Week 2: Chinese

Week 2 of the cooking challenge is the first "theme/cultural inspiration" week, and the challenge is Chinese Food.  In a tribute to my close friend Lie, I decided to host a hot-pot dinner party.  These parties were somewhat of a tradition in college, and I invited 2 cousins + their guests over for dinner.

Closely following Lie's instructions, I chose to do a Szechuan hot pot.  It's an Asian fondue, distinguished from similar meals by the fact that the fondue broth is spicy and the dipping sauce is mild (instead of the other way around).  I purchased a packaged broth mix, and provided the following ingredients for dipping:

• Fingerling potatoes, extra-firm tofu, soy puffs
• Cabbage, asparagus
• Thin sliced ribeye steak, shrimp, chicken balls
• Pork and vegetable dumplings

I prepared rice in the rice cooker, and also made a dipping sauce of soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic chili paste, rice vinegar, cilantro, green onion, and ground ginger.

The meal was very well received, and we had a wonderful time.  Out of everything provided, the shrimp and asparagus were by far the favorites.  The chicken balls had an odd texture, and the majority of my guests weren't crazy about the tofu.