Hakka "pun choi"

Hello again! Happy Chinese New Year!! Before my college starts, I thought I would post something about what my family did during the Chinese New Year Eve. 

During this CNY eve, my mother's side family prepare Hakka "pun choi"  (盆菜) or known as Big Bowl Feast. It is a traditional dish originated from Guang Dong Province during the late Song Dynasty. Hakka "pun choi" symbolises prosperity, harvest and joy. It is served during festivals, special occasions, wedding banquets, and moving into a new home. 

Hakka "pun choi" is served in a big basin, in my case, we do not have one so we replaced it with a wok. It is served in layers with the bottom layer filled with wet ingredients or materials that can easily absorb water, which are mostly vegetables. The upper later is filled with dry ingredients such as meat.

How do you do Hakka "pun choi"?

There are 2 ways to do it. The first way is you cook everything separately and later you arrange all the dishes you cooked into a big basin. 

The second way is you arrange some cooked food and some raw food (it is better if the raw food can be cooked easily) into the basin. Then, you add the soup you made into the basin and you slow cooked it after the soup is boiled (and you are not supposed to stir/mix it because you will lose the layers and arrangements). In one way, it is just like steamboat. When the food is all cooked, then you can start the feast. 

I personally prefer the first method because you can eat it immediately. For the second method, you still have to wait and some food may not be fully cooked or maybe overly cooked. 

What ingredients should you put in it?

In my case, my family put in Chinese cabbage, radish, yam and carrot for the bottom layer. For the upper layer, we have roasted chicken, scallop, prawn, mushroom,  roasted pork, abalone, dried oyster and asparagus (for decoration). 

However, you can also put in other ingredients such as corn and any other suitable vegetables for the lower layer and all kinds of meat, dumpling, sea cucumber on the upper layers. Just let your creativity run wild! 

How to eat?

You eat from the top to the bottom, layer by layer. Why? So that the food at the bottom taste better. Also, I think it will look more presentable to others and they will know what to eat first. If the food is all messed up, you will actually have a hard time to choose which food to eat.

And so this is how Hakka "pun choi" looks like!

My family used the first method to make it. Oh and everything was made by my grandmother and aunt except for the abalone which is from a can.

And so, that's all about it. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or email to me. I'll  try my best to answer it. I'll try to write another post after my mock exam. Once again, Happy Chinese New Year!!o(^^o)