Sichuan Mala Hotpot, From Scratch (Mala Huoguo)

Add dried chilies to a sauce pan and cover with water. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and let chilies soak while you prepare other ingredients, or for at least 30 minutes. After they have soaked until soft, remove caps from the chilies and chop as finely as possible, until they are basically a paste.

Grind the 2 tablespoons red Sichuan pepper, 2 tablespoons green Sichuan pepper and the whole spices in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle until coarsely ground. Remove to a bowl and just cover with water to soak for about 15 minutes.

Add roasted rapeseed oil or peanut oil to a dutch oven or soup pot and heat over a medium flame. Add scallions and cook over medium heat until they are starting to brown, and then remove the scallions. Add the beef tallow, ginger and garlic and continue to cook over a medium heat until fragrant, but do not brown them.

Add minced chili paste from step 1, chili bean paste, fermented black soybeans and ground chilies and cook for a couple minutes. Pour in 2 quarts stock and bring to a boil. Add spices from step 2 (with their water), wine, Chinese black cardamom, sugar and MSG or mushroom powder if using. Reduce heat and simmer soup at a very low boil for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and allow soup to steep while you prepare the other hotpot ingredients, preferably at least half an hour.

Prepare foods to be cooked by slicing them thinly and arranging nicely on individual plates, or grouping like ingredients on large plates. Leave shrimp, scallops, meat balls and fish balls, etc., whole.

Gather condiments for dipping sauces. Mince garlic, scallions and cilantro if using. If using sesame paste, mix it with water to get a runny, mixable condiment.

Make the mild soup by pouring ingredients directly into cold hotpot on one side: 2 quarts stock, wine and scallions as well as tomato or jujubes if using. Return to your prepared spicy broth and use a large strainer or spoon to remove most of the sediment. Add the spicy broth to its side of the pot and top with a few whole chilies and 2 tablespoons whole green Sichuan peppercorns, or to taste.

Plug in your electric hotpot and turn it to high or ignite your portable gas burner and turn flame to high. It will take 5 to 10 minutes or so for the two soups to come to a gentle boil, so this is a good time for everyone to mix their dipping sauces.

Adjust the heat to keep a gentle boil and begin adding ingredients to the pot a few at a time. Keep an eye on steak and seafood, which will not take much time to cook. Cooking those ingredients in a ladle or special hotpot strainer is a good idea, or just hold them under the broth with your chopsticks so they don't get lost in the soup.

As the broths boil away, top them off with hot water.