Mala Hotpot 🔥🔥🔥

I love the spiciness, the pungent and the flavour of different spices, especially szechuan peppercorn (花椒) in this dish. Hard to find any vegan mala hotpot (I found one at Kepong - Dlife cafe) so why not DIY?

Ingredients (make 2 servings)
- 2 tbsp mala oil (from the paste)
- 1/2 red onion, sliced
- 5 cloves garlic, bruised
- 1 thumbsized ginger, sliced
- 1 handful of szechuan peppercorn (optional)
- 3 russet potato, wedged
- 1 pc firm tofu, sliced
- 1 sweet corn, sliced into 5-6 parts
- 1/2 cup broccoli florets
- 1/4 carrot, sliced
- 5-6 cap fresh shiitake mushroom, sliced
- optional: 1/2 cup mock meat cubes
- 1/2-1 packet of mala paste depending on how salty and spicy you want it to be (it is quite salty already so no need to add salt or soy sauce)
- white pepper to taste
- Garnish: fresh cilantro, roasted peanut and sesame seeds.

Steps
1. Boil a pot of water. Blanch broccoli, carrot and sweet corn for 3 minutes or so until cooked through. Drain and set aside. Don't overcook ya.
2. In a wok, heat up 1 cup of oil to fry potato and tofu until lightly browned. Alternatively you can blanch potato until soft. Drain and set aside.
3. In the wok, heat up mala oil over medium high heat to saute szechuan peppercorn, ginger and onion until fragrant. Add garlic and saute for 1 minute or so. Add mala paste and stir until combined and fragrant.
2. Add mock meat and blanched vegetables and stir to combine. Increase the heat as more ingredients are added into the wok.
3. Add potato, tofu and mushrooms. Stir until combined. Taste and adjust seasoning accordingly.
4. Turn off the heat then add white pepper. Serve and garnish with cilantro, peanuts and sesame seeds. Enjoy!

Hope you like this recipe! I know you surely will ask: Gan where you get the mala paste? I first found it in a vegetarian grocery store. Swipe to see the mala paste packet. It tastes really really yummy so I highly recommend it. Just take note that it is enough salty on it own so taste before you decided to add more seasoning. Also it is very oily oh. We chilled it in the fridge so we can scoop the solidified away or use it in stir fry