Guest Blogger: Johnathan Loritsch on Vegan Duck Hot Pot

Johnny and Weedle live in Taiwan where there are a lot of vegans. It seems like they have a good, full life there, with mountains huddled up to next to cities and with water all around - oh how I wish I could visit! In lieu of an expensive trip across the water, I'm excited to share a recipe of theirs for vegan duck hot pot. Delicious hunks of seitan stewed with fresh ginger, enoki mushrooms, and bok choy! Most of these ingredients are available in Chinatown, though I have yet to find vegan bloodcakes (or maybe I just don't know what I'm looking for?). Serve this big communal wok next to individual bowls of rice and a can of cheap beer. Thanks for sharing, J and W!

If you want to make vegan duck hotpot, you need:

dark sesame oil (lots)

handfuls of sliced ginger

a bottle or two of rice wine

vegetarian duck

vegetarian blood cakes

cabbage

long white stringy mushrooms

tofu skin

a sack of Chinese medicinal herbs (galangal, 3 different medicinal varieties of ginger, Chinese angelica, white pepper, Sichuan pepper, Chinese knotweed, star anise, clove, cinnamon, coriander, ... and more)

Sauté the ginger & duck in the sesame oil for a bit, then add the herbs and bottles of rice wine. after letting it stew for an hour (you never add water- it's just the wine) you add the vegetables and tofu for a hot second. Then you put the wok on the table, everybody gets their bowl of rice, and you pick out bits of the stew as you eat. 

Enjoy!