hot pot

One of chopchopkalipok favorite pastime is to window shop at Giant Tampines simply because the car park is free. Ha ha... It is incredibly expensive to park in Singapore and a delight to find a "free" one.

I chanced upon a medium size clay pot with simple flora designs selling for $5. The clay pot's glazing is not of exceptionally good quality but the fit of the cover to the pot is just perfect. Looks sturdy and well built. For the low price of $5 what more can I ask for right? I did not even bother to "condition" the clay pot by soaking the pot in a tub of water overnight. Sifu told me that by soaking the pot into cold water will prolong the lifespan of the pot when fired in high heat...

Wife rang me up one day that she would like to have something "soupy" when she is back from flight. I was so preoccupied that day with my other love (aero-modeling) that I had conveniently forgotten her request till she was standing in front of the door... A hungry woman is an angry woman. Whoops... The clay pot and frozen chicken stock is my life saver for that day.

The beauty of having a hot pot is that the only work is to go to the super mart. Pick up some vegetables, mushrooms, seafood or whatever you fancy. They even have pre sliced meat platter now. Do you know that Singaporean are spoilt with so many choices that it takes more effort to decide what to buy then to prepare the meal.


You can choose to boil up the chicken stock over the stove before "dumping" all the ingredients in and eat them at one go. Or you can heat up the stock over a portable stove and "cook as you eat". The key thing about hot pot is the stock. Do not over salt/season the stock in the early stage of cooking hot pot as the ingredients will gradually flavor the stock with it's goodness... I do not like to crack an egg in a hot pot either as it will make the stock murky and unappetizing. If you fancy having an egg, I would suggest to hard boil quail eggs first and the hot pot is used to "heat up" the quail eggs. You may want to use the same method for noodles, dumplings and wantons too.


Do not forget to add 葱油 to the hot pot to give that extra flavor. Chopchopkalipok will also prepare a simple dipping sauce for boiled meat and seafood.

dipping sauce recipe (1 serving),

lightly brown chopped garlic 1 tsp
chili sauce 1 tbsp
tomato sauce 1 tbsp
hot dog mustard 1 tbsp
maggi seasoning a few dashes
七味粉 a few dashes
葱油 1/2 tsp

May entry for chicken stock recipe.
June entry for 葱油 recipe.