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Pot luck
by Teo Pau Lin
A NEW Chinese New Year dish has hit town to rival perennial favourites
steamboat and yu sheng.
Pen cai from Hong Kong is being offered in an unprecedented number of
restaurants this year.
Each earthen claypot, melamine pot or wooden basin is filled with
layers of Chinese delicacies like abalone, fish maw, sea cucumber, fresh
scallops, dried oysters, black moss, prawns, roast meat and vegetables.
They are cooked individually first then put together, and can be eaten
alone or with rice.
A pot costs between $138 for six people at Man Fu Yuan Restaurant in
InterContinental Hotel and as much as $688 for 10 people at Wah Lok
Restaurant in Carlton Hotel.
Pen cai (or 'poon choi' in Cantonese, literally meaning 'basin food')
is a traditional Hakka dish served during festive seasons in the Hong
Kong countryside, where chicken, duck and roast meats are cooked and
served in large wooden basins.
About 10 years ago, it was picked up by enterprising Hong Kong
restaurants which then jazzed up the ingredients by using expensive abalone,
sea cucumber and dried oysters.
A handful of Singapore restaurants followed suit a few years ago. But
this year, as many as 25 restaurants have put it on their New Year
menus, citing rising popularity among customers.
Man Fu Yuan sold about 30 pots over the Chinese New Year period last
year. But this year, 'we've already received 30 orders, and there are
still 2 1/2 weeks more to go before Chinese New Year,' says executive
chef Sunny Kong.
Wah Lok Restaurant, Dragon City Szechuan Restaurant in Orchid
Copthorne Hotel and the Crystal Jade group are among those which are serving it
for the first time this year.
They report that most of the orders are for takeaway, as the dish is
convenient for big reunion dinners at home.
'It's got everything in it and it's very presentable,' says Stella To,
special assistant to Crystal Jade's managing director. 'You just need
to get this, a roast meat platter and yu sheng, and you don't have to
cook at all.'
The history of pen cai dates back to the Song dynasty (960-1279).
China was invaded by the Mongolians and the imperial family was forced
to flee south to Hong Kong.
It is said that Hakka villagers in the New Territories wanted to cook
up a huge feast for the royals, but did not have big enough cookware.
So they resorted to using their wooden wash basins to cook the best of
meat and vegetables they could harvest from the field.
The flavours from the various ingredients went well together and
proved fit for the king.
Singaporeans, too, might agree.
