Tomato Hot Pot with Beef

This Tomato Hot Pot with Beef is the perfect warming meal to take you through the winter. 

The tart and sweet tomatoes provide the perfect contrast to the marbled, thinly sliced beef. Enoki mushrooms and mung bean vermicelli both add additional textural contrast for a warming, satisfying meal. 

Is This Technically a “Hot Pot?”

Well, technically, it’s a soup, but it would be made even better if you put the pot on an induction or other electric burner and enjoyed it while it was piping hot and bubbling away! 

You could also put it in an electric hot pot, though it isn’t the type of hot pot where you dip raw ingredients into bubbling stock as you eat. (Though now is the perfect time of year for hot pot. Check out our post on how to make hot pot at home!)

All the ingredients are already in the pot, so there’s less to prepare and put on the table. Feel free to add other ingredients you like—like tofu, wood ear mushrooms, leafy greens, beef balls, etc.

That said, if you don’t have a portable electric burner, you can enjoy this as a soup as well. 

What Kind of Beef Do I Need?

You will need the thinly sliced beef that’s normally served with a hot pot. Look for packages like this in your local Chinese grocery: 

The thin beef cooks quickly and has a great texture after a quick poaching process. You’ll notice that I actually blanch the beef before adding the soup. This boils off any blood and impurities (that come to the surface of the boiling water as foam), and yields a cleaner soup. It also cooks off some of the excess fat. 

That said, you DO lose a bit of the beef flavor to that pot of blanching water, so if you want to preserve flavor and don’t mind your soup being a little cloudy, you can add the beef directly to the soup rather than pre-blanching it. 

How to Prepare Mung Bean Vermicelli

Make sure you have mung bean vermicelli, rather than rice vermicelli. Mung bean noodles are translucent when cooked (which is why they’re sometimes called “glass noodles”), while rice noodles are more opaque. 

The brand we usually look for is called Lungkow:

All you have to do is soak the noodles in water for about 15 minutes (though they can sit in the water for up to a few hours). To make eating easier, you may want to cut the noodles in half.  

How to Prepare Enoki Mushrooms

Enoki mushrooms, also known as “golden needle mushrooms,” have a delicious, almost crunchy texture. Try our Enoki Mushrooms with Garlic & Scallion Sauce for a simple, easy side dish or main! 

They’re also very easy to prepare. They usually come in tight bunches. Just trim off the bottom ¾- to 1-inch (the woody looking part), and then rip the mushrooms apart so they’re in smaller bunches that are about ½-inch thick. 

You can then rinse them in water to make sure they’re clean. 

Ok, that’s all the background you need. On to the recipe! 

Recipe Instructions

Place the bundle of mung bean vermicelli in a bowl of warm water to soak until softened, about 15 minutes.

Trim the ends off the enoki mushrooms, and lightly rinse them of any dirt, separating them into smaller sections as you go (each bundle of mushrooms should be about 1/2 inch thick). Set the noodles and mushrooms aside. 

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Use a sharp paring knife to cut an X into the bottom of each tomato, which will make it easier to peel after blanching.

Carefully lower the tomatoes into the boiling water, and blanch for 30 seconds. Use a slotted spoon to remove the tomatoes from the water, and set aside to cool. 

Bring the water back up to a boil, and add the beef. Cook for 15 seconds, or until the beef just turns opaque, and any foam rises to the surface.

Remove the beef from the pot, and set aside. 

Separate the green and white parts of the scallions. Cut the white parts on a diagonal into 1 to 2 inch pieces. Finely chop the green parts.

By now, your tomatoes should be cool enough to peel. Peel the skin off, and cut into 1-inch chunks. 

In a soup pot (preferably a Chinese ceramic soup pot if you have it!) over medium heat, add the oil, along with the white parts of the scallions and the ginger slices. Cook for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant. 

Add the garlic and tomato paste, and cook for 30 seconds…

Until the oil turns a reddish-orange color.

Add the tomatoes, along with the light soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil. Fry the tomatoes until they break down a bit, about 3 minutes. 

Add the chicken stock and water, and bring to a boil. Cover, turn the heat down, and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. 

Add the enoki mushrooms and vermicelli, and cover.

Simmer for another 3 to 5 minutes. 

Stir in the beef, white pepper and salt to taste.

Garnish with cilantro and the chopped scallion greens.

Serve!