Indigenous Stone Hot Pot 原住民石头火锅

Indigenous Stone Hot Pot (原住民石头火锅) is the stone hot pot of the Amis people (阿美族) of Hualien (花蓮). The Hualien County Government calls it a classic Amis dish, in which fresh wild vegetables, shrimp and spices meet scalding-hot stones.

How it is made

Fresh wild vegetables, shrimp and spices are put in with the scalding-hot stones, and the aroma rises the moment they meet. The National Museum of Prehistory (國立臺灣史前文化博物館) notes that the Amis make the leaf sheaths of the areca palm (檳榔) into vessels for cooking traditional stone hot pot, vessels that stand up to high heat and do not leak.

Ingredients

At a farm restaurant in the Mataian (馬太鞍) community, described on Taiwan's Ministry of Agriculture knowledge portal, visitors first gather wild vegetables that the Amis commonly eat, such as Chinese onion (蕗蕎), vegetable fern (過貓) and bird's-nest fern (山蘇), along with water celery from the clear Fudeng Stream (芙登溪). The host then shows the Amis palakaw (巴拉告) fishing method, and the stream fish, shrimp and greens go into the stone hot pot. The same page describes the stones sizzling and the fish broth steaming.

How it is eaten

The dish is also cooked for visitors at events. At the 2023 Taiwan Indigenous Slow Food Expo in Meilunshan Park (美崙山公園), Hualien, chef Chen Yao-chung (陳耀忠) ended the afternoon session by cooking Amis stone hot pot so that foreign guests and the public could try traditional Amis food.