Spicy Hotpot Broth Sichuan Hong Tang Lu Recipes

Steps:

• Make a paste out of the black beans and 1 Tbsp Shaoxing rice wine, using either a mortar and pestle or a food processor.
• Wash the ginger and cut it into slices about the thickness of a coin.
• Using a scissors, snip the chiles into 1 inch sections and remove the seeds.
• Heat 3 tbs of the oil in a wok over a medium flame so it's hot but not smoking.
• Stir fry the chiles to flavor the oil; you want the oil to sizzle around the chiles, making them crisp and fragrant, but NOT burning; using a slotted spoon remove them and set aside.
• Rinse out and dry the wok, the put on a simmer/low heat.
• Add the rest of the oil and the beef drippings.
• Once the drippings have melted completely, turn up the heat to medium.
• When the oils just begin to smoke (around 250-300 degreesF), add the chile bean paste and stir fry until the oil is rich and fragrant (60-90 seconds).
• The paste should NOT burn; if necessary either move the wok off the heat or turn the heat down to let the paste sizzle in the oil.
• When the oil has reddened, add the black bean mash and the ginger.
• Stir fry until they also are fragrant.
• Add about 1 1/2 quarts of the beef stock and bring to a boil.
• When the liquid reaches a boil, add the rock sugar, the rest of the Shaoxing wine, and (optional) the glutinous rice wine.
• Salt to taste.
• Add the chiles and the Sichuan pepper (adjust the quantity depending on how "hot and numbing" you want it) leave the broth to simmer for 15-20 minutes.
• You are now ready to use this to dip ingredients to cook.
• =============== NOTE ================.
• You will add the rest of the chicken stock to top up the hotpot as the meal progresses.

Steps:

• Make the base stock by combining beef or pork bones or chicken skeleton with water, ginger, scallion, bay leaves. Bring to boil then simmer for 3 hours. Alternatively, season with the bouillon of your choice to skip the 3 hours of boiling bones.
• To make the aged-spicy paste, chop the Szechuan Spicy Bean Paste, soaked dry chili, ginger, garlic, and black bean. Combine 4 tbsp of oil and all the chopped ingredients, cook in low heat for 10 minutes. Stir frequently. Add the rest of the dry spices and cooking wine and sugar to the paste. Continue to cook in low heat for another 30 minutes then turn off the heat.
• Before serving the hot pot, combine the aged-spicy paste with base stock and bring to boil. Add additional ginger, dried chili, and salt to taste.
• Enjoy the spicy goodness!