This blog would not be complete without a post on this topic - the epic Chinese New Year family meals Paul and I enjoyed in Hong Kong earlier this year. With the Law family re-united under one roof, my mum wasted no time in utilizing her formidable cooking skills. Here is an example of a regular family meal:
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| Mum's home cooking at its best |
These dishes may look simple but are fairly complex - made up of several steps. The pork-stuffed tofu would have required:
- mincing and marinating the pork with shittake mushrooms and scallions
- scooping out the tofu centers
- pan-frying the tofu packets meat-down
- braising the whole dish in an oyster sauce.
This dish would been made first and kept warm in a clay pot while other dishes such as the pan-fried fish are prepared. There is also a slow-cooked soup which needs at least three hours of careful simmering. From the soup ingredients on the table, it was a pork and watercress, corn and water chestnut soup. My mother's cooking gets better every time I visit - and she is also adding new dishes to her repertoire which I have not tried before. This time, it was a steamed fish dish topped with marinated dried wood ears, chinese chives and pork (on the right in the photo).
During the Lunar New Year, there are several key moments where a family comes together for food. Some occasions may vary according to household tradition but the last meal of the old Year is universally important in Hong Kong. It is an absolute no-no to eat alone and local workers leave work early to ensure they are back home for this meal. For our New Year's Eve meal, we came together with the Wan family (my mother's side) where my uncle cooked up the necessary number of dishes. There is always a lucky number of dishes - eight (the word eight sounds similar to wealth) or nine (sounds similar to longevity) dishes is popular.
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| The table is groaning |
Our line-up included a whole chicken, a whole duck, braised dried conpoy and dried oysters, two vegetable dishes, roasted pork belly, the family's famed braised pork belly and taro dish, shrimp and a whole fish. It's important that the fish is kept whole (including the head and tail) so that no luck is lost. For auspicious meals such as this one, certain foods such as the whole chicken and whole fish are always featured. Shrimp is also a popular lucky dish as the word sounds like laughter in Chinese. White-colored foods such as tofu is not a good idea as white is the color of death nor is squid (as the word for squid sounds like losing your job in Chinese).
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| Braised dried conpoy and oysters on a bed of lettuce |
My favorite finger-licking dish was cooked by my uncle - his "secret recipe" for sweet and tangy shrimp. Although I don't have the full recipe, I'm told Lea & Perrins worcestershire sauce is his magic ingredient.
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| Uncle's tangy whole shrimp |
After the huge New Year's Eve dinner, neither meat nor fish is consumed in the first meal of the first day of Chinese New Year, as per our family tradition. This requires a bit more creativity but again, my mother had it covered by cooking up the following:
- corn soup (made from fresh corn kernels)
- Buddha's delight (vegan lotus root, water chestnut and Chinese celery stir fry)
- braised tofu skin with gingko nuts and wood ear fungus
- two leafy greens dishes
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Vegan for the 1st day of the Year
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The 2nd day of Chinese New Year is another blow-out family meal. With so many people around this year, we decided to have "poon choi" - a Hakka speciality whereby all the various dishes are layered upon each other in a large bowl. Obviously, we didn't think the ordered "poon choi" was luxurious enough so we added our own braised abalone!
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| The poon choi - we added our own abalone! |
Usually, one "poon choi" is enough for the meal but as we are talking about this excessively food-loving family, all kinds of additional dishes also appeared. Namely, a steamed whole fish, roast duck, chicken, a vegetarian stir-fry, shrimp and more leafy greens. Needless, to say there was plenty of leftovers.
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| One big bowl is not enough for the family |
Chinese New Year is a wonderfully festive time - when the family comes together through various traditions and rich celebratory foods. Unsurprisingly, after three days of excessive gluttony, palates get jaded and fearing for our arteries, we yearn for the simple and reach for that oatmeal breakfast....
