Steamboat Dinner

It's always nice to have a steamboat dinner on a cool day- adds 'umph' to the atmosphere :) Last Sunday was quite a cool day, after a few hours of shower. My family (uncles, aunties, cousins, etc) had a warm time together, eating to our heart satisfies :P

Steamboat is actually just a pot of stock/soup (usually chicken or pork bones boiled with the stem of the 'pak choy' to make the soup more tasty) where you 'throw' in a variety of meat & vegetables to cook before scooping them up with specific utensils i.e. a small ladle & a ladle with holes (not sure what it's called in specific).

Ladles used in steamboat; one with holes to 'fish' out the meat/vegie, & another without holes to scoop the soup (picture taken from Google)


When I first Googled for the origin of Steamboat, what I found was the ship type of steamboat. *sweat* Apparently, this food-kinda steamboat is referred to as the 'Hot Pot'. I found out that this dish is usually eaten during winter, when the weather is cold! Mmm..I'm sure a hot pot of stock with meat & vegie would do SO good during winter!! :D Reminds me of Korea & the 'Jjigae' dishes, which is the Korean spicy steamboat :P Argh...I miss the good food in Korea & I wanna have some good food in Malaysia!!

It is believed that the Steamboat originated from Mongolia (strangely!) & traditionally, the pot is coal-heated, unlike the modern gas/electric ones now :) I can still remember how the old steamboat pot looks like. It's like a pot with a hole in the middle for the coal to burn :D

Traditional steamboat pot (picture taken from Google)


I'm not gonna ramble 'bout Steamboat for now :P If you would wanna know more about it, check out these sites. Enjoy the photos & hope that it'll whet your taste buds to crave for some Steamboat!

Read-ups:

• All about Steamboat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steamboat_(food)


• All about Hot pot: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_pot


• Steamboat/Firepot: http://uktv.co.uk/food/ingredient/aid/511539

The variety of food that can go into the soup (meatballs, beancurd, beancurd sheets, vegie, meat slices...chilli sauce/boh is a must when it comes to dips!)


When the soup is boiled, put in the vegie or meat


Allow the assortment to cook (cover the pot/dish)


When it's done, it looks like this!


Time to makan! 'Dig-in!'


- Ruth