Mala Frog Hotpot

Name: Mala Frog Hotpot
Total time: 1 h
Yield: Serves 3–4
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 800 g bullfrog legs and body pieces, skin on (the Asian grocer's cleaned argument — or the butcher's whole frog's own breakdown); 80 ml neutral oil; 2½ tbsp (35 g) doubanjiang, mashed; 12 whole dried chillies, snipped; 1 tbsp (8 g) Sichuan peppercorns; 1 cinnamon stick, 2 star anise, 1 tsp (3 g) cumin; 1 tbsp (10 g) ginger, sliced; 5 cloves garlic, smashed; 1 onion, quartered; 200 ml beer or stock; 1 tbsp (15 ml) light soy, 1 tbsp (15 g) sugar, 1 tsp (5 g) salt; 200 g potato or lotus root, sliced thin and par-boiled 4 minutes; 150 g celery, cut to lengths; 100 g bean sprouts; 2 tbsp (30 ml) chilli oil with the sediment; the spring onion's and coriander's scatter; The cucumber's coins and the peanut's crunch at the side's cooling law

Chinese · Medium · Serves 3–4

The Chongqing specialist's pot and the frog's own silk register: the bullfrog's tender legs and body at the mala spice oil's full fury — the #134 crayfish's shared spice cabinet at the frog's quicker clock — the numbing-fire's broth and the frog's chicken-adjacent silk at the one pot's specialist argument, the summer night's other bucket.

Quantities live in the recipe card.

The frog

or the butcher's whole frog's own breakdown)

The spice oil's build (the #134 law)

The pot's vegetables

The finish

- The frog's cut and the spice oil's law: the frog's pieces checked at the bone's clean argument, and the #134 record's spice oil's whole build planned — the moderate's 5-minute bloom the foundation's law, unchanged at the frog's register.

Step 1. The spice oil's bloom and the frog's sear — 6 minutes. The doubanjiang and the whole cabinet's 5-minute bloom at the moderate's patience (the #134 law — the brick-red's depth), and the frog's pieces through the spice oil's 90-second tossing sear at the fierce flame's raise. Checkpoint — the frog's pieces run the spice oil's stained coat at the sear's first set — the skin's silk held and the flesh's colour turned — and the pot's perfume the whole cabinet's argument.

Step 2. The pot's simmer — 8 minutes at the rolling body. The beer's or stock's splash, the soy, sugar and salt's dial, and the par-boiled vegetables' bed — the covered pot's 8-minute rolling simmer to the frog's tender silk (the chicken-adjacent clock's law: the over-done frog's second minute the rubber's certain end). Checkpoint — at 8 minutes: the frog's piece pulls at the bone's gentle tug with the flesh's white, silk yield — the potato's tender stain and the celery's crunch held — and the broth runs the mala's numbing-fire body.

Step 3. The crown and the night's service. The chilli oil's and sediment's crown, the spring onion's scatter — the pot's own centre at the table's spread, the cucumber's cooling side and the beer's cold the fire's honest companions. Checkpoint — the eating test: the frog's silk (the tenderest register the mala canon knows) at the numbing-fire's full depth — the vegetables' stain-soaked crunch between — the specialist pot's whole argument at the summer night's other bucket. Chef’s Note — the frog's silk-and-bone argument is this pot's own identity and the specialist's craft: the bullfrog's flesh runs the chicken's tenderness at the fish's delicacy's register — the 8-minute clock the silk's whole law, and the second minute's over-run the rubber's certain end — and the bone-in piece's picking the table's own engagement (the #134 crayfish's ceremony at the frog's smaller bones). The home kitchen's cleaned-frog argument the specialist's own fair dial at the identical doctrine.

Mala Frog Hotpot

Prep: 30 minutes · Cook: 25 minutes · Total: About 1 hour · Serves 3–4

Ingredients

The frog

800 g bullfrog legs and body pieces, skin on (the Asian grocer's cleaned argument — or the butcher's whole frog's own breakdown)

The spice oil's build (the #134 law)

80 ml neutral oil
2½ tbsp (35 g) doubanjiang, mashed; 12 whole dried chillies, snipped
1 tbsp (8 g) Sichuan peppercorns; 1 cinnamon stick, 2 star anise, 1 tsp (3 g) cumin
1 tbsp (10 g) ginger, sliced; 5 cloves garlic, smashed; 1 onion, quartered
200 ml beer or stock; 1 tbsp (15 ml) light soy, 1 tbsp (15 g) sugar, 1 tsp (5 g) salt

The pot's vegetables

200 g potato or lotus root, sliced thin and par-boiled 4 minutes
150 g celery, cut to lengths; 100 g bean sprouts

The finish

2 tbsp (30 ml) chilli oil with the sediment; the spring onion's and coriander's scatter
The cucumber's coins and the peanut's crunch at the side's cooling law

Instructions

The spice oil's bloom and the frog's sear — 6 minutes. The doubanjiang and the whole cabinet's 5-minute bloom at the moderate's patience (the #134 law — the brick-red's depth), and the frog's pieces through the spice oil's 90-second tossing sear at the fierce flame's raise. Checkpoint — the frog's pieces run the spice oil's stained coat at the sear's first set — the skin's silk held and the flesh's colour turned — and the pot's perfume the whole cabinet's argument.
The pot's simmer — 8 minutes at the rolling body. The beer's or stock's splash, the soy, sugar and salt's dial, and the par-boiled vegetables' bed — the covered pot's 8-minute rolling simmer to the frog's tender silk (the chicken-adjacent clock's law: the over-done frog's second minute the rubber's certain end). Checkpoint — at 8 minutes: the frog's piece pulls at the bone's gentle tug with the flesh's white, silk yield — the potato's tender stain and the celery's crunch held — and the broth runs the mala's numbing-fire body.
The crown and the night's service. The chilli oil's and sediment's crown, the spring onion's scatter — the pot's own centre at the table's spread, the cucumber's cooling side and the beer's cold the fire's honest companions. Checkpoint — the eating test: the frog's silk (the tenderest register the mala canon knows) at the numbing-fire's full depth — the vegetables' stain-soaked crunch between — the specialist pot's whole argument at the summer night's other bucket.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
Frog's flesh rubbery	The simmer's clock over-run	The 8-minute ceiling — the silk's law
Broth's fire flat	The #134 bloom's patience cut	The moderate's 5-minute law
Pot's muddiness	The vegetables' early flood	The par-boil's drain and the later bed

Storage, Make-Ahead & Variations

- The pot serves the night's argument (the leftover's broth the noodle bowl's fiery crown — the #134 law's shared dividend); the cleaned frog's 1-day hold the pot's on-demand speed. - The mala canon's family runs the #134 crayfish's bucket master, the #9 hot pot's communal pot, and this frog's specialist register — the one spice oil's law at the several pots' seats; the frog's dry-pot cousin (#107's law) the register's drier argument.