Food is an inseparable part of every Chinese New Year. Celebrate Chinese New Year with your love ones with this special treat of abundance.
Poon Choi is one of the must-have dish during Chinese New Year among Cantonese.
This prosperity treasure pot is also known as “Pen Cai” or big bowl feast”.You can savour all the goodness of seafood and meat in a single pot.
Here is a step-by step recipe for an auspicious one-pot dish by Chef Ricky Wong from Concorde Hotel Kuala Lumpur.
Ingredients
- 8 pieces of canned abalones
- 8 dried oysters
- 8 dried scallops
- 8 pieces of sea cucumber
- 8 tiger prawns (deveined, keep the shell intact)
- 4 large pieces of fish maw (cut half each for 8 pieces)
- 1 pork knuckle
- ½ roast chicken
- ½ roast duck
- 1 medium radish (cut into the size you preferred)
- 2 small bundle of black moss (soaked in water for 30 mins)
- 8 pieces of black mushroom (soaked till soft)
- 1 small broccoli (cut into florets)
- 1 lotus root (cut into pieces)
- 200gm of dried bean curd stick
- 200gm of dried bean curd gluten
- 8 pieces of goose web
Superior Broth
Prepare 3 different broths as per below:
- Chicken soup
- Pumpkin, carrot and 1 small chicken boil together
- Soy bean, soy milk, dried oysters boil together and last add some Hoisin sauce to enhance the flavour
Method
For Seafood and Vegetables
1]Rinse the dried oyster and scallop and soak in water separately for about 40 minutes.
2] Rinse the dried shiitake mushrooms and soak in hot water until softened.
3] Clean the prawns and keep aside.
4] Soak the fish maw and rinse. Cut into half.
5] All ingredients cook separately with salt and chicken soup, except dried scallop. Keep aside.
For Pork
1] Prepare soup with soya sauce, black sauce, ginger, rock sugar, pandan leaf, and scallion. Put the pork knuckle into the soup and braised for 1 hours till it soft.
To assemble the Poon Choi
1] Prepare a large claypot. Layer the base with lotus root, radish, beancurd stick. Place the fish maw, sea cucumber, pork knuckle, goose web, black mushroom and dried oyster as the next layer. Steam all the ingredients with the claypot for 25 minutes.
2] Remove the lid, carefully arrange roasted chicken, roasted duck, tiger prawn, broccoli, and the rest of the ingredients around the pot. Add superior broth in the claypot and serve hot.
Superior Broth
In a large pot, combine 3 different broths in the same proportion and bring to boil. Reduce the heat and dissolve 1.5 tbsp. of cornstarch into 1/2 cup of water. Add this mixture to the broth and bring it to a boil for about a minute.
Tips:
Attentive layering of the ingredients contributes to the taste of the whole dish. The ingredients are arranged in layers, allowing you to appreciate the different texture and flavours.