Fondue Dinner Lets Everyone Do Their Own Cooking

On a trip to Malaysia, I was introduced to a dish called Chinese Steamboat very much like a fondue. A large pot sits on a burner in the center of the table and everyone dips in to cook.

It’s a perfect dinner when you’re in a hurry because most of the cooking is done at the table. The vegetables and meat are dipped into chicken stock to cook and then dipped into a savory sauce. To finish the meal, the hearty broth is poured into soup bowls with the dipping sauce and eaten like soup.

To serve this dish in the Chinese manner, you will need a fondue pot with a burner or a sauce pan placed on a portable electric or gas burner. An electric frying pan or wok would also work. (If you don’t have the above, see the directions at the end of the recipe.)

Chinese Steamboat

3 (14-1/2-ounce) cans low-sodium chicken stock

2 large carrots, sliced (about 1 cup)

1 medium onion, sliced (about 1 cup)

1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 teaspoons sesame oil

4 medium shrimp

1/4 pound celery cabbage (about 1/2 small head)

1/4 pound mushrooms

1/4 pound Chinese noodles (preferably fresh; look in supermarket produce sections)

Dipping sauce:

6 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

2 teaspoons brown sugar

3 scallions, sliced

1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, chopped (about 2 teaspoons)

Place stock in sauce pan with carrots and onions. Bring to a boil and cook 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove as much fat as possible from chicken and cut into strips about 2 inches by 1 inch. Place in bowl and mix with sesame oil. Place bowl on platter large enough to hold all ingredients to be cooked.

Peel and devein shrimp; slice almost in half lengthwise and spread open. Wash cabbage and slice on the diagonal in 1-inch pieces. Wash and quarter mushrooms; cut into sixths if large.

Place shrimp, cabbage, mushrooms and Chinese noodles on platter and set on table. Mix sauce ingredients in a soup bowl and pour half into a second soup bowl. Place in front of each diner.

To cook: Place heating unit on heat-proof mat on table. Pour boiling stock into fondue pot or electric pan and place on table; the stock should continue to gently simmer. Using chopsticks or fork, each diner adds chicken, shrimp, celery cabbage and mushrooms to the pot, removing them when they are cooked (about one minute). Use separate forks for raw chicken to eliminate any chance of salmonella contamination. Remove pieces as they are cooked, dip them in sauce and eat them.

When the platter is nearly empty, add noodles and remaining vegetables to pot and cook about 5 minutes, until noodles are cooked through. Ladle into bowls with remaining dipping sauce and eat as soup.

Alternate directions: Bring the stock to a boil and add the carrots and onions. Simmer 10 minutes. Prepare all other ingredients. Add noodles and vegetables to stock. Cook 3 to 4 minutes. Add chicken and cook about 3 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook 1 minute. Divide the dipping sauce into two large soup bowls and pour the soup over it.

Yield: 2 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 565 calories, 64 grams protein, 42 grams carbohydrate, 16 grams fat (25 percent fat calories), 6 grams fiber, 101 milligrams cholesterol, 2933 milligrams sodium.