Choose the Right Vegetables for Hot Pot
For each hot pot dish, you should choose suitable vegetables to make the hot pot more enticing.
– Seafood hot pot: You can have it with vegetables like spinach, cabbage, rau rút (water mimosa), mushrooms like straw mushrooms, button mushrooms, and bean sprouts to enhance the flavor.
– Chicken hot pot: It is usually served with vegetables for dipping such as watercress, lettuce, corn, bok choy, bitter melon, and morning glory.
– Beef hot pot: Besides beef bones and meat, you can’t miss the side vegetables like shepherd’s purse, green Chinese cabbage, celery, and water spinach.
– Seafood hot pot: You can have it with vegetables like water spinach, cabbage, rau rút, and mushrooms like straw mushrooms and button mushrooms to accompany the seafood and enhance the taste.
– Snail hot pot: The vegetables that go well with snail hot pot are Vietnamese perilla leaves and split morning glory stems. In addition, beef, pig’s ear, and soybeans are also suitable accompaniments for this dish.
– Duck hot pot: It is usually served with cilantro to add fragrance, but the main vegetable for this dish is fresh water spinach with its leaves removed, leaving only the green, crisp stems.
4 types of vegetables to avoid eating with hot pot
Avoid dipping unfamiliar vegetables and mushrooms
Many families have a preference for eating wild vegetables and mushrooms, but that can also pose potential risks as we may not know enough about them. Experts warn that not all mushrooms are safe to eat, and people should be cautious when picking unfamiliar mushrooms. If you eat vegetables with toxins, it can lead to poisoning, or even death. Mushrooms like straw mushrooms and chicken drumsticks are suitable for hot pot.
Avoid eating basil with chicken hot pot
It is recommended not to eat chicken with basil because, according to Eastern medicine, chicken belongs to a mellow property while basil has a warm and spicy nature that disrupts the flow of energy. Combining these two things can cause dizziness, tinnitus or trembling throughout the body, and itching in the brain region. Therefore, if you’re eating chicken hot pot, you should stay away from basil. The best vegetables for chicken hot pot are Artemisia annua, bok choy, bitter melon, morning glory, and corn.
Avoid tomatoes with seafood hot pot
Seafood hot pot has a pungent flavor and goes well with vegetables like water spinach, celery, cải ngồng (a type of vegetable), fresh onions, and aromatic vegetables like pineapple. However, it is advised not to combine it with tomatoes because when combined with fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin C like tomatoes, the pentavalent arsenic in seafood will be converted into trioxide arsenic, which can cause poisoning in the body.
Avoid eating water spinach with shrimp paste crab hot pot
Water spinach with shrimp paste crab hot pot should not be combined because it will lose its laxative effect and digestion will be impaired. In addition, shrimp paste crab hot pot is also not recommended to be combined with celery, sweet potatoes, and potatoes. Eating crabs with celery can affect the body’s protein absorption, while eating crabs with sweet potatoes and potatoes can easily cause kidney stones.
Notes when eating hot pot:
Avoid eating food that is too hot
Eating excessively hot food can damage your mouth, stomach, and esophagus. When spicy ingredients are combined, they can easily cause inflammation or ulcers in your digestive system. Therefore, you should let the food cool down before eating.
Avoid eating for too long continuously
Eating hot pot continuously for several hours will increase the cholesterol levels in your blood, as well as put a constant strain on your intestines, leading to a decrease in digestive secretions and digestive disorders.
Change hot pot broth if you eat for a long time
When the hot pot broth is boiled for a long time, it becomes saltier towards the end. Boiling the hot pot broth repeatedly will cause the beneficial vitamins and components in the food to decrease. Instead, the levels of saturated fat, sodium, purine, and other harmful substances for your body will increase. They can increase the risk of obesity, atherosclerosis, gout, diabetes, or other diseases.
Avoid eating undercooked or raw meat
Eating undercooked or raw meat will create favorable conditions for parasites to enter your digestive system. Therefore, you should wait for the meat to be fully cooked before eating. Before that, wait for the hot pot broth to reach a high boiling point to ensure that your food is thoroughly heated and cooked.
Avoid drinking cold beverages with hot pot
When you eat hot pot and drink cold water, it stimulates the contraction of the stomach, reduces digestive secretions, and lowers the amount of digestive enzymes. This can hinder your digestion process.
