Malatang hot pot is a perfect dish to make when you want to cook a variety of ingredients in one pot! No extra dishes! And you can turn on your favorite show while savoring all the different ingredients in the hot pot.
Malatang originates from Sichuan China where traditional spicy hot pot is popular. And street vendors often sold malatang in small batches to people walking by. You can pick any vegetable or protein you like and the vendor would cook them in the hot pot and bring it to you in a bowl with some hot soup! Today, malatang has evolved into a more modern version which has milk added to increase the deliciousness of the soup!
Ingredients to cook
- Spam – a very delicious ingredient in hot pot. It is like the soul of hot pot and I would always have it in my hot pot!
- Quail Egg – super tender and tasty mini sized eggs pre-boiled and peeled. These are so delicious!
- Fish ball – I recommend finding a variety pack of fishballs and add them to the soup
- Fish tofu – delicious ingredient for the hot pot, soft and tasty
- Tofu strips – very tasty in the hot pot, you can buy tofu sheets and cut them into strips
- Konjac – a great low calorie ingredient for hot pot
- Wide Potato noodles – more chewy than other noodles but takes some time to cook. You can soak them in warm water to reduce cook time.
- Napa cabbage – a good leafy vegetable for hot pot.
- Celtuce (Wo sun) – Chinese vegetable can be found in most asian grocery store. A classic vegetable for hot pot
- Enoki mushroom – the best tasting mushroom for malatang. But you can use other kinds of mushrooms as well!
- Lotus root – lotus root has a crunchy texture when cooked. You can substitute with potato
Malatang Soup Base
Why adding milk in malatang soup base?
Sichuan Malatang typically didn’t have milk however the modern Northeastern recipe added milk to the soup to make it more drinkable. I was skeptical initially but after trying this soup base, it is so amazing! Milk really creates a creamier and tastier soup and I highly recommend it!
Watch full video of how to make Malatang at home:
Malatang Recipe
Ingredients
- 50 g Hot pot base
- 250 ml Milk
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Vinegar
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 3 tsp Sesame paste
- 2 Spring onion (finely chopped)
- 1 handful Cilantro(finely chopped)
- 3 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
- 1 can Spam
- 6 Quail Egg
- 6-8 Fish ball
- 4 Fish Tofu
- 1 handful Tofu strips
- 1 handful Wide Potato noodles
- 3 leaves Napa cabbage
- 1 Celtuce
- 1 pack Enoki mushroom
- 1 piece lotus root
Instructions
- Peel the celtuce stem with a small knife. Chop into small pieces. Peel the lotus root and cut into slices. Split napa cabbage leaves to smaller pieces. Cut off the root part of enoki mushroom. Unwrap the crab stick and take out the fish balls needed.
- Cut tofu sheets into strips. Slice spam. Peel boiled quail eggs. Finely chop garlic, cilantro and green onion.
- Melt the hot pot base. You can flip it over so that the fat is melting faster. After the hot pot base is all melted, add some water, about 1 cup. Continue cooking the hot pot base for 2 minutes. Use a strainer to drain the solid ingredients.
- Add one cup of milk to the soup. Add another 1-2 cup of water. Drop in the wide potato noodles first because they take about 8-10 minutes to cook. If noodles were soaked, add them in later.
- Add the other ingredients based on how fast they can be cooked. The ingredient that takes longer will be dropped in first such as fish balls. The vegetables take less time to cook so drop them in later.
- Season the soup with soy sauce, vinegar, salt, sugar. You can adjust the seasoning to taste as well. Lastly Add 3 tsp sesame paste. Mix well.
- When the ingredients are all cooked, top with minced garlic, green onion and cilantro. Serve.
Video