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Jan 23, 2005
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.
