Tomorrow I'm leaving for a brief five day trip to Suzhou and Nanjing, so there will be a lack of blog entries.
I'll leave you with this shot of the huo guo I had last week with my Chinese colleague. This hot pot was superior to the previous hot pot I sampled -- mostly because of the flavoring of the liquids.
Noticeable right away were the dried oysters floating in both sides of the pot. According to my friend, the flavorings of the mild side included dried hong zao (the red berries previously identified as wolfberries, though she called them "dates"), and the little red herb called gou qi.
The spicy portion of the liquid featured a host of seasonings, including the hottest la jiao (peppers) yet. Also in the mix were star anise, cao guo, and ba jiao.
As for what went into the pot, we supplemented mutton with beef, replaced lotus root with potato, added shitake and enoki mushrooms (called "golden mushrooms" in China), and added sliced fish and baby octopus. A glorious dinner on an otherwise miserable cold and rainy day.
Posted by Astrid at November 16, 2004 05:41 AM