Thai Hotpot (Lẩu Thái)
Thai hotpot (lẩu Thái) is among the most beloved hotpots for Vietnamese people, featuring a fragrant sweet and sour broth and a wide variety of fresh dipping ingredients. You can easily make this hotpot at home for family and friends gatherings. It is a great example of how much Vietnamese culture values communal dining, where sharing a meal around a bubbling pot creates not only delicious food but also lasting memories.
Vietnamese people love hotpots, enjoying them not only in cold weather but also during the sweltering summer months. Thai hotpot is one of the most popular hot pot choices throughout the country. To this day, I’m still unsure if this hotpot is a true Thai dish or a creation of Vietnamese restaurants inspired by signature Thai staples like tamarind paste, lemongrass, galangal, and kaffir lime leaves. However, if you like tom yum soup, you are sure to enjoy this lẩu Thái as well.
Broth for Thai Hotpot
We like to make Thai hot pot at home as we can customize the levels of sweetness, sourness and spiciness to our liking. The broth is not difficult to make at home and it all starts with a good base.
We prefer using homemade shrimp stock, made from shrimp heads and shells. You can also substitute chicken stock or pork bone broth, but shrimp stock really brings out the essence of the dish. Shrimp stock is also the essential foundation for this Vietnamese sour shrimp soup and shrimp noodle soup.
With the stock ready, we will simmer tomatoes, garlic, shallots, galangal, lemongrass, red chilies, and kaffir lime leaves to infuse the broth with an amazing aroma. Then season with tamarind paste, sugar, and fish sauce to taste.
Dipping Ingredients
What you choose to dip into a Thai hotpot is entirely up to personal taste, but generally, the greater the variety, the more fun. Here are our most favorite dipping ingredients for this hotpot:
- seafood: salmon, peeled shrimp
- meat: thinly sliced beef
- vegetables: napa cabbage, garland chrysanthemum leaves
- mushrooms: enoki mushrooms
- other ingredients: tofu (both silken and firm work well), rice vermicelli noodles
For even more variety, you can also consider adding squid, clams, fish balls, water spinach, beansprouts, and oyster mushrooms. For a balanced serving, I recommend aiming for about 8 oz of vegetables and mushrooms, 6-8 oz of meat and seafood, and around 3 oz of tofu per person.
Serving and Eating Thai Hotpot
Hotpot is a wonderful way to bring people together for a fun, interactive dining experience. To serve it at the table, you will need either an electric hotpot cooker or a portable stove. We have a portable induction stove and use our enameled cast iron as the cooking vessel.
Arrange all the hotpot ingredients – seafood, meats, vegetables, mushrooms, tofu, and noodles – on separate plates around the hotpot. Once the broth is bubbling away, diners can start dipping ingredients. Make sure to have separate chopsticks for handling raw ingredients and cooked ones to avoid cross-contamination.
As the meal progresses, the broth becomes more flavorful and sometimes saltier. You can top up the broth with extra stock or water. Always let the stock return to a boil before adding more ingredients to cook.
⭐️ I’d love to hear what you think about the dish, so please feel free to leave a comment and a rating if you have tried it. New recipes are added every week so let’s connect on Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest and Instagram for the latest updates. You can find my collection of Vietnamese recipes here.
Vietnamese-style Thai Hotpot (Lẩu Thái)
Ingredients
For the broth
- shrimp heads and shells from 1 lb raw shrimp
- cooking oil
- 8⅓ cups water
- 2½ teaspoons salt, divided
- 1.5 oz galangal, slice into thick rounds
- 0.5 oz peeled garlic cloves
- 1 oz peeled shallots
- 4 medium tomatoes, cut into wedges
- 2 mild red chilies, seeds removed and cut into shorter pieces
- 5 lemongrass stalks, white and light green parts, bruised
- 8-10 kaffir lime leaves, roughly torn
- 3 tablespoons tamarind paste (to taste)
- 3 tablespoons sugar (to taste)
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce (to taste)
For the dipping ingredients (See Notes for customization)
- peeled and deveined shrimp from 1 lb raw shrimp
- 10.5 oz salmon fillets, thinly sliced
- 1 lb thinly sliced beef
- 12 oz tofu, cut into slices or cubes (either silken or firm will work)
- rice vermicelli noodles
- 1.5 lb mixed vegetables (such as napa cabbage, garland chrysanthemum, water spinach, beansprouts)
- 8 oz enoki mushrooms
Instructions
Prepare the broth
- Place a pot over medium heat and once it is hot, add oil to lightly coat the bottom. Add the shrimp shells and heads. Sauté until they are browned and smell flavorful, then add the water and 2 teaspoons salt.
- Bring the pot to a boil, then lower the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Cover and simmer for 45-60 minutes (or longer for stronger flavor). You can prepare the aromatics and dipping ingredients during the simmering time.
- Use a pestle and mortar to roughly pound/crush the galangal, garlic, and shallots. We will start cooking the tomatoes and all the aromatics about 10-15 minutes before the shrimp stock is ready.
- In a clean pot, heat some cooking oil over medium heat. Add the tomato wedges (reserving a few wedges for serving) and chopped red chilies. Cook until the tomatoes are fully softened, about 5 minutes.
- Add the galangal, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves to the pot while reserving just a small amount to add when serving the hot pot. Also add all of the garlic and shallots. Sauté and continue to cook until it is very fragrant and all the aromatics have been softened, about 5 minutes.
- Once the shrimp stock is ready, discard the shrimp heads and shells. Pour the stock into the pot with the tomatoes and aromatics. Bring it to a simmer, then add the tamarind paste, sugar, fish sauce and remaining salt.
- Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes (up to 30 minutes) to let the flavors combine. Taste and adjust to your liking. Discard all the solid ingredients, leaving just the fragrant and flavorful broth.
Serve the hot pot
- Place a portable stove or electric hotpot cooker in the center of the table. Fill the hotpot with the prepared broth and add the reserved lemongrass, galangal and kaffir lime leaves. Bring it to a simmer.
- Arrange all the hotpot dipping ingredients – seafood, meats, vegetables, mushrooms, tofu, and noodles – on separate plates around the hotpot.
- Once the broth is simmering, diners can start adding ingredients into the hotpot. You can continuously add ingredients as you eat and be aware that different ingredients may have different cooking times.
- Use chopsticks or a slotted ladle to pick out the cooked ingredients from the hotpot. You can provide each diner with a small bowl of fish sauce and several slices of red chilies (optional) as the dipping sauce.
- The broth will become more flavorful as ingredients are cooked in it. Toward the end, it may become saltier and you can top up the broth with extra stock or water as needed.
