Thrifty Thursday: Mongolian Hot Pot

Welcome to my annual recipe crush. Each February I choose a theme, and provide one or two recipes each day for the whole month. This year the theme is Weekly Menu Plannng. What are the categories, you ask? We have Sunday Special, Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Worldly Wednesday, Thrifty Thursday, Fishy Friday, and Celebrate Saturday.

On Thrifty Thursdays, mostly we save money by cutting down on/cutting out meat. That’s typically the most expensive part of a family meal. Reducing meat consumption also makes for more healthful as well as less expensive dinners. In fact, this Mongolian Hot Pot could be a vegetarian option by using vegetable broth and no meat.

I used to call this dinner “The Girlfriend Test” when our sons were teens. You can imagine how much my boys liked that! How squeamish were those cute little things they were bringing home? Were they willing to dip into the communal pot to eat dinner?

I called it Mongolian Hot Pot because my version was inspired, decades ago, by some article or other about dipping veggies and meats into bubbling oil. I substituted broth. Actually, I have no idea if Mongolians do or did eat something like this. But there’s power in naming. When my family hears this is on the dinner menu, they are very happy.

The dropping of food into a pot in the middle of the table and then fishing out pieces (maybe your pieces, maybe not) makes for a very informal meal. It’s fun!

The broth gets more flavorful as the meal goes on and the dropped-in foods season it. Keep that broth and any leftovers (including rice) to make a soup the next day. Add a tablespoon of minced ginger to pep the soup up. Or, better still, add it to the bubbling broth for an extra flavor layer while cooking your dinner.

Mongolian Hot Pot (serves 6)

1 quart broth, your choice

small slivers of carrots, bell peppers, and celery (I don’t have an amount, but I fix enough for a large handful of veggies per person)

1 packed cup spinach leaves

12 whole green onions

1 teaspoon minced ginger, optional

Two pieces of boneless meat (chicken breast, pork chop, steak, or a combo) cut into slivers

Whisk together the broth and ginger in a pot over medium heat. When the mixture boils, transfer to your fondue pot set to a medium heat. It should be hot enough to cook any meat thoroughly, but not bubbling hard.

Let everyone skewer the meat and veggies of choice and dip them into the boiling broth. Use fondue forks to hold the pieces or let float and fish out with chop sticks.

Serve with lots of rice cooked in broth and wine (instead of water).

DH’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up

DH always loves Mongolian Hot Pot Night. Since he does the dishes, the clean-up is minimal. But, oh, yeah, he loves the fun of it, and the food is always delicious. He likes the next day’s soup made from leftovers a lot.