Tag-Archive for » Dipping Sauces «

Mongolian Hotpot With Chicken and Shrimp
This is a very novel way to prepare food especially if your entertaining. Everyone can relax and talk while having fun cooking the food at the table. I have listed the original recipe below but you will see from my photos that I did beef, chicken, salmon, perch and prawns for the meat. One of the things I love about this is you can do whatever you like and do what ever dips you want and as many or as few as you like. I did loads which made it even more fun trying which ones went the best with each different meat of fish. I also just added the spinach and cabbage into the broth as the pan was quite a large capacity. I cooked the noodles on the stove top and then put them in a bowl on the table, which we just kept adding to the pot to warm them through for about a minute. If you would like to view the original recipe please click here.

Ingredients

5-6 Ounces chicken breasts
1 lb Red snapper fillet
1/2 lb Large raw shrimp
1/2 lb Napa cabbage (Chinese Cabbage)
1 Bunch spinach
1/4 lb Bean thread noodles (dried vermicelli)
4 Cups chicken stock or vegetable stock
2 Cups water
1 Tablespoon chinese rice wine or dry sherry
2 Slices ginger
1 Green onion

Suggested Dips

Dark soy sauce
Light soy sauce
Ketjap Manis
Sesame paste
Fermented bean curd (mashed)
Chili oil
Rice vinegar
Hoisin sauce
Bearnaise
Cocktail
Garlic Aoli

Method

1. Cut the chicken and red snapper filets into thin slices. Rinse the shrimp under warm running water and cut in half lengthwise.

2. Wash and shred the Napa cabbage and spinach. Soak the bean thread noodles in hot water until softened.

3. Place the sliced chicken, shrimp, red snapper and the shredded vegetables on separate platters on the table. Place the dipping sauces on the table in small individual bowls. Make sure each guest has a complete place setting, including a dipping fork (color-coded if possible) and a small bowl for placing the cooked food.

4. On the stove, bring the broth and water with the rice wine to a boil, and add the ginger and green onion. Transfer enough broth to the fondue pot or hot pot so that the pot is approximately 2/3 – 3/4 full. (How much broth you need will depend on the size of the pot). Place the pot on the burner, and keep it simmering throughout the meal. Keep the remaining broth warming on the stovetop.

5. To serve, invite guests to spear the food with a dipping fork and cook briefly in the broth until cooked, then dip the cooked food in the sauces as desired.

6. Use a dipping basket to cook the vegetables in batches in the hot broth and ladle out into the soup bowls.

All photos taken by me unless otherwise stated.

Cod Patties with Two Dipping Sauces
I made these as I had some sweet potato to use up and some left over prawns that I needed to use in something, they turned out very good for so few ingredients. The sauces were both good we preferred the pickle relish sauce but the creamy boursin sauce was lovely too, I think that it was just because of the tang of the other one, that paired it that bit better with the cod patties. Anyway considering both were experimental I was pleased with both. I served this for 3 as I knew my men would eat 3 patties each and I only two and accompanied it with a green salad. I think this would easily serve 4, 2 patties per person with a nice salad and some crusty bread perfect. If you want to make these for a BBQ I would make the patties much smaller to yield more, as if having accompanied with other meats you don’t want them as main meal size portions, I think you would probably get 15-20 patties then.

Ingredients

Cod Cakes

450g Cod fillets, chopped
200g Green prawns, chopped
1 Egg
1 Sweet potato (about 250g)
2 Green onions, chopped finely
1 Tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped finely
3 Cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 Cup panko flakes, Japanese breadcrumbs (I used just over a cup but not quite 3/4)

Tangy Relish Sauce
3 Tablespoons pickle relish
100ml Mayonnaise
2 Teaspoons mild creamy mustard
2 Teaspoons lemon juice

Creamy Boursin Sauce

75g Boursin garlic herb cheese
2 Tablespoons mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon milk
3 Teaspoons lemon juice
2 Teaspoons chopped chives
2 Teaspoons mild creamy mustard
1 Small green onion, chopped finely

Method

1. Peel and chop sweet potato, add to boiling water and boil until tender, drain, mash, allow to cool.

2. Blend or process cod, prawns and egg until well blended, little chunks of cod and prawns are fine, you don’t want big whole bits of cod or prawn.

3. Add onions, parsley, garlic and potato, stir to combine, making sure all ingredients are well blended. Refrigerate mix while you make the sauces. (don’t worry I have not forgot the panko!!)

Tangy Relish Sauce

1. Combine relish, mayo, mustard and juice in a small bowl, place in fridge until needed.

Creamy Boursin Sauce

1. Combine boursin, mayo and milk, mix, until smooth, add lemon juice, chives, mustard and green onion, stir to combine, again place in fridge until needed.

Back to the patties

1. Remove fish mix from fridge, pour your panko flakes onto a plate.

2. Heat some olive oil in a pan, takes spoonfuls of fish mix and shape into patties (it will be quite sticky don’t worry) Coat the outside of each pattie with panko flakes. (I do this instead of mixing panko into mixture as it gives the patties a lovely crisp finish to the outside.

3. Add patties to the pan and cook until nicely browned on both sides and cooked through, serve with dipping sauces.

All photos taken by me unless otherwise stated