Purpose
This doc serves as a shopping list for those who aren’t familiar with having hot pot at home.
Tools needed
A table-top electric pot (any will do - you can even do a little table top gas stove or electric burner with a regular pot). The key is to have a pot containing the soup base heated throughout dinner. You should be able to adjust the heat up and down too.
Hotpot soup ladle
Hotpot strainer
Chopsticks, plates to hold raw materials, plate for each person, dipper plate for reach person
Technique
Dip food into hotpot quickly then remove once it is cooked. If there are raw meat items in the soup, wait until the soup boils before consuming any content from the soup.
You can get fancy with any thinly sliced meat items by quickly dipping and holding under soup for 1~3 seconds at a time,and doing it for 7~8 times.
Use separate chopsticks for raw and a shared set of chopsticks for getting food from inside the pot. Some people don’t mind this as much, but it’s better to be careful.
Materials
Listing some of the materials I personally prefer. There are many regional preferences for hotpot. You are free to get creative.
Hot pot soup base
Many people like to make their own too but it’s a lot of effort. Here’s a page that shows the variety. Many flavours are available. If you get a double sided hotpot pot, you can even buy two flavours (one spicy, one not spicy). An example of all the hot pot soup bases: https://www.tntsupermarket.com/chs/product-categories/sauces-pickles/hot-pot-soup-bases.html
Hot pot dip (this is very regional and personal preference based too_
Mixing your own: minced garlic, spring onions, cilantro, sesame paste, sesame oil, oyster sauce, light soy sauce, sugar, salt, chili oil, chili, vinegar
Meats
Thinly sliced lamb
Thinly sliced beef
Shrimp (full)
Shrimp paste (put spoonfuls in at a time in and fish out once cooked)
Fish filet
All types of fish balls
Tripes, stomachs, intestines, etc
Spam
Liver
Blood tofu
Veggies
Any leafy vegetables (there are more variety of these at Asian supermarkets)
Mushrooms, any type. Best kinds for hotpot are oyster mushrooms, king oyster mushrooms, and enoki mushrooms
Lotus root, peeled and sliced
Potato (am not a fan but some people are)
All types of tofu products - tofu is great in hotpot!
Frozen tofu, firm tofu, soft tofu, tofu puffs, tofu skin
Seaweed knots
Starchy foods: boil these last because they will make your soup starchy and thick
Vermicelli of all sizes and shapes
Noodles of any type
Konjac noodles (a personal favourite)