Bashu Sichuan Self-Heating Mala Hotpot for the lazy you in 15 minutes

From big sharing pot with a four-soup divider to individual hotpot convenient for single diners, the world of food is never short of choices. Imagine not having to travel out to satisfy a hungry stomach or a soup craving, how good that would be?

Bashu Hotpot is a self-heating mala hotpot that caters to your needs. Sit in the comfort of your home and you can have an almost real hotpot steaming away before your eyes.

I found this at Fairprice Xtra ; the red bulky container was hard to miss, tempting me with their call for ‘no electricity, no fire, only need a cup of cold water’ to turn this into a reality.

What’s inside the container are bags of Hotpot Base, Vegetable, Vermicelli, Tofu and Sesame Oil, and a Heat Bag.

The container has two compartments. The upper box is for the base and ingredients (vegetable, vermicelli and tofu). As for the lower half, the heat bag is to be placed there and for cold water to be added in until it covers the heat bag nicely. Then, the upper box is placed back and the lid closed.

Within the next few minutes, you will see steam escaping from the tiny gap above.

Let it heat for 15 minutes before digging in!

The broth was actually quite spicy.

You could add in sesame oil for a bit more flavour but I find the soup rich enough to add any further. The vermicelli soaked up the soup well and was nice slurping upon. As for the ingredients, there were lotus roots, potato, fungus and bamboo shoots – all crunchy in my opinion. I would prefer adding in my own vegetables.

Yes, so I added in my own ingredients and cooked myself a bigger (healthier) portion.

 

All in all, eating this Bashu Hotpot was quite an experience!

 

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