Try This Applebee's French Onion Soup Recipe for the Perfect Comfort Meal
Mar 24, 2024
Malatang | Source: Instagram/keva.smg | Instagram/toowongvillage
Malatang Recipe: A Guide on How to Make the Chinese Dish
By
Milla Sigaba
Jan 09, 202403:34 A.M.
Malatang is a warm and spicy soup filled with fresh vegetables, different types of tofu, and noodles— a comforting Chinese cuisine for colder weather. Keep warm this festive season with the perfect Malatang recipe.
Translating to "spicy, numbing soup," Malatang is named after the Mala sauce, the foundation of this Asian dish. Malatang is a beloved Chinese street food that has also grown in popularity in other parts of the world.
A good Malatang recipe is fairly simple—involving a wide selection of fresh ingredients cooked in a warm and spicy soup base, and it is quick and easy to make.
Malatang is believed to have originated from the Yangtze River near Sichuan, China. This baby hotpot is said to have been created by boat trackers by the river to combat the damp and foggy weather that often left them unwell.
Malatang is entirely customizable, as the preferred ingredients in the soup differ from person to person, with some enjoying enoki mushrooms, soybean sprouts, and lotus roots.
You can also enjoy this Chinese dish with the meat, vegetables, and carbohydrates of your choice cooked in a warm and spicy soup base, of which you can find the recipe below.
Malatang Recipe
What You'll Need:
- Malatang hot pot soup base
- 200g hot pot seasoning
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 4 slices of ginger
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 piece star anise
- ½ tsp whole cloves
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 2 finely chopped scallions (the white part)
- 1 tsp whole Sichuan peppercorns
- 1 tbsp light soy
- 1 tbsp dark soy
- 2 small finger-sized pieces of rock sugar
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tbsp sesame paste
- ¼ cup oil
- 2 cups water
Directions:
1. Bring your frying pan to medium heat and add the oil, hot pot seasoning, garlic, ginger, scallions, bay leaves, star anise, whole cloves, fennel seeds, and Sichuan peppercorns.
2. Once these ingredients have cooked and toasted for about a minute, add the Malatang hot pot soup base. This is usually frozen and takes a while to melt. You can find a recipe for the hot pot base here if you prefer homemade to store-bought.
To get your Malatang hot pot soup base to melt faster, flip it over and use a cooking utensil to break it up into smaller pieces. | Source: YouTube/ Yi's Sichuan Kitchen
3. Once the soup base block has melted and the ingredients have mixed well, add water, light soy, dark soy, and rock sugar.
4. Bring your pot to a boil on high heat and leave it for a few minutes to intensify the broth.
5. After a few minutes, strain out all the solid ingredients from the broth and add milk and sesame paste.
6. Bring your soup to a boil once more, then add the hot pot ingredients of your choice, including meat and carbs.
Adding milk to your broth will help turn it into a creamy soup. | Source: YouTube/ Yi's Sichuan Kitchen
When preparing your Malatang, remember to add ingredients that take the longest to cook into your broth first, followed by those with a shorter cooking time.
Some people prefer crab meat, thin slices of fatty beef, and beef tripe as protein-rich ingredients for their Malatang. The warm, creamy, and spicy soup also pairs well with lotus root, potato, and wide sweet potato noodles.
To further grow your culinary skills, here is a Chicken Yok recipe for the perfect soul food dish.
