A DIY dinner of clear flavours

The two soups bubbling away... all you have to do is cook whatever you wish to eat. Pictures by Eu Hooi Khaw

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 24 Once in a while you yearn for food with clear flavours, and preferably in a hot soup that can be so comforting. A steamboat hits the spot on all counts. We were in Jade Pot in Desa Sri Hartamas recently, a steamboat restaurant which my friend CS frequents, and for good reason.

Here you get ingredients that are fresh or freshly-made, whether its fish, prawns, squid or pork balls, sui kow or dumplings and prawn wantan that are for you to cook in the soup, or all the deepfried varieties like stuffed crispy beancurd skin, crispy prawn dumplings and crispy prawn wantan.

A bit of everything makes a feast at a steamboat dinner.

Out of three broths we chose two the Jade Pot Superior Soup and the Teochew Fishhead Soup, both clear soups. I always feel that a tomyam soup is out of place in a steamboat, mainly because in a pot that has two sections, the chances of the clear soup being mixed with the tomyam are very high. Besides, in a hot and sour tomyam, you would not taste the intrinsic flavours of the fresh ingredients you put into the pot.

You have a choice of four dips the Teochew chilli, Thai green chilli, fermented beancurd and chilli oil. The first is hot and garlicky, the second is citrusy with calamansi lime and its rind. I liked the fermented beancurd or fu yee very much.

We piled on the orders fish maw, eringi mushroom, yam, beancurd, wantan, sui kow, grouper fish, sakura pork, a mixed platter of fish, prawn and squid balls, and mixed dumplings, matsutake mushrooms, cabbage, Romaine lettuce and watercress and noodles for the steamboat.

The fresh ingredients presented so prettily... like a high tea!

Our starter munchies included the stuffed fried crispy beancurd skin, fried wantan and stuffed red chillies. I liked the crunch of the first with a thin layer of fishpaste. The fried wantan was delicious while the stuffed red chilli was smooth, sweet and not that hot.

The superior soup had pork ribs, tomato, onions, sweet corn, radish and carrot in it; the Teochew one had black fungus and some salted fish bones that flavoured the soup.

I liked the powdery yam that I put into the Teochew stock. The fish and prawn balls, wantan and sui kow tasted better in the superior stock, so did the fish bladder and most of the other ingredients. In end I still preferred the superior stock.

While my palate has been trained to appreciate the natural flavours of good quality meat and fish, without dipping them into any conflicting sauces, I couldnt resist the slightly pungent fu yee dip with the yam, and the vegetables. The thin slices of sakura pork did not need any dip; the fish perked up with the hot and tart Thai green chilli dip.

The spongy fish bladder soaked in the soup, picking up all the essence of the meat and fish cooked in it, tasted so good, as did all the vegetables like watercress, Chinese cabbage, romaine lettuce, eringi and matsutake mushrooms which added more sweetness to the soup .

Take your pick of the dips!

If its possible to still feel peckish after all these, the noodles make a great filler, especially the yee meen.

A complimentary dessert of a slithery smooth and lemony ayu jelly gave a cool refreshing finale to our steamy meal. All in all, the seven of us paid RM50 each for the steamboat dinner which included drinks.

The soups are RM15 for a small pot and RM25 for a large one. The stuffed red chillies are RM5.50, grouper f! ish slic e RM15, fresh prawn dumplings RM9.90, Sakura pork RM16.80, stuffed beancurd skin RM8.

Jade Pot Steamboat Restaurant is located at 5, Ground floor, Plaza Prismaville, Jalan 19/70A, Desa Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur (Tel: 03-6201-1918).