Homemade Steam Boat for Four

It is very easy to entertain one or two extra friends if they drop by without prior notice. Just pop down to the supermarket and get together a few types of vegetables and meat and fish.Simplicity is the theme.

All you need is to preboil 2-3 litres of good pork  or chicken bone stock  with some sesame oil seasoned with Sarawak pepper and then take out your little electrical steam boat (Bru$29.00) which also has a detachable grill for your fish.

These pictures will show you what you can do for four people. You do not even have to worry if your plates do not match!! You can even have two pairs of forks and spoons and two pairs of chopsticks.

Table almost ready for steam boat dinner...lots of vegetables - pork bone stock preboiled for this meal. No need to have table cloth - just be happy that spillings and lots of shifting at the table..Traditionally the steam boat is a charcoal fired utility. So a lace table cloth is not part of the setting....I remember my first steam boat at home with my dad was a traditional charcoal stove. That's another story from my mother waiting to be published.

4  slices of tenggiri  or Ma Ka steaks (deep fried or sliced thinly for the pot)

Buy 4 pieces of good pork chops (usually one piece per person)-seasoned with salt and pepper

6 pieces of Dried Chinese mushrooms sliced....

wood ear fungi from the jungle - RM 1 per punnet

l bunch of hydrophonic curly greens - enough for 4

2 medium sized squids - cleaned and blanched and sliced

l bunch of water cress - enough for 4

If you have one more friend you can just add one more type of vegetables and one packet of meat balls. And you still have lots to go around. Allocate for each person 500 ml of soup. Some friends may like rice so you can cook some rice but not too much. You can throw in 2 small bundles of rice vermicelli last to absorb in the last of the soup stock. The Chinese calls this "tien pah" or stomach filler or "one for the road" so that your guests really go home with the proverbial Chinese "full stomach".

The soup gets thicker as you cook so you can standby a pot of hot water towards the end. Or if you really wish to have good stock till the end - have another pot of fish stock or chicken stock on standby..

I hope you have as much fun having your steam boat as much as I had!! Steam boat meal for a small family with only a few ingredients but no less exciting can  cost only around RM15.00 In some restaurants you are charged RM20.00 or Bru $12.00 per person. But then in a public outlet you do have lots of choices ..as many as 20 items. So if you are more than tempted to do your own you can go full steam ahead and buy more for the table.

You can serve nice hot Chinese tea or 3 Masam or Sour (home made drink made from preserved plums and two kinds of limes or lemons)....

So full steam ahead!!

Cheers!!