Since it is the middle of winter, it may be a good idea to invite a few friends home to share a Chinese meal, or have a Chinese Steamboat together. A steamboat has nothing to do with the ones one sees out in the harbour. It is simply a meal whereby the diners cook the food at the table in a pot called a steamboat' (or a substitute like an electric rice cooker, a fondue pot, or even an ordinary pot over a portable electric or gas stove).

Normally, a wide selection of meats are cut into small thin slices and placed around the 'steamboat' which has a good stock constantly on the boil. Each diner has a soup bowl and his own dipping sauce. Each would drop some meat into the boiling stock and add some vegetables. When the food is done, usually when the water boils again, the diners would help themselves to the cooked meats and some soup and maybe eat them with some noodles or rice vermicelli. At the end of it all, when all the meat is eaten, with still some soup left, two eggs are dropped into the soup and everybody finishes off with a delicious egg-drop soup.

Steamboat can have all sorts of ingredients but the following list would provide for a good evening of 'steamboating' with plenty of time for socialising.

Ingredients

Stock: Debone a chicken and use the bones for the stock. Crack the bones so that the bone marrow can make the soup tastier. Add the bones to a big pot of water with a few slices of ginger and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for one hour.

Meats and Vegetables

1 chicken, deboned and cut into small bitesize pieces. ½ kg of pork slices, cut into thin slices, ½ kg of beef, cut across the grain into thin slices, ½ kg fish fillet, sliced thinly. I squid, cut into small pieces, ½ kg pork liver, small slices. Optional: prawns, scallops, mussels, etc. 1kg Chinese cabbage or spinach, 2 eggs, ready boiled noodles or rice vermicelli.

Sauce

Soya sauce mixed with some chilli sauce, or soya sauce mixed with minced ginger and some oil, or just plain soya sauce.

Method

Put individual meats on separate plates, or put the meats over some lettuce leaves for decoration. Put the meats around the steaming pot in an attractive way. Put the cut vegetables around the pot as well. Put ½ the stock into the pot and bring to boil and when everybody is seated, ask each diner to add some meats or veges to be cooked and ladle out some meat and soup when ready. Some noodles may be put in the bowls, and top it up with meats and soup. Finish off all the meats and veges adding more stock when required and break the eggs into the soup last. The above recipe would serve about six or eight people. Have fun.