Hot pot (or steamboat) meals are one of my favorites.
Hot pot is basically a simmearing pot of stock placed at the center of dining table. Plates of raw ingredients such as beef slices, shrimps, bacon, tofu, eggs, mushrooms, noodles, etc are prepared in advance.
A hot pot dinner party is really easy to organize. Guests can bring their favorite food to cook. You just have to prepare the stock. It’s hard to mess up. 馃檪
Friends and family come together and sit around the table. Everyone can place their choice of ingredients into the pot, and have fun. The dinner setting is casual and the dinner usually lasts for hours. It’s an awesome way to bond with family and friends.
I especially love to have hot pots in winter. 馃檪 Imagine enjoying a big pot of soup, with fresh ingredients, on a cold snowy day; ohhhh… that sounds perfect to me.
An electric hot pot (less than $40) works well for me. I might even get an extra one so that I can have two pots going at the same time (one pot for my vegetarian friends).
In Asia, there are many restaurants offer hot pots in buffet style. You pay a flat fee, and you get your choice of stock in a hot pot, then you can pick whatever raw ingredients you like from the fridge. Isn’t it fun?