Reviving ‘Poon Choi’ during CNY

Published on: Saturday, January 21, 2017

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By Mary Chin
NOW a retiree, Sabah’s first woman engineer, Pang Suk Ching, has turned her attention to her second passion in life – cooking.

If she is not having fun with her two young grandsons, she will be confined to the kitchen preparing culinary delights for the family. With the Chinese New Year celebration around the corner, she has started gathering the ingredients for cooking several specialities to mark the auspicious occasion.

These include Chinese 8 Treasure Duck, Sour Plum Duck and Ham, Abalone & Kailan Jade Chicken.

Interestingly, Pang is reviving the Poon Choi, a traditional Hakka and Cantonese dish, at least for her loved ones.

Loosely translated, it means “big bowl dish” or “basin dish” or “basin vegetables”.

It is said to have originated in ancient China during the Song dynasty (960-1279), and later spread to Hong Kong where it has existed for seven centuries.

Locally, a forgotten dish, so to speak. If you ask the younger generation today about Poon Choi, many would reply “What is it?” They have absolutely no idea unless they are from Hakka families.

“It is overflowing with ingredients to signify abundance for the New Year.

Instead of preparing a big feast with numerous dishes, I can just devote my wholehearted effort to one cuisine.

This celebratory dish makes the perfect centrepiece at a festive dinner table. It’s fun to eat it,” she said.

According to Pang, this one-pot cuisine has become increasingly popular in recent years in Malaysia and Singapore. “There is no hard and fast rule on making this dish. There can be as many variations as you desire as long as your family loves it. No two Poon Choi recipes have the same ingredients.”

Younger son Winston Chua has created a food blog specifically to preserve “Mum’s Recipe”, saying he has enjoyed his mother’s cooking since childhood. Having taken up cooking as a hobby after inheriting her cookery knowledge and skills, he is reportedly quite a well-known food blogger in Melbourne, Australia, under the name ‘The Hungry Excavator’.

“Chinese New Year dinners are the most important meals for me every year.

Each year, I try to learn and recreate a childhood favourite dish to share on this blog,” he was quoted as saying.

Here is an original recipe for Poon Choi from Pang meant to feed 12 to 15 people.

She is happy to share it with Daily Express readers, ushering in the Lunar New Year 2017 or Year of the Rooster in the Chinese zodiac.