Chinese Hot Pot at Home

• Hot pot soup base (with water) or stock

Leafy Greens (choose 1-2):

• baby bok choy (thoroughly washed)
• Napa cabbage (washed, cut into 1-2 inch pieces)
• Choy Sum (thoroughly washed)
• spinach (thoroughly washed)
• pea tips (thoroughly washed)
• Watercress (thoroughly washed)
• AA Choy/Cai (washed, trimmed)
• chrysanthemum leaves (washed, trimmed)

Other Vegetables (choose 1-2):

• lotus root (cut into 1/4 inch thick half moons)
• potato (cut into 1/4 inch thick half moons)
• sweet potato (cut into 1/4 inch thick half moons)
• pumpkin/kabocha squash (cut into 1/4 inch thick half moons)
• daikon radish (cut into 1-inch chunks)
• tomatoes (sliced into wedges)
• corn (whole ears, cut into 1-inch pieces)
• winter melon (cut into 1-inch chunks)

Mushrooms (choose 1-2):

• enoki mushrooms (slice 1/2-1 inch of the base off, and separate the bundle of enoki’s into smaller more manageable bundles
• Wood ears (soak to reconstitute, rinse any dirt or sand off, and remove any woody ends)
• king mushrooms (trim the ends, thinly slice)
• Shiitake mushrooms (trim woody stems, slice, and add to the pot early)
• oyster mushrooms (thoroughly cleaned)
• shimeji mushrooms (separated into individual pieces)

Meat & Seafood (Choose 2-3):

• beef (brisket, short rib, ribeye, sirloin, flank steak, thinly sliced against the grain)
• Pork shoulder or loin (thinly sliced)
• pork belly (thinly sliced)
• Lamb shoulder or leg (thinly sliced)
• boneless chicken breast or thighs (thinly sliced)
• fish fillets (such as tilapia, bass, fluke/flounder, thinly sliced)
• Shrimp
• scallops
• Squid or cuttlefish
• Beef balls
• Pork balls
• Fish balls
• squid balls
• Mixed seafood balls
• fish cakes
• Fish tofu

Staple Starches (choose 1-2):

• mung bean vermicelli (soak in warm water for 10 minutes)
• rice vermicelli (boil to par-cook, rinse in cold water, drain)
• Thin fresh white noodles
• Fresh spinach noodles
• shirataki noodles (add directly to boiling broth, cooks in seconds)
• rice cakes (the thin ovals are best; the thick Korean-style rice cake logs take too long to cook)
• Frozen dumplings (smaller is better; cook time 7-10 minutes)

Tofu & Bean Curd (choose 2-3)

• bean threads (AKA dried bean curd sticks; soak in warm water for 3-4 hours, cut into 2-inch pieces)
• Soy puffs (left whole or cut in half)
• Frozen tofu (cut into 1-inch pieces)
• firm tofu (cut into 1-inch pieces)
• Dried bean curd rolls
• Fresh tofu sheets/skin
• pressed tofu

Dipping Sauce Ingredients

• Chinese sesame paste or sauce
• Peanut butter or peanut sauce
• soy sauce
• Sha Cha sauce
• sesame oil
• Sichuan peppercorn oil
• Chili oil/sauce
• Chili garlic sauce/sambal oelek
• Chinese black vinegar/rice vinegar
• white pepper
• toasted sesame seeds
• minced garlic 
• chopped scallions
• chopped cilantro
• Fried shallots or garlic