Spicy Chinese Hotpot

This spicy vegan simmering hotpot has mushrooms, cabbage, tofu and shanghai la mian noodles for the perfect meal for two, paired with a sesame dipping sauce.

I can’t get enough of hot pots anytime of the year because it’s soup season all day every day for me. I’ve loved going for Chinese New Year steamboats at my friends’ places because it’s fun pouring in the different ingredients in broths, cooking together and having quality conversations.

Hotpot is a traditional Chinese cooking method where a simmering pot of broth is placed in the center of the dining table, and various raw ingredients are cooked in the pot by the diners. For this version, it is going to be fully vegan with vegetables, mushrooms, silken tofu and noodles. You can also keep this versatile by adding in dumplings, plant-based meat or other vegetables.

Spicy hotpot is commonly associated with the Sichuan province in southwestern China. Sichuan cuisine is renowned for its bold and pungent flavours, primarily due to the use of Sichuan peppercorns, chili peppers, and aromatics – today, we’ll be using all of those to create a really flavourful broth!

Ingredients You Need

• mala soup base – sichuan pepper, broad bean paste and red peppers are crucial for this recipe
• aromatics – white part of scallions, garlic and ginger
• seasoning – soy sauce, mushroom seasoning, chili oil
• vegetables – shitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, cabbage, leafy greens
• protein – silken tofu
• noodles – dried shanghai la mian but you can use any dried noodles!
• garnish – spring onions, cilantro