Sichuan Mala Hot Pot

Mala Huo Guo — Numbing and Hot

At its simplest, hot pot is a delicious simmering broth that you dip and cook various bite-size food items in and then nosh. Spicy Mala Huo Guo, which originated in Chongqing, takes hot pot up a notch as it’s specifically known for its numbing and hot flavour profile which you get from the liberal use of chillies and Sichuan peppercorns. (Mala roughly translates to numbingly spicy).

As with most iconic dishes and culinary traditions that are many centuries old, recipes differ from region to region, family to family. With this, plus a large language barrier, my attempt at recreating this dish is probably naive and elementary. Nonetheless, I had the most wonderful time trying. The recipe below is based on a classic Chongqing hot pot from Fuchsia Dunlop’s book with additional inspiration from this video series.

Some things to note about Mala hot pot:

🌶️The hot pot broth is made from loads of chillies, Sichuan peppercorn, doubanjiang and numerable other aromatics and spices that are cooked down with oil into a spice base. That base is then mixed with a bone broth.

🌶️The heat of the chilis is actually there to open up our palates to rich flavours and mouth adventures. It’s not just for pain.