Update Feb 15: Went to Woodlands & Senoko for CNY food factory shopping and found a factory that specialises in a wide variety of steamboat ingredients at incredible prices. Check out my Chinese New Year 2015 Food Factory Wholesale Shopping @ Woodlands & Senoko post to find out more.
I am currently planning on what to buy for our CNY Eve Reunion Steamboat Dinner and I thought it’d be a good idea to expand my list and include all possible ingredients (I have more than 150 items on my list!) that are suitable for steamboat when a few people recently asked me for ‘new’ and ‘creative’ ideas because they had been eating the same thing year after year.
Unfortunately, I must say nothing will be new or creative unless you’re thinking of munching boiled insects or exotic meats and this list of ingredients has probably all the boring ‘common’ stuffs but I’m sure it will come in handy as there might be something on it that you haven’t thought of.
Anyway, if steamboat is not your kind of thing, I have a collection of CNY recipes that might just inspire the cook in you. Check out my post on 12 Easy Chinese New Year Recipes for Good Luck & Prosperity. And how about a Smoked Salmon Yu Sheng Recipe too for a prosperity toss?
Ingredients for steamboat
| Vegetables
Chinese Lettuce Dang O Bok Choy Iceberg Lettuce Kang Kong Wong Bok Cabbage Choy Sum Spinach Watercress Leeks Snow Peas Sweet Peas French Beans Asparagus Bean Sprouts Shimeji Mushrooms Button Mushrooms Enoki Mushrooms Shiitake Mushrooms Oyster Mushrooms Straw Mushrooms Broccoli Cauliflower Carrots Sweet Corn Baby Corn Winter Melon Yam or Taro Chinese Yam or Huai Shan Sweet Potato Potato Pumpkin Radish Bamboo Shoots Celery Water Chestnut Onions Lady’s Fingers Hairy Gourd Bittergourd Bell Peppers Chillies Tomatoes Cherry Tomatoes Sliced Lotus Root Brinjal (Egg Plant) Seaweed / Kelp Spring Onions Coriander Szechuan Vegetables Preserved Mustard Greens |
Meat
Chicken Fillet Chicken Liver Chicken Glizzard Chicken Heart Chicken Wing (Drumlet or Mid-Joint) Sliced Pork Sliced Pork Belly Sliced Pork Collar Pig Stomach Pig Intestines Pig Liver Pig Brain Pig Kidney Pig Ear Sliced Beef Sliced Wagyu Beef Beef Tripe Sliced Mutton/Lamb Duck Fillet Sliced Smoked Duck Hotdog Luncheon Meat Taiwan Sausage Cocktail Sausage Bacon Ham |
Seafood
Sliced Batang Fish Sliced Threadfin Sliced Grouper Sliced Pomfret Sliced Salmon Sliced Red Snapper Sliced Tilapia Sliced Soon Hock Sliced Dory Fish Prawns Scallops Lobsters Squids Cuttlefish Octopus Clams Mussels Sliced Abalone Sliced Imitation Abalone (Squid Paste) Oysters Jellyfish Cockles Flower or Mud Crabs Sea Cucumber Crayfish Pacific Clam Sea Asparagus Bamboo Clam Frog Fried Fish Skin |
| Others
Fish Ball Fish Cake Fish Paste Cuttlefish Ball Pork Ball Chicken Ball Beef Ball Mushroom Ball Prawn Ball Foo Chow Ball Meat Dumplings Prawn Dumplings Wanton Silken Tofu Firm Beancurd (Tau Kwa) Fried Beancurd Puff (Tau Pok) Ngoh Hiang Egg Tofu Cheese Tofu Crabsticks Beancurd Skin Gluten Vegetarian mock meat |
Noodles & Rice
Udon Noodles Soba Noodles Egg Noodles (Mee Kia or Mee Pok) Yellow Noodles E-fu Noodles La Mian Instant Noodles Thin or Thick Rice Vermicelli (Beehoon) Kway Teow Bee Tak Mak Bean Vermicelli Sweet Potato Vermicelli Mee Sua Korean Rice Cakes Chinese Rice Cakes Mee Hoon Kueh |
|
| Eggs
Chicken Egg Quail Egg Preserved Century Egg |
Dried Goods
Fish Maw Pig Tendon Black Fungus Red Dates Wolfberries (Goji) |
I know many people prefer cod as it doesn’t contain any fishy smell and its meat is much sweeter too but do note cod fish disintegrates easily when boiled so it is not quite an ideal fish to have for steamboat. But if you still want to have it, make sure you slice the cod in thicker pieces and cook it within the steamboat ladle otherwise you’d have a hard time digging for it.
For soup bases, it is easiest to grab store-bought soup stocks in tetra packs and cans or use seasoning powder and bouillon cubes but I never like them because of their high sodium or MSG content. It is not difficult to make fuss free soup bases at home. Here’s a few which I had experimented before:
a) Miso – simply scoop 1-2 tablespoonful of white miso paste into hot boiling water and stir till the paste dissolves. Add some dried seaweed for more aroma.
b) Chicken stock – this can be made one day in advance. Refer to my recipe here on how to make chicken soup. Go easy on the salt (or just totally omit it) as the ingredients will eventually flavour the soup.
c) Pork or Beef stock – just get the bones you want from the butcher and add carrots, onions, celery and 1-2 pieces of bay leaves.
d) Fish stock – best is to use salmon head and bones which you can get from the fishmonger or sometimes NTUC Fairprice. Add celery, onions, carrots and ground fried ikan bilis for extra flavour. When the stock is ready, add some evaporated milk for a fragrant, milky broth just like the soup in fried fish bee hoon.
e) Vegetable stock – carrots, onions, celery, sweet corn, radish, potato.
It’s really not necessary to make the broth flavoursome because you want to enjoy the original taste and freshness of the ingredients that you’re cooking in it and because so many items are going to go into the broth, you’d end up having an inedible (overly salty) soup if it already starts off salty.
Lastly, I would like to recommend my two favourite dipping sauces which you can get from the supermarket:
The Dancing Chef brand is my most preferred between the two. Before serving, just add minced garlic, toasted sesame seeds and chopped coriander for the extra kick. I like this sauce with mushrooms and yong tau foo items.
The Triple A brand is much more spicy than Dancing Chef and I like it with meat and seafood for the extra fiery punch.
Both contain no MSG, preservatives or artificial colourings and are priced between $2.50-$3.00. Very affordable!
If you think there’s any ingredient that I may have left out in my list, feel free to let me know. Bon appetit, folks!
yumz!
Nice comprehensive list for steamboat – I don’t think I have any more ingredients to add to that, except maybe salted or washed szechuan vegetables?
I have the AAA dipping sauce right now but I am going to try the Dancing Chef version once this AAA bottle has finished! AAA is a bit overly sourish for my liking.
You can try Japanese ponzu soy sauce (citrus flavoured soy sauce) with freshly ground chilli as a dip for the sliced meat too. It’s quite addictive…yummy…!
Thanks! Oh yes, how can I forget about salted and Szechuan vegetables. Sure to make the soup even more flavourful! Will try the Japanese ponzu soy sauce with chillies too next time, sounds really good 🙂 Thanks for stopping by.
Would love to have sea cucumber & fish maw in my steamboat. Thanks for the list of ingredients, very helpful.
No probs, Steven. Thanks for stopping by too. Enjoy your steamboating!
When only the delightful soup is left, turn the heat down and add slivers of smoked trout. Don’t leave them in for more than a minute.
Ahhh, I’m sure smoked trout or salmon will be equally yummy! Thanks for sharing 🙂
How can I find all kind of steamboat soup recipes
Hello Lucas, I’m sure you can just google for them. Or if you prefer to have ready-made soup bases, just head to the supermarket and check out the choices available.
Hi Geri,
May I know where did you get the fried beancurd sheets from?
Thank you
Hi, I got them from Teo Chuan Kee Minimart @ Blk 629 Ang Mo Kio Ave 4. They are also available at Giant supermarket. Cheers.
May I request for this post to be updated if you have other recommendations/recipes for soup bases and dips?
I’m quite reluctant to use chicken stock as the steamboat soup base but I find it hard to find such soup base recipes/suggestions as most would think it’s very simple. This post is a treasure trove for newbie cooks like me.
Last year, my mother in law added a handful of bones and ikan bilis and the stock tasted great. I was so amazed by it (can probably tell the noob-ness of my cooking).
Thank you!!