Easy to make ~ Steamboat (chicken stock base)

I love steamboat. Who doesn't? On cold, rainy day, it's the best thing ever. And it's easy to make, easy to serve to a large group of people and it goes well with a good conversation.

Equipments:
1. portable gas stove
2. huge deep pan / pot

Ingredients for a chicken stock base recipe:

A. chicken stock based broth / soup
1. 2 litre of water
2. for the chicken used for making the stock, some supermarket sold carcass leftover after the meat and parts are cut and separated. You can use this, or get the bony parts e.g. the breast / spine
3. 1 onion
4. 4-5 cloves of garlic, give them a nice squash under a stone pessel or you can use the bottom of a mug
5. 1/2 a carrot, chopped roughly into cubes
6. salt and pepper to taste
7. 1 stalk of leek, chopped into 3-4 cm length pieces
8. 1 Tbsp of light soy sauce

Heat the water, then add in all the ingredients above. Simmer until the meat from the carcass is tender and easily peels off (takes about 1 1/2 - 2 hr). For a cheat version, you may use chicken stock cubes instead of chicken carcass.


B. things for simmering / boiling
1. green leafy vege: bak choy is my favourite
2. napa @ chinese cabbage
3. leek
4. mushrooms: enoki, shiitake, abalone etc.
5. black fungus
6. tofu / Japanese tofu
7. prawns
8. chicken fillet
9. squids

Actually, there are no limit to what you feel like putting in your steamboat pot. Some people put stuffs from yong tau fu, some put in all sorts of meat and seafood under the sun. Some like to have noodles and egg. There are no specific quantity of each ingredients, you just prepare them based on number of people eating the steamboat.


As for dipping sauce, I like to serve a homemade soy sauce base dip, just combine all the ingredients below:
1. 1 chilli, seeded and chopped
2. 3 shallots, thinly sliced
3. 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
4. 1 onion, sliced thinly
5. juice of 1 lime
6. 1 cup of sweet soy sauce