Soup Base for Mala Hot Pot (Sichuan Hot Pot, Mala Huo Guo, Mala Tang, Chuan Chuan Xiang)

  You can absolutely make the soup for Sichuan hot pot from scratch, but most times you will probably do as they do in Sichuan when making hot pot at home and use a readymade soup base. The broth is made from Sichuan pepper and chilies and too many other spices and aromatics to count and is long cooked to create a numbing, spicy and all-around powerful soup. And all you have to do is add water! (Though you can doctor it up if you wish, using broth instead of water and adding extra garlic, ginger and whole dried Sichuan chilies.) Almost every hot pot chain makes a version of their house hot pot broth for consumers, and this one by Liu Po (Six Grandmas) is from one of the current most popular chains in Chengdu. While it is intense, it is not overwhelming for spice lovers. And if you have a pot with a center divide, the other half of the pot is for a mild mushroom, herbal or bone broth. This version builds on a base of roasted rapeseed oil (caiziyou), so remember that hot pot broth is not