What should a vegetarian do to have a great hot pot experience?

January 19, 2020 12:42 PM

What tips and advice do you have for vegetarian hot pot? This is the place. Assume they have any and every vegetable, noodle, or sauce. What should I do to have the best most delicious experience? I’m a total amateur and don’t know what I’m doing.
posted by andoatnp to Food & Drink (8 answers total)

Yummmmmmmm! I’m assuming they offer a vegetarian broth for you. And I can’t tell if this place does it but I’ve been to ones where they can split the bowl in half for you with a divider so you can have two broth flavours. So I usually get one spicy and one non spicy. This will be placed on your table on a burner and you should be able to adjust the heat.

It’s basically following boiling cooking times, i.e. start with the items that take the longest to cook. Don’t add too much at a time as the idea is to take bits out and eat them as they cook. And then things get more delicious as the broth takes on the flavours of the previous ingredients.

Get mushrooms! This will add depth. Maybe just leave a few in there for the whole meal. Beyond that, just grab whatever veg you fancy. It’s usually presented in a buffet style and you grab what you want and go back for more.

My veg faves: Tofu (firm as well as fried) noodles (udon is most filling but I personally also really like the vermicelli rice noodles, they are thin and transparent, and cook quickly. If they had ramen noodles I’d be all over that too) cabbage, onions, scallions, bamboo shoots, bok choy, bean sprouts.

As they cook, you can use a sieve to scoop them out into a bowl. The buffet will also have a selection of dipping sauces. I would recommend taking a plate and putting a small spoonful of whatever you fancy. Ypu can dip into a few and experiment. Some sauces are nice if you combine them.

Another way I like to eat it is to scoop into a bowl with some broth and add sauce to that and eat it like a soup.

Did I mention yummmmmmmm?!
posted by like_neon at 1:46 PM on January 19, 2020 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Are there particular sauce combinations people like?
posted by andoatnp at 1:59 PM on January 19, 2020

Sesame oil, sesame paste, cilantro, green onions, and soy sauce mixed with a little bit of the hot pot broth is my favorite vegetarian dipping sauce. Extra bonus if they also have broad bean paste or fermented tofu to add as well.
posted by yueliang at 2:56 PM on January 19, 2020 [2 favorites]

For me hotpot is alllll about the dipping sauce!

My fave sauce combo has a lot of stuff in it and probably not at all "authentic" but this is what I like as the base (the flavour profile is salty - spicy):

• Sesame or peanut paste as the base
• Garlic
• Green onions
• Cilantro
• Oil - could be sesame, Sichuan peppercorn (gives that tingly numbing feeling), or plain old chili oil

Then I dress it up with whatever else is available at the dipping station:

• Minced mushroom sauce
• Crispy soy beans or crushed peanuts for a different texture
• Oyster sauce or I guess mushroom sauce for vegetarians
• MSG and/or salt if you're into that!

I often mix up my dipping sauce, go back to the table to give it a stir and a taste with my chopsticks, and then go back to the station to add a bit more of stuff that's missing to balance out the flavours.

Enjoy!
posted by tinydancer at 5:52 PM on January 19, 2020

General advice: start with denser things like tofu, corn, lotus root, fungus, etc. in the early rounds. Save noodles and leafy greens for later rounds, because they tend to soak up the spicy oil floating on top of the broth.

As far as specific ingredients, I particularly love lotus root, corn, fried tofu skin, and watercress. My favorite dipping sauce is just sesame oil with salt, but definitely play around with other sauce bar combinations that sound good to you. Another good combo is 3 parts sesame paste to 1 part chive flower oil.
posted by Lexica at 5:52 PM on January 19, 2020 [1 favorite]

Congratulations on your first hotpot experience! Here are some tips on, IMO, the optimal way to cook different ingredients:

- put in hard starchy vegetables like taro, pumpkin, and potato first. Let them simmer in the pot for a long time (longer than you’d think!), until they’re soft and fall apart easily and have absorbed tons of tasty broth
- things like tofu and mushrooms can be kept in the pot indefinitely; as long as they’re cooked through, it’s ok if they sit for a bit longer than intended
- I prefer my leafy vegetables, like spinach and bok choy, to be blanched for less than a minute before taking them out, otherwise I find they turn a bit mushy
-put in noodles last, after everything else you’ve put in has contributed to the flavor of the broth, and make delicious brothy noodles!
posted by Dante Riordan at 6:32 PM on January 19, 2020

It sounds weird, but if they specifically offer frozen tofu as an option, I strongly recommend it for hot pot. When tofu is frozen it basically becomes a sponge in consistency which is just what you want to soak up all the yummy hot pot broth. Most hot pot restaurants I've been to list both regular and frozen tofu on the menu and I know the first time I went with someone who ordered the frozen I was like "uh...why though?" but once I tried it I have never gone back.
posted by potrzebie at 4:36 AM on January 20, 2020 [3 favorites]

The hot pot restaurants I've been to have all offered one vegetarian option, a mushroom broth, among the meat-based broths. Although I am an inveterate meat-eater, the mushroom broth is my favorite. Also, take the opportunity to try all of the various tofu products and non-meat proteins. It's amazing how many there are and how different they can be.
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:44 AM on January 20, 2020