Friday, May 27, 2005

Satay Hot Pot


Another acquired taste for me. It took me sometime to love the taste of the base. I first tasted this in Indonesia the other year. Apparently, the base seems to be common in Malaysia and Singapore as well.

The base can be prepared ahead and can be frozen. I used a blender to mix the following ingredients:

2 cloves of garlic
2 inches of cinnamon sticks
5 cardamoms
thumbsized peeled ginger
1 mace
1/2 tsp of peppercorns
2 coarsely chopped medium onions
5 bay leaves

Blend the ingredients until you reach paste-like consistency. Use only an amount enough to give flavour to your soup. Wrap the left over in plastic wrap and freeze it for future use.

Now here's what you need to prepare the Hot Pot.

1 cup of fish head with flesh (white preferably)
1 cup of mussels
1/2 cup of prawns (optional)
about 1/4 cup of peeled radish
1/2 cup of snow peas, cleaned
1 cup of green leafy vegetables

In a saucepan, boil 3 cups of water. Add the soup base. Season with salt. Once the water boils, add all the ingredients at the same time putting the green ones last or on top. Watch that once the soup boils, you have to take the saucepan out of the burner and pour the soup in a serving bowl.

Serve.

4 comments:

Stef said...

ako din acquired taste 'to sa 'kin, specially with the cardamom, cinnamon, etc. hindi kasi common pinoy flavors. masarap pala ano?

ting-aling said...

Oh Stef, sometimes ayaw ko pa rin(depende yata sa weather) but it's my daughter who keeps on requesting me to cook it.

Parang masarap siya when the weather is a little hot..

JMom said...

I don't think I've ever tasted this, and it sounds like I would have to acquire the taste for it too. I guess the cinnamon and cardamom is what throws most of our Filipino palate. But just the seafood and veggies alone would convince me to give this a try.

ting-aling said...

JMom, it is so eaasssyyy to make. Any vegetables I can find in the fridge actually works but I find the radish does help in the neutralizing of the spices.