Winter Steamboat - 14 people

Steamboat - 12-15 people Steamboat is the perfect winter party to enjoy everyone's company as each guest is cooking their own meal at the table. The radiant heat from the charcoal makes the room toasty and warm on even the coldest night. The meal is designed to be eaten slowly over a few hours so its an ideal way to catch up with family and friends over some delicious food.
Bowls
Carrot + zuchini Oyster mushrooms Bean sprouts Gai lan Sliced wombok	Prawn, lemon + coriander Beef and sesame oil Honey soy chicken Hoisin pork Plummy lamb Tofu cubes Fishcakes	Dipping sauces Fish sauce, ginger, coriander, brown sugar, lime juice Oyster sauce Soy, ginger and sesame oil Soy and chopped chillies Plum sauce
Basic ginger and garlic paste 200g ginger root, chopped 1 head of garlic, peeled and chopped This ginger/garlic paste will be used in a few of the marinades. Process the chopped ginger and garlic until its a smooth paste. Set aside. Honey Soy Chicken 1kg skinless chicken thigh fillets, cubed 1 cup honey Quarter of the ginger/garlic paste ½ cup soy sauce Toss the chicken with the honey, garlic/ginger paste and soy sauce. Split between two or three bowls. Cover bowls with cling wrap and store in the fridge Beef and sesame 600g thinly sliced beef Quarter of the garlic/ginger paste 4 tablespoons ginger/garlic paste ½ cup soy sauce Toss the chicken with the honey, garlic/ginger paste and soy sauce. Split between two or three bowls. Cover bowls with cling wrap and store in the fridge	Prawn, lemon + coriander 1kg green peeled prawns juice of 1 lemon handful coriander leaves, chopped roughly Toss the prawn with the lemon juice and coriander leaves. Split between two or three bowls. Cover bowls with cling wrap and store in the fridge Plummy Lamb 600g thinly slice lamb ½ cup plum sauce Toss the lamb with the plumb sauce. Split between two or three bowls. Cover bowls with cling wrap and store in the fridge Hoisin Pork 600g thinly slice pork ½ cup hoisin sauce Toss the pork with the hoisin sauce. Split between two or three bowls. Cover bowls with cling wrap and store in the fridge Carrot + Zuchini 4 carrots, cut into matchsticks 3 zuchini, cut into matchsticks ½ cup white vinegar ¼ cup brown sugar ¼ cup chinese rice wine Toss the carrot and zuchini with the vinegar, sugar and rice wine in a serving bowl. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and store in the fridge	Do the shopping The meat is so easy to prepare when the chinatown butchers have done all the work! Dig around in the freezer at Yuen's supermarket at Market Square to find the thinly sliced meat that is ready-prepared for steamboat. The thin-thin-thin slicing means that there's no chance of ending up with a basket of undercooked pork. Prepare the steamboat We've had many family steamboats where we forgot to light the charcoal in the late afternoon. Of course what then happens is that everyone drinks too much to try and assauge their growing hunger and end up trying to rush through the steamboat baskets once the broth is hot enough. So, the trick is to light the steamoats in the afternoon, about an hour before everyone is due to arrive. And if you forget to do this, just set aside a few hangover cures for the morning after. Once the steamboats are lit, fill them with water and divide the ginger/garlic paste between the two meat ones. Fill the vegetarian one with vege stock (preferably home-made but bought is always an easy backup option). Put the lids on and let the steadily burning charcoal do the work. The room will fill with the delicious sent of the gently bubbling broth. When everyone arrives there's time for a chat on the back deck before the main event really kicks off. Once we're all seated its a simple matter of lifting the lids off the steamboats and filling baskets with whatever looks best. Don't forget to choose a favourite dipping sauce for yourself. That's it! Enjoy the baskets of meat and vegetables. After a while the broth will be ready for spooning into bowls. This is when its important to top up with boiled water to ensure there's sufficient broth to continue cooking more baskets. Finally, when everyone starts slowing down, its time to add some fresh noodles into the broth. Yum.
Pear and Hazelnut Tart
Tart base 3 cups plain flour   1 cup custard powder   1 tablespoon caster sugar   200g cold unsalted butter   2 egg, separated   ½ cup cold water   Put the flour and custard powder with cubes of butter into a food processor. Process until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the egg yolk and water. This will form a ball of pastry. Keep the eggwhite for brushing over the rolled out pastry.   Plop the pastry onto a floured surface and knead until smooth (just a couple of minutes). This may be easier to do in two or three batches. Cover in cling film and refrigerate for 15 minutes.  Frangipane mix 300g butter, softened ¼ cup caster sugar 300g hazelnut meal 6 eggs, room temp Beat the butter and sugar with electric beaters until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one by one. Stir through the hazelnut.  Sliced Pears 8 pears, peeled and cored Juice of 1 lemon Big pinch of cinnamon Halve, core and slice the pears into thin slices. Mix through the lemon juice sugar and cinnamon.		Make the tart Preheat the oven to 175°C. Make the tart base and chill. Prepare the sliced pears. Make the frangipane mix. Rollout the tart base and line the two roasting dishes. Brush the base  with the remaining eggwhite. Plop spoonfuls of the frangipane mix over the tart base (it doesn’t have to be perfect). Push the slices of pears on top of the frangipane mix until the whole pie is covered. Bake for 50 minutes. These can sit out with a teatowel over the top until dessert time. To serve, cut squares of the tart, place on a large plate and top half of them with icecream (for the sweet tooths amonsgt us).