The soup
Soup base is the most important ingredients in a steamboat. I spent 8-10 hours in brewing the soup in a crockpot (slow cooker). The ingredients of the soup consist of big bone, prawn shell, dried scallop, dried oyster and Knorr chicken cube. The soup taste superb but got spoiled by a little of fishy smell. So if you dont like the fishy smell, you guys can skip out the dried scallop and dried oyster. If you prefer a strong taste then use less water for more bones.
The Dumplings
Skin: Make the dough using wheat flour and water. Knead until it is not sticky anymore. But not too dry though. Then, spread out the dough and make a thin sheet as thick skin wont make the dumpling taste good. But of course not too thin till it tears easily. Then use a tupperware cover (small one) to make the shape of the skin. It can be square or round ones. I prefer round ones. I was not the one who make the skin. Shalom is the one did. Hahahahha ... so the trick to do it I am not sure too ... hahahhahaa
Fillings: Ingredients were made of napa cabbage (chopped), garlic (chopped), spring onions (chopped) and pork (minced). The portion depends on your liking. The seasonings are pure sesame oil, vinegar, white pepper, cornstarch and soy sauce. The addition of cornstarch is to make the fillings smoother than the non-cornstarch fillings. Mixed them together and let it sit for about 30 mins.
Wrapped the fillings with the skin. I made the small ones but Shalom he made a really super duper big dumplings. And of course, it takes longer to cook. Put the dumplings into boiling water. When the dumpling floats, it means the dumpling they are cooked and you can either eat them dry or in a soup. The reason to separately cook the dumpling is because, the flour will turn the soup into gruel.
The Prawns
Prawns are easy. Just peel the shell off and wait to be cooked in the steamboat later. Hahahaha .... But have to ensure that the prawns are really very fresh. How to determine that? If the shell can be easily peel off and the flesh of the prawns are left intact, it means the prawns are fresh, succulent and sweet. To see whether it's fresh, the eyes of the prawns will shine. Or else the unfresh prawn eyes are quite dull.
The Fish-Pork Balls
This one is easy. Get a flesh of a red snapper, minced pork and garlic. Mixed them with pure sesame oil, soy sauce, white pepper and cornstarch. Take a tablespoon of the mixture and roll them into balls. Marinate it for 30 mins before you start your steamboat.
The Dipping Sauce
I used the dried chilli flakes oil produced in China. It is known as "Lao Gan Ma Chilli Oil" . This is the kind of chillies used for steamboat or dumplings.
Of course it does not comprise of the chillies only. It will only be spicy. Too plain. So, what I did here is I soy sauce but Shalom said it's still need a little bit more to enhance the taste of the dipping sauce. He suggested to add in some sugar and vinegar. I would say WOW it really taste great man!!
The Enoki Mushrooms Beef Roll
This is a modification of recipe from Lee Kum Kee. Ingredients are simple. Just beef slices and enoki mushrooms. Marinate seasoning consists of pure sesame oil, Lee Kum Kee premium oyster sauce and sesame seeds. After marinating the beef with the seasoning for about 15mins, wrap around the enoki mushrooms with a beef slice. Use constarch to stick the edge of the beef slice together. Next heat the pan with oil or sesame oil for a more fragrance taste. Pan-fry the till the beef is cooked and ready to serve.
Shalom ate most of the dumplings and the beef rolls. While I ate most of the fish-pork balls. It taste really great hohohoho ... Hmm ... seems that I am not a bad cook after all. Hahhahahaha ... Anyway, it was an enjoyable and great Christmas for me!!! You guys can try out the steamboat thingy if you have any occasions later. I assure you that it will be the most enjoyable event to do it together other than bbq! ^_^
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