Tom-yam Hot-Pot

I was extremely busy for the past several weeks and had subsisted mainly on takeouts or 1-minute noodles and egg cooked in boiling water.

Today, I had to eat something nice. Really nice. And whenever that itch hits, and you are still way-behind-schedule, what do you do?

For me, I make a hot-pot !

A hot-pot is the simplest, quickest, easiest meal to cook when you are in a hurry.

For my hot-pot, I cut up a pack of boneless chicken thigh into bite-sized chunks, and throw them into a boiling pot of water into which I had put a large onion, quartered, 3 garlic cloves squashed, and 2-3 slices of old yellow ginger. Use enough water to produce good stock , yet not so much that your stock becomes too diluted and tasteless. For me 3 bowls are what I need.

Now, for the tasty bit: scoop 2 dollops of tom-yam paste into the boiling soup, add 2 tbl fish sauce, 2 tbl rice vinegar, 2 tbl brown sugar, 2 tbl Maggi's seasoning and about 1/2 ts salt, or to taste. Finally, for a hint of bitterness, I added one bitter gourd, sliced.

The hot-pot was ready in 10-minutes.

To spice up the meal, I stir-fried a pack of pig's liver, sliced thinly into bite-sized lengths in a hot wok. The secret to preparing hunger-inducing stir-fried liver that is cooked just right is to first marinade the thin slices in a concotion of your favorite sauces and a bit of sesame oil. I use oyster sauce (the no-MSG type), chilli sauce, sometimes hoisin sauce. If I have time I will crunch 1/2 ts black pepper andput it in the marinade.

Wait until the wok is smoking, then put in the liver and fry quickly, flipping it all the time.

Reduce the heat a bit to avoid burnt sauces and dish out the liver within 2 minutes. Otherwise the liver will be tough to chew from over-cooking.

Serve with freshly cooked jasmine rice.

Verdict: Wow! All-in-one hotpot, what could be easier and tastier?