I really enjoy having hotpot with family and friends at HDL, especially with the ma la broth and tomato broth. The ma la broth has an addictive and spicy kick that leaves your lips and tongue tingling but you just can’t help wanting more! With the HDL ma la hot pot seasoning now easily available at local supermarkets, we can whip up our own ma la hot pot anytime and did exactly that for our CNY dinner. The taste was pretty similar to the broth at the restaurant itself, but one downside is that you can’t really customise the level of spiciness, numbness or oil as it’s packaged in a single bag. I guess it’s always possible to drain the oil first but then there’ll be more stuff to wash huh. This is one hotpot seasoning that I’ll keep in constant rotation.

Note to self though - DON’T add in fa cai, seaweed, or anything that tends to pick up small particles as tons of peppercorns get entangled inside and it’s a real challenge to get them out, so you could end up with a Szechuan peppercorn bomb in your mouth if you’re not careful! 😂🤣