Numbing Spicy Fragrant Pot has been the rage for the past few years in Singapore. Take a walk down Chinatown and you will see the streets littered with Sichuan-styled restaurants selling this dish. It is so popular that it has invaded into the heartland neighbourhood coffeeshops and foodcourts.
This dish is somehow like our Cai Peng (Economical Rice) where you pick from over 20-30 ingredients and then you pay. Then the stall owner will fry them together with the Mala Sauce before serving you the Fragrant Pot. The only difference is, the price is determined by the weight of the food you pick. Many a times, due to all their enticing and interesting ingredients, (think beef tripe, chicken innards etc) you will end up choosing more than you intended to. This often ends up making the cost of the dish very expensive.
I remember the first time I had this dish, was from a coffeeshop near my place. There was lots of hype to it and I end up paying SGD$15 for about 5 different food. The problem was, they did not show me the weight of my purchase, as such the price you pay varies very much from stall to stall. Most importantly, they only recommended cheap and heavy ingredients such as potato and luncheon meat in order for the cost of the dish to be increased.
While it’s pretty addictive, it just didn’t justify the price I had to pay. After searching around on the internet for appropriate recipes, we decided to cook this dish on our own.
The Mala Sauce
Breakdown of cost:
- 100g Korean Potato Starch – $0.70
- 4 Squid Balls – $0.50
- 100g Pork Luncheon Meat – $0.60
- 1 King Oyster Mushroom – $0.50
- 1/2 Packet Oyster – $0.55
- 1/2 Packet Shimeiji Mushroom – $0.60
- 1 Packet Enoki Mushroom – $0.60
- 100g Green Leafy Vegetable – $0.60
- 400g Fresh Clams – $3.65
- 1/2 Packet Prepared Squid – $1.50
- 200g Shabu Shabu Beef – $4.00
- 8 Pork Balls – $1.00
- 1/2 Packet Mala Sauce – $2.25
