Steamboats refer to a variety of soup dishes in East Asia - It is quite easy to prepare and a lot of fun to eat with a communal pot, with a similar approach of the French cheese fondue!
Your ingredients will be slowly simmering into a flavoursome broth and your guests can choose what they'd like to poach in it! My choice was the following:
ASIAN GREENS:
Japanese Enokitake Mushrooms,
Baby Bok Choy,
Tang Oh,
Fresh Coriander,
Thai Sweet Basil,
Fresh Egg Noodles,
BROTH:
1½ litres good-quality chicken stock
3 lemongrass stalks, bruised
3 cloves garlic, crushed
3cm piece ginger, sliced
2 spring onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
MEAT AND FISH OPTIONS:
I always use shabu shabu or sukiyaki cuts of pork and beef, which is a Japanese style of thinly sliced meats which are perfect for steamboat. The meat is cut by machine so finely that it will be cooked within seconds of dipping in hot broth.
Suitable fish include blue eye, snapper, halibut and sea bass.I also like to toss some cuttlefish (Sotong) balls - Which I can easily source from my local Asian grocery store.
Once you've got all the ingredients sorted and in a nice display, start by making the stock, then add in the spring onions, garlic, ginger and lemongrass and simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside.
When you and your guests are ready to dine, place the steamboat (electric rice cooker in my case!) ideally in the centre of the table and invite your guests to choose their own meat, fish and veggies to cook in the simmering stock.
Noodles are to be added to the pot towards the end of the meal for a full-flavoured stock.
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