Buddha jumps over the wall hotpot

Traditionally, this Fujian dish from the Qing Dynasty comprises up to 30 ingredients, including chicken, ham, taro, mushrooms and shark’s fin. Our recipe features more accessible ingredients, while maintaining a high-protein hotpot. The origins of this dish’s name are debatable. One story describes how the meal’s rich aroma could tempt even Buddha to stop meditating and jump over a wall to find it.

Hotpot (Buddha jumps over the wall) Credit: SBS food

• serves

  6

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 2 tsp cornflour
• 60 ml (¼ cup) salt-reduced soy sauce
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 cm piece ginger, cut into julienne
• 150 g beef eye fillet, cut into 5 mm-thick slices
• 250 g white firm-fleshed fish fillets, such as ling and perch, cut into 3 cm pieces
• 2 tbsp peanut or vegetable oil
• 1 small red capsicum, thickly sliced
• 12 cm piece fish maw (see Note), soaked for 20 minutes, cut into 3cm pieces
• 12 large green king prawns, peeled with tails intact, cleaned
• 12 large scallops, without roe
• 2 small squid tubes, scored, cut into 5 strips
• 4 canned bamboo shoot wedges (see Note), thickly sliced
• 200 g firm tofu, cut into 2 cm cubes
• 2 baby bok choy, quartered
• 4 shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded, halved
• coriander sprigs and steamed rice or flower rolls, to serve

Sauce

• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 1 tsp sugar

Marinating time 15 minutes

Drink 2010 Bindi Quartz Chardonnay ($90).

Instructions

Combine cornflour, soy, garlic and ginger and divide between 2 bowls. Add beef to one and fish to the other, then toss to coat in mixture. Set aside for 15 minutes to marinate.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok over medium–high heat, add fish with marinade and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove and set aside. Wipe wok clean, heat remaining 1 tbsp oil, add beef with marinade and capsicum, and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until beef is lightly browned. Remove and set aside. Add fish maw, prawns, scallops and squid, and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until prawns start to turn deep pink.

To make sauce, combine all ingredients in a bowl. Return fish and beef to wok, stir in sauce, 375ml water, ¼ tsp ground white pepper, bamboo shoots, tofu, bok choy and mushrooms. Stir for 2 minutes or until seafood is just cooked. Scatter with coriander and serve with rice or flower rolls.

Note

• Fish maw, from Asian food shops, is the fried air bladder of a fish. When cooked, it takes on the flavour of its surrounding ingredients.

• Bamboo shoot wedges are available from Asian food shops.

Photography by Brett Stevens.         

 

As seen in Feast magazine, Jan 2012, Issue 5. For more recipes and articles, pick up a copy of this month's Feast magazine or check out our great subscriptions offers here.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.