HOT POT FISH RECIPES

Steps:

• Partially frozen is significantly easier to cut into thin slices, since it holds its shape when you cut it.
• Wash and rinse your vegetables / mushrooms. If you're using tofu (make sure it's firm), then cut it into cubes.
• Before my dad starts cutting meat (or anything), he usually puts a towel underneath the cutting board so it's more stable. Speaking from decades of experience, this helped him avoid many cuts (but not all) in the kitchen.
• This is much clearer in the video, but here are my dad's steps to preparing fresh squid for hot pot:
• We'll cut our about half of our tilapia fillets into ~1 cm slices, and marinate it with salt, cornstarch, water, and white pepper (to taste).
• My dad's epic homemade fish balls deserve their own recipe page (will be live soon).
• All we need to do is peel our daikon, cut it in half, and then cut it up into about 1 cm slices. We'll start boiling our hot pot broth with daikon, and then eat it at the end after it's soaked up all of the delicious flavors from the other foods.
• For my dad's dipping sauce, we'll be mixing light soy sauce, Shacha sauce, olive oil, sesame oil, oyster sauce, salt, sugar, chicken bouillon, chili oil, and boiled water.

Steps:

• 1. Peel and finely chop the garlic, ginger and shallots, trim and chop the spring onions into 2cm pieces, and prick the chillies.
  2. Roughly chop the fish and place in a bowl to marinate with 50g of the sugar, the fish sauce, garlic, ginger, shallots, spring onions, chillies and a pinch of ground black pepper.
  3. Meanwhile, make some caramel. Place the remaining sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan with 100ml of water and bring it to the boil over a medium heat. Don’t stir it, just swirl it occasionally. Keep it boiling for about 10 minutes, or until you have a gorgeous golden caramel liquid.
  4. Now cook the fish. Place a clay pot or earthenware dish on a medium heat and add a splash of groundnut oil. Add the fish, reserving the marinade juices, and seal all the sides for 2 to 3 minutes altogether.
  5. Pour in the marinade, the caramel and the coconut water. Gently bring it to the boil, then let it simmer uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through and the sauce is reduced, golden and sticky. If it looks too dry halfway through, add a little more coconut water.
  6. Serve immediately – delicious with steamed jasmine rice and greens.