HOMEMADE HOT POT SOUP

Recently I attend a birthday dinner for a friend of mine at a hot pot restaurant here in Halifax, and as a lover of soup I instantly fell in love. I knew I had to recreate this restaurant favorite at home.

While I loved the experience of the hot pot dinner I didn’t like the price tag. With so many people (with different likes and dislikes) you quickly realize how unpicky you are when it comes to food, and how frustrating it is when others are. I mean it was delicious, but it was a little pricey once everyone “got what they wanted”. 

So the idea of the hot pot is a pretty basic one, it’s literally just a broth that you add whatever meat, veggies, noodles, or dumplings you like to the broth and you cook it at your table. With this simplicity I knew I could nail this at home (and I could put whatever I wanted into it). 

I found this recipe for Wonton Soup, and then I tweaked it a little bit. I started my broth with onions, and the oil first to create a stronger base. I also didn’t have green miso paste, so I used Thia Curry Paste (the red kind). I also added bean sprouts, cilantro, broccoli, and instead of wonton I used dumplings instead, and it was AH-MAZING. 

I didn’t bother rolling out wontons myself because I knew the Asian Grocery store in my area had great premade ones in their freezer! Skipping this step saved me an enormous amount of time, and effort (I might add); I just plopped them into the broth near the end, and cooked them for a bout 5 minutes, and presto it was done! 

HOMEMADE HOT POT SOUP

INGREDIENTS

2 TBS olive oil 

1 TBS sesame oil

2 med onions (diced) 

1 heaping TBS Thai curry paste (doubled this)

a small knob of frozen grated ginger 

1 TBS garlic Powder 

1 TBS onion powder 

1 TBS sriracha sauce

splash of soya sauce

1 chicken breasts, thinly sliced 4 cups chicken broth

2 cups water

4 ounces shiitake mushrooms  (my grocery store was out, so I used bellas for texture)
2 baby bok choy (or more I love this)

a handful bean sprouts

5-10 dumplings (I used shrimp and leek, and chicken and veggie)

a handful of frozen broccoli
1 bunch cilantro leaves, rinsed well
3 green onions, thinly sliced

  

DIRECTIONS

Heat
1 tablespoon sesame oil, plus two tablespoons olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium
heat. Add onions and cook until translucent. Add garlic powder, onion powder, grated ginger, curry paste, and cook, stirring frequently, until
fragrant, about 1-2 minutes.

Whisk in chicken broth slowly, mushrooms and 2 cups water.

Bring
to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until mushrooms have softened, about
10 minutes. Stir in bok choy, bean sprouts, green onions.

Stir in dumplings, and broccoli until cooked through, mine were frozen so it took about 4-5 minutes. This also makes for great leftovers, so you can totally take this soup for lunch the next day.

This recipe was a major win in my books, the broth was perfect, and  it was super filling. I definitely want to make it again. If you love hot pot soup you’ll love this recipe! It’s a must try! 

Happy Tuesday

x Short Presents