Málàtàng



This hot and spicy Sichuan street food is often described as a Chinese foundue when it's gentrified for the dinner table. Skewered pieces of various food are cooked in a bubbling pan of broth placed in the middle of the table.  It should be properly hot and spicy, the name translates as hot hot hot! 'Ma' means mouth-numbing hot, 'la' means chilli spicy hot and 'tang' means piping hot!

Ingredients

for the stock
400g mushrooms
2 Spring Onions
3 Bay leaves
8 carrots, chopped
3 onions, chopped
3 leeks, chopped
1 small cabbage, chopped
4 litres water

for the spicy paste
3 tbsp Doubanjian, (Sichuan spicy bean paste)
5 Dried chillies, soaked in warm water until soft
1 tbsp Douchi, (fermented black soy beans)
20g Fresh root Ginger, sliced
4 Garlic cloves, sliced
125ml Shaoxing wine (Chinese cooking wine)
1tbsp Sugar
(Dry Spices)
3 star anise
1tbsp Sichuan Peppercorn
1 black cardamom
4 green cardamom
2 ground ginger
1 piece cinnamon stick
1 tbsp fennel seeds

for the dipping sauce
sesame oil
vegetarian oyster sauce
1 garlic, clove
sugar
roasted peanuts, crushed
chives, chopped

choice of vegetables to cook
Pak Choi
Lotus Root
Shitake Mushrooms
Deep-fried Tofu
Sliced potato


Method

Begin by preparing a vegetable stock.  Pour some oil into a large pan and heat up to a high temperature. Add the carrots, onions and leeks and fry for a few minutes before adding the mushrooms, bay leaves and the water. Bring to a boil then simmer for about and hour with the lid on.

Strain and set aside.

In another pan heat some veg oil on a low temperature and fry garlic, ginger, Sichuan spicy bean paste, fermented black soy beans and the dried chillies for about 10 minutes. Next add the cooking wine, sugar and all the dry spices and cook on a low heat for a further 20 minutes.

Both the stock and the spicy paste could be made in advance.

Prepare some dipping sauce, by combining all the ingredients in a bowl.

When you are ready to cook the Málàtàng heat the spicy paste in a pan and add the stock.  Stir well and taste the stock to adjust the seasoning by adding more ginger, chillies, salt and/or sugar.

Bring to a boil.

The stock is then placed in the centre of the table. (Often two stocks are prepared, a hot spicy version and a milder stock.)  Each guest can then place the various skewered vegetables into the stock to cook for varying lengths of time.

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