Steamboat Soup and Ingredients

7 Feb 2012

I like steamboat. It is healthier as compared to BBQ, easier to prepare and wash up after meal. I enjoy having steamboat with family and friends, have a good catch up while waiting for soup to boil.

I've had steamboats at restaurants, family and friends houses. My best friend, Christina had also invited us for steamboat dinner in Klang and also at her house.

Based on testings and eating steamboat at all these places, I've been making and having guests over to our house for steamboat meals several times. I'm compiling them here so that I can share with friends and also for my own reference.

My steamboat pot comes with dual compartments for soups, so we can have both types of soups (plain, clear stock and tom yam stock) in the steamboat at the same time.

Plain soup stock

• Pork bone or Anchovies (Ikan bilis)
• 3 chicken carcasses, clean and remove fat
• 2 stalks spring onion
• 1 carrot
• Chinese cabbage (use the stem to boil stock, leave the leaves vegetables for steamboat)
• 2 slices ginger
• 1 tsp white peppercorns
• Red dates
• Wolfberry (Kei Chee)
•  Corn and Yam - put in steamboat pot with the strained stock

1. Put all the ingredients into a deep pot and add water until three quarters full
2. Bring to a rolling boil
3. Skim off any impurities or scum
4. Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 1/2 - 2 hours
5. Strain the stock
6. Add salt to taste
7. Discard the rest of the ingredients or use them to boil another pot of Tom Yam stock

Tomyam soup stock  

• The above ingredients from plain soup stock
• 3 stalks lemon grass (serai), smash 
• 12 cilipadi 
• 2 tomatoes, quarter
• 1 Big onion
• 3 limes, squeeze for juice 
• 5 kaffir lime leaves (limau purut)
• 1 bouillion tomyam-flavoured chicken stock cube or tomyam paste

1. Add water into a deep pot until three quarters full
2. Bring water to a rolling boil
3. Add lemon grass, cilipadi, tomatoes and onion
4. Let the soup boil again
5. Lower the heat and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours
6. Then add lime juice, kafir lime leaves, tomyam-flavoured chicken stock or tomyam paste
7. Strain the stock
8. Add salt and fish sauce to taste

Strain the stock into the steamboat and put in corns and slices of yam.

For the steamboat, I usually prepare the following food:

Steamboat Ingredients

• Pork shoulder / shabu shabu
• Meat balls
• Chicken fillet
• Fish fillet (red snapper, garoupa or pomfret)
• Large prawns, remove heads but keep shells intact
• Squid, clean and cut into thick round slices
• Cuttlefish, cut into thick slices
• Fish balls
• Yong tau foo
• Mushroom - button, abalone and other varieties of mushrooms
  
• Soft bean curd, cut into big cubes
• Japanese tofu, slice into thick rounds
• Bean curd sticks
• Fish noodles
• Vegetables - spinach (tung woh), Chinese white cabbage (wong nga pak), lettuce
• Noodles - mee hoon, yee mee 

Arranged all the accompanying ingredients neatly on a platter. I prefer to use Pyrex ware and plastic containers. Previously, I used to arrange them in plates. It is more convenient to use containers as the food can be covered, store and stack up in refrigerator and do not take up as much space.

Varieties of balls

Squid, cuttlefish, fish fillet and prawn

Japanese tofu and meat balls

Shabu-shabu, taufu pok, chicken fillet and mushroom

Yong Tau Fo

To serve, bring the stock to a boil in the steamboat. Add in desired ingredients. Cover and bring to a boil again. Dish out into individual soup bowls and serve with dip sauce.

Hubby complimented the chili sauce that Christina’s prepared and I called her to get some tips on how to make the chili sauce that my Hubby likes so much.

Dip sauce (Chili Garlic sauce)

• Green Chili padi - remove seeds
• Garlic
• Shallots
• Lime juice
• Fish sauce
• Sugar

Blend chili padi, garlic and shallot. Squeeze lime juice and add fish sauce and sugar to taste.

In order to have a nice, slow and comfortable steamboat meals, I will limit the steamboat meal to 8 persons to a table.