This Sunday, MeiYu organized a class hotpot event to fight against the cold weather and celebrate the upcoming Chinese New year. With every HSK 3, we have a class dinner this time we went to the famous Hot Yak Restaurant at Majnu ka Tila one of the few places in Delhi that serves authentic Chinese cuisine and most importantly hotpot. Although we teach Chinese dinning etiquettes starting HSK 1 at HSK 3 we feel they are ready to actually use it and no better way than trying out hotpot !!
You must be wondering what is a Hot Pot?
Hot pot is not only a culinary experience, it’s an exercise in social connectivity. The more the merrier, and it’s a way to get to know people in a more intimate way as you share a meal. Not only are you gathered at one table sharing a meal, you’re cooking your food together in a shared pot.
Chinese hot pot is a glorious communal feast. Hot pot is a Chinese soup containing a variety of East Asian foodstuffs and ingredients. Although the flavor of Chinese hotpots varies from region to region, they have similar dining customs. Hotpot is commonly served in a wide metal pot over a (gas) burner to heat the soup in the middle of the table. When the soup is boiling, you may dip (quickly-cooked) ingredients in until cooked. Typical dishes include thinly sliced meat, leafy vegetables, mushrooms, wontons, dumplings, tofu, and seafood. The cooked food is usually eaten with a dipping sauce.
Teacher Claire gave a vivid class about the history behind hotpot and how to prepare it. Since some of our students are vegetarian we seperated the pots for vegetarians and non vegetarians.
Ayush wants to go to China but since he is a vegetarian he was a little afraid about the food options available there. We made him try Mapo Tofu and Suan Rong Qiezi with Mantou. All we can say is he is a fan now! One of our student Tanya is a Muslim and a frequent visitor to China due her family business, she advised all muslims to look for a Uyghur Restaurant because they serve halal food. As a lot of our students have either been to China or are planning to visit it soon, sharing these experiences was very insightful.
While the spiciness of the hotpot made half of us cry Tushar decided to take part in a bet in which he drank not one but two bowls of hotpot soup. Hope his stomache is better now! All in all everyone had great fun chatting, laughing and cooking together!
