuy and two, buy the right ingredients.  Pay a little bit more for shop-made ingredients (buy from reputable shops you've eaten in before to be assured of the quality and taste) rather than mass-produced, frozen stuff (from supermarkets or even steamboat specialists).

Even though our steamboat meal could have been better (I have to admit), it still beats having one outside where you can't linger and chat or, worst still, end the meal dripping in sweat...lol.  We were able to savour this in the comforts of home with the air-conditioning on at full blast! ;D

This is a steaming pot of celebration in a sombre and moo-ving year brought about by the pandemic.....and there's nothing better than sharing a pot of happiness with family during CNY, is there? ^_~  Let's hope the pandemic gets its butt kicked by the raging bull this year! :D