open your Brunei and see what’s delicious

Brunei. Southeast Asia, island of Borneo. Bordered by Malaysia on 3 sides and the South China Sea on the other.

Brunei is pretty rich, and public debt makes up a whopping 0% of GDP. Whaaaa?

thanks, startimes.com!

Yep. Money.

Brunei is also a Sharia state, official April of this year, whose politics are largely dictated by Islam, making it a place that is considered way conservative in comparison to its nearest neighbors. Things like homosexuality and adultery are cause for stoning, by law. Alcohol is a no-no. Sigh. Naturally, if there isn’t much chance to encounter a bunch of intoxicated gay people running around, there’s not much likelihood I’m going to visit.

But, food! Let’s get to the delicious, delicious food. This edition we’ll tackle this simple yet tasty Asian dish: hot pot! The name pretty much says it… we’re talking about a hot pot of tasty brothy soup in which you cook things and devour. Easy peasy, no? And tasty. It’s in the broth, friends—make it good, and make it spicy!

the stuff

~4 cups of stock (this can be whatever you’d like, really! We made chicken stock and seasoned it up with salt & pepper and chili. Simple, delicious, spicy.)
thinly sliced meat (your choice! Chicken, beef, lamb… but in Brunei they probably wouldn’t use pork, fyi. we used beef!! and probably didn’t slice it thin enough, but we survived)
seafood if you want (fish balls, mussels, pretty much whatever you’d like)
extra firm tofu
vegetables of your choice (we used snow peas, bok choy, daikon, mushrooms, carrots… but pick whatever you’d like)
1 tsp red pepper flakes (or more…)
salt & pepper to taste
cilantro
condiments of your choice (we had a garlic chili paste, soy sauce, and hoisin sauce)

the moves

Note: This is meant to be made in a pot set into a table with a heat source underneath. Who has that? Big surprise: not us. You can also rig something with a portable heat source if you’re having a party and want to sit around, hanging out and cooking stuff. Or, you put it on the stove and stand around the kitchen, which is what we often do when people come over, anyway.

1. Heat up the stock. Taste for tastiness, add salt & pepper if you fancy.
2. Once stock is near boiling, add chili flakes and cilantro.
3. People have different styles of doing hot pot—cook things a few at a time for a long leisurely meal, or plop everything in and wait for it to come back to boil. But the gist is: plop things in. Let em heat up until they are cooked to your liking.
   

   mmmm cooky up good, yummy stuff! also, I love that you can see the steam drifting up, smelling all delicious…

4. Scoop out with some of the broth into a bowl, add desired condiments (or go the dipping route) and SHOVE INTO YOUR FACE.

look at this hot pot deliciousness!! pour on some broth, and VOILA!

One thing I really like about is that there are endless combos! We made some broth and had several dinners, all of which were hot pot but none of which were the same.

thanks, worldatlas.com!