Poon Choi (盆菜) Recipe

This dish makes the perfect centrepiece at a festive dinner table... Fun to eat!

Each year, my cousins and I take turns hosting Chinese New Year dinners here in Melbourne -- it's so much fun. Even though we've grown up with having so much amazing food prepared for us during this festive season, it's also fun now that we can cook these meals for ourselves here in Australia because our parents are overseas. Luckily for us, my Mum as well as my aunt and uncle actually flew in from Malaysia to celebrate it with us this year. Amazing!

Aside from our Christmas lunches, these 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. I absolutely love learning these dishes that I've had growing up because of the amazing memories I've had with them. 

Some of these special CNY dishes I've made and shared include:

- Chinese 8 Treasure Duck (八宝鸭)

- Mum's Sour Plum Duck (酸梅鸭)

- Ham, Abalone & Kailan Jade Chicken (火腿鲍鱼玉兰鸡)

- Grandma's Chinese New Year Vegetarian Stew ("Jye")

Do click on the links above to check out the recipes. You can also check out other Chinese New Year dinners I've blogged about in the link: here

Poon Choi (盆菜), is a dish that has become increasingly popular in recent years around Malaysia and Singapore. It's definitely a celebratory dish that's made for special or festive occasions. Excitement ensues as soon as you place the dish in front of the table for everyone to gather around. It is almost overflowing with ingredients to signify abundance for the new year and made with lots of expensive, premium ingredients that you'd only eat on special occasions. It really is a treat for anyone to have. Made with lots of love, specially for the people you care about. I also like it for the fact that instead of preparing a big banquet with numerous dishes, I can just put all the effort into one dish and serve that instead. It's great.

Restaurants around Asia are starting to serve this dish too but we've never had them outside of home because they all charge RIDICULOUS amounts of money. It really is a lot of work to make so I understand why some people would have this at a restaurant. But my family's not like that at all. We have always preferred eating at home rather than eating out. Just like most things, it always tastes better and also a hell lot cheaper to make at home. Plus, it's more personal as you get to make it exactly how you and your family like to enjoy it. 

There really is no right or wrong way to prepare this dish because Poon Choi actually translates to "big bowl dish" or "big bowl cuisine". There's just as many variations to this dish as there are the number of people making it. It really is how your family enjoys it. If you look online, no 2 poon choi recipes would look identical or have the same ingredients. The presentation of this dish is just as important, if not more, than the taste of it. It is key that it is presented in the best way possible so that it has that "WOW" factor. 

Anyway, I was very happy to have made this dish because it turned out really well and we all enjoyed it. Definitely a great first attempt. It was a lot of effort but I wouldn't say it's more effort than preparing multiple separate dishes like I normally would as each element was actually quite easy to make. 

My family and I really enjoyed eating the Poon Choi and I hope you think of this dish for your next special occasion. Even though I've shared our version of it, I highly encourage you to put your own twist on it to make it your own too. It's fun! It really is such a treat to make and share with loved ones. Seeing the faces of everyone enjoying it really makes it all very, very worth it.

We also had some Nian Gao (年糕) or Sticky Rice Cakes as snacks before dinner

Of course, we couldn't have a Chinese New Year meal without "Lou Sang". A raw fish salad with abundance of colourful ingredients typically eaten on CNY

Perhaps I need to share a recipe for this dish too. Maybe next year!

Poon Choi (盆菜)

(an original recipe, feeds 12 - 15 people)

Click here to print the recipe

Ingredients:

For the braised pork:

1 pork trotter

2 slices of ginger

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

3 tbsp oil

1 cup dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked for 24 hours then sliced)

5 pieces dried oysters

1 inch piece rock sugar

2 spring onions (tied in a knot)

3 slices of ginger

1/2 bulb garlic

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 handfuls black moss fungus (soaked in water for 30 minutes)

For the seafood:

2 spring onions (tied in a knot)

3 slices of ginger

1 tsp Shao Xin wine

8 - 12 large tiger prawns 

8 - 12 large fresh scallops

For the chicken stock:

1 whole soup or boiling chicken 

5 slices of ginger

1/4 head large chinese cabbage (or 1/2 head if small)

1 large daikon or white radish

Liquid from canned abalone (see below)

Other:
1/2 roast duck *
1/2 soy sauce chicken *
200g crispy roast pork *
1 can abalone **
1 small head broccoli (chopped to florets)

* Just buy them from your favourite Chinese roast shops. Mine's Pacific House in Richmond

** Don't use fresh abalone (it doesn't have the flavour and texture we want). And get the ones with 8 - 9 smaller pieces (so that each person gets one) instead of the ones with 1 or 2 large pieces

Method:

For the braised pork:

1. Heat up a pot of water. Add the pig trotter and 2 slices of ginger and boil for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse the pork. Pat dry with a paper towel.

2. Rub the pork with the 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tbsp dark soy sauce. Heat up a large pan with the oil and sear on all sides until browned evenly. Remove the pork from the pan and place in a pressure cooker.

3. In the same pan, fry the shiitake mushrooms and dried oysters for about 2 minutes or until fragrant. Remove from mushrooms and oysters from pan and add to the pressure cooker.

4. Place all the remaining ingredients in the pressure cooker and fill the pressure cooker with water until it just covers the pork trotter. 

5. Seal the lid on the pressure cooker and cook on high for 35 minutes. Remove the lid. If the sauce is still a bit runny, set aside the pork and boil on high until sauce has thickened slightly. Stir in the black moss fungus.

6. Taste the sauce. Adjust the flavour if necessary with more sugar or soy sauce. 

For the seafood:

1. Fill a small pot with water and add the spring onions, ginger, Shao Xin wine and bring to a boil for 5 minutes.

2. While the pot of water is boiling, remove the veins and sandbag from the head of the prawns (but keeping the shell and head of the prawns).

3. Poach the prawns in the pot for 3 minutes or until just cooked. Remove and set aside.

4. Poach the scallops in the pot for 3 minutes or until just cooked. Remove and set aside. 

For the chicken stock:

1. Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add in the chicken and ginger slices and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. While simmering, cut the cabbage to approx 1 inch squares. Peel the daikon and cut to 1 cm thick slices.

2. Discard the chicken and ginger slices. Add the white cabbage and daikon and simmer for another 30 minutes or until daikon is tender.

3. Stir in all the liquid from the canned abalone (used later) and turn off heat. No need to season with salt as stock will be flavourful enough once served with all other ingredients.

For the other ingredients:
1. Poach the abalone in the chicken stock for 1 minute. Remove from pot and set aside.

2. Poach the broccoli in the chicken stock until just tender (about 2 minutes). Remove from pot and set aside.


TO ASSEMBLE:

1. You will require a large dish or pot of minimum 30cm and several inches deep. Use whatever you can find. I used my hotpot or steamboat machine.

2. Place all chinese cabbage at the bottom of the pot, reserving a few tablespoons for decoration later.

3. Place all the daikon on top of the chinese cabbage, reserving a few pieces for decoration later.

4. Place the pork trotter in the middle of the pot. I used a few of the daikon pieces underneath to keep it upright. The pork serves as the centrepiece of the dish.

5. Next, carefully arrange all the remaining ingredients around the pork. You can do this in whichever sequence you like but I did the following (in clockwise from the top):

• Soy sauce chicken
• Daikon 
• Crispy roast pork
• Roast duck
• Scallops
• Prawns
• Abalone
• Chinese cabbage
• Mushrooms 
• Broccoli

6. Finally, arrange the black moss fungus in a ring around the pork trotter. Enjoy!!!

Mum's Ham, Abalone & Kailan Jade Chicken Recipe (火腿鲍鱼玉兰鸡)

A childhood favourite dish that Mum makes every special occasion till this day ever since I was young. Something I look forward to everytime I'm in Malaysia!

Very glad to have learned to make this dish from Mum

Happy Chap Goh Meh (aka last Day of Chinese New Year) to everyone!

Just in case you don't know, CNY actually last for 15 days in total... 15! How fun is that, right?

Suffice to say, there was lots of overeating involved the past 2 weeks. What else are you meant to do during this festive season anyway? Whether it's going over to my relatives' house for dinner, them coming over, friends coming over, or having meals at restaurants... It's great. Not just the food, but the catchups, really.

Anyway, very happy to be sharing a dish that is very close to my heart. This Ham, Abalone & Kailan Jade Chicken (火腿鲍鱼玉兰鸡) is featured in our home in Malaysia almost every Chinese New Year or Winter Solstice Festival without fail (the 2 major feasting festive occasions). Most Jade Chickens only have the ham sandwiched with chicken. But what Mum does to make this dish extra special is to make it with abalone too, which can be quite expensive (AU$70-100 per can), and also why we only have it on special occasions. It's quite expensive but it's for that fact that we appreciate this dish even more, because it's such a treat. 

For instance, I bought my chicken for AU$20, and canned abalone for AU$88, so this dish actually costed me more than AU$100 to make. That's my family tradition anyway, but you can totally make this without the abalone and make the sauce with the chicken stock -- just as yummy! The other thing why Mum's version is so delicious is that she insists on using the best possible quality chicken she can find. For instance, the chickens she buy are corn fed, free range and of a certain breed that is known for its silky meat texture and bright yellow skin. The cost of these chickens in Malaysia can be 4 or 5 times more than the normal chicken and can even go up to 3kg each. It's sensational. I bought my chicken from South Melbourne Market. 

The thing that makes this dish quite unique as well is the method used to poached the chicken. Mum's method of heating/cooling the chicken in short bursts helps tighten the skin, which retains its shape and texture very well. Besides that, I love Mum's method of leaving the whole chicken in the pot for an hour with the stove turned off to let it cook slowly in the residual meat. Let me tell you, this really did WONDERS to the moisture and texture of the meat. My cousin ate this in disbelief at how moist the chicken was that day, especially the chicken breast! I highly recommend this whole poached chicken method.

Anyway, I am very, very happy to have finally learned this dish from Mum that I have loved for so many years. This was actually my first attempt of making it and so happy by how well it turned out! Everyone really enjoyed it that day. Traditional Chinese home cooked recipes like these (or the Chinese 8 Treasure Duck, Sour Plum Duck, etc) really are my favourite recipes to share, because of how close they are to my heart. It's so personal to me and I think people enjoy reading about them too because they tend to be the more popular visited pages on the site.

So, yay for another Chinese New Year specialty dish to share! Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do. It's so special and means a lot to me.

Cheers! Or shall I say, Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Here are some of the other dishes I prepared for my relatives when they all came over for CNY dinner:

My late Grandma's Dried Oysters, Red Dates & White Carrot Soup

Recipe: here

Mum's Deep Fried Prawns

This recipe is the BEST! Recipe: here

Chinese Scrambled Egg White with Crab Meat & Dried Scallops

Recipe to follow!

Fried Garlic Chives with Chinese Sausage and Tofu

Ham, Abalone & Kailan Jade Chicken (火腿鲍鱼玉兰鸡)

Easy Roast Pork with Crackling

(served with spicy Hoisin sauce)

This recipe is a WINNER too. Recipe: here

To end the night, my cousin made me this Dark Chocolate & Orange Entremet Cake as well as an early celebration for my birthday. So, so sweet of her...

______________________________

Mum's Ham, Abalone & Kailan Jade Chicken

(an original recipe by Mum)

Click here to print the recipe

Ingredients:

Poached chicken:

1 large chicken (best quality you can find)

Pot of water

1 large knob ginger (sliced)

8 cloves of garlic (crushed)

2 tbsp salt

Oil rub:

4 tbsp sesame oil

2 tsp salt

Other:

1 can abalone

1/4 tsp grated ginger

1/4 tsp sugar

1 tsp corn flour + 1/4 cup water

5 large slices ham

1 large bunch kailan (poached, to serve)

Coriander (to garnish)

*Note: You can omit the abalone altogether if you wish and just make the sauce out of the chicken stock

Method:

1. Using a kitchen string, tie the chicken around the wing and through the cavity with a loop at the end so you can lift the chicken easily.

2. For the poached chicken, fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil.  Add in the ginger, garlic and salt and allow to boil for 10 minutes.

3. Lifting the chicken with the string, dip the whole chicken in the pot and allow to boil for 3 minutes.

4. Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside on a plate. Bring the pot of water to a boil again before placing the chicken back in the pot for another 3 minutes. Repeat this step one more time. You should have boiled the chicken in water for 3 minutes a total of 3 times.

5. Turn off the heat immediately and leave the chicken in the pot for an hour, covered. Note: If you find later on that the chicken is still undercooked (mine wasn't) when cutting it up, just place it back in the pot for a little while to boil.

6. Mix the oil rub in a bowl. Remove the chicken from the pot after an hour and rub the oil rub all over the chicken. You can reserve the chicken stock for other use.

7. Bring all the contents of the canned abalone in a pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, remove the abalone pieces for use later. Add in the grated ginger, sugar, corn flour and water and bring to a boil. Once the sauce is thickened, switch off the stove and set aside for later.

8. Slice the thigh and breast meat off the chicken into 1cm thick pieces. Slice the abalone thinly as well as the ham to match the sizes of the sliced chicken meat. 

9. To serve, arrange the sliced chicken, abalone and ham meat on a plate. Arrange the poached kailan around the plate and pour the abalone sauce over the entire plate. Garnish with coriander. Serve immediately with rice.

Glutinous Rice Balls (汤圆) with Peanut Filling in Pandan & Ginger Syrup

There's a few things that really relaxes me. 

Editing photos or blogging Recipes are some of them. Besides that, my Spotify playlist or watching sitcoms (like 30 Rock, The Office, Parks & Recreation and also my new obsession Suburgatory) typically does the trick too.

Even though I've been eating Glutinous Rice Balls (汤圆) every year for as long as I could remember, these were actually the first time I made them. Usually Mum takes care of this department. But being away from my family in Malaysia and spending my Chinese New Year here in Melbourne instead, I have come to the realisation that it is now up to me to assume this responsibility. I made these for my friends when I hosted Chinese New Year dinner at my place 2 weeks ago. Was a helluva fun. We gambled and I won a bit of money that night =)

These Glutinous Rice Balls are eaten at many special occasions within a Chinese family. The stickiness of the texture signified the bond and unity of a person with their loved ones. The round shape symbolises how family makes life whole and complete.

Personally, I am quite happy to have these without the filling. I like my syrup to have a prominent pandan fragrance with the ginger overtone that isn't too overpowering.

Chinese New Year is not over yet so you still have time to make these. Though to be honest, we do have it at other times of the year as well.

Besides these Glutinous Rice Balls (汤圆), I almost made my parents' 8 Treasure Duck (八宝鸭) which is a real treat. You can find the recipe for it: HERE

Glutinous Rice Balls in Pandan & Ginger Syrup

(adapted from this recipe by Rasa Malaysia) 

Ingredients:

Rice balls
250g glutinous rice flour
1 cup water

Filling
85g ground peanuts
3 1/2 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp peanut butter

Syrup
1.5L water
5 - 6 pandan leaves (tied in a knot)
1 thumb size ginger (cut to thin slices)
150g yellow rock sugar

Optional: Garnish with toasted sesame seeds

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients for the filling in a bowl. Set aside.

2. Mix the ingredients for the rice balls in a bowl. This will form your dumpling skin. If the mixture leaves your hands wet, add more flour. If the mixture tears too easily when you try to roll it out, add more water.

3. Take a pinch of the dumpling mixture and roll it into a ball. Flatten it on one palm of your hand with the palm of the other hand. 

4. Place a pinch of the filling into the centre. Fold one edge of the dumpling to the other and pinch until filling is fully encased. 

5. Roll it out with your palms again until it forms a ball. Repeat until rice balls and filling mixture is used up.

Tip: These rice balls may be stored in a container in the freezer for later use. I made these a week in advance of our CNY dinner

6. Place all the ingredients for the syrup in a pot. Bring the pot to a boil and allow to simmer uncovered for 20 minutes on medium heat.

7. Place the rice balls in a separate pot filled with water. Bring the pot to a boil. Once the balls are floating, they are ready. Drain and set aside to individual bowls.

8. Fill each bowl with syrup. Garnish with sesame seeds if using. Serve hot. 

Mum's Deep Fried Prawns Recipe

Thanks for texting me the recipe on Whatsapp, Mum!

We don't eat a lot of fried food growing up. Mainly because Mum has always been quite health conscious with the family's diet so we avoid oily food. In fact, I remember the times when Dad used to take my Sis and I to KFC when we were younger and bring a box of tissue with him. Why? To squeeze the chicken of excess oil as much as he can before using the spoon to scrape the fats from the skin. At the time, it was so weird as kids to see that and I remember how we would plead to Dad to stop. But, hey. Mum and Dad knows best huh?

But Mum and Dad are human too and we do have our fried food fix from time to time. On special occasions (especially during Chinese New Year dinners), Mum would make our favourite deep fried prawn fritters. Seriously one of my favourite childhood dishes.

Mum's prawn fritters are the best. She always uses the best and biggest prawns (often very expensive but hey, it's a special occasion) and what I love most is the batter she uses. Mum's batter is so flavourful, sticks to the prawn really well and has a great crunch and crispy edges. Plus, I love her generous addition of sesame seeds in the batter too. It's SO delicious. Sometimes, I don't like beer battered recipes as I find that it is too hollow around the meat from being too airy (not necessary).

Mum's secret to flavour and crunch? BUTTER. She finds that it makes the batter fragrant and also makes the batter light. At the same time, making the batter slightly thicker than usual helps it stick and creates a better crunch too.

Anyway, I asked Mum for the recipe via Whatsapp when I was hosting dinner for my relatives at my place 2 weekends ago. It turned out as good as Mum's and I'm so grateful for this recipe. Obviously, you can make this with anything else you'd like to batter but I just love fried prawns and I hope you give this a go too =)

Also made Mum's Sour Plum Duck (酸梅鸭) for dinner that evening =)

Seriously delish and you can find the recipe: here

A big plate of fried prawns... YIPPEE

Mum's Deep Fried Prawns

Ingredients:

1kg of large prawns (king or tiger prawns)

150g (or 1 cup) self raising flour

50g butter

3/4 cup water

2 tbsp sesame seeds (preferably toasted)

1 1/2 tbsp sugar

Oil for frying

Method:

1. Remove all the head and shell from the prawns, leaving the shell for the tail only.

2. Place the flour and butter in the a bowl. Press the butter into the flour with a fork until all broken up into tiny pieces and mixed thoroughly with the flour. Almost like making butter crumble mixture.

3. Whisk in the water, sesame seeds and sugar into the flour mixture until well combined. You should get a thick consistency. Leave aside to stand for 15 minutes.

4. Heat up oil in a large wok or pot until very hot. Add a small drop of the batter into the oil. If it starts bubbling immediately, the oil is ready.

5. Hold the prawns by the tail and coat it with the batter. Drop into the oil. Fry a few prawns at a time (depending on how big your wok/pot is) until golden on both sides. 

6. Once prawns are fried and golden, remove to rest on a plate lined with kitchen towel. Repeat in batches until all prawns are fried. Serve hot.

Ah Po's Chinese New Year Vegetarian Stew ("Jye" or "Jap Chye")

A festive dish that is eaten by many Chinese Malaysian households on the 1st Day of Chinese New Year. Also known as "Jye" or "Jap Chye".

Chinese New Year is undoubtedly the most important time of the year for us (as well as being most fun). The main reason? My late Grandmother (阿婆 or "Ah Po", as we call her).

Ah Po was hands down the most important person in all of our lives. What all of us know about having a strong bond and love for our family, showing kindness to strangers, putting other people's needs before ours, forgiveness towards others, working hard to achieve our goals, we learned it ALL from her. She's touched the lives of so many people (and not just those in our family). She really brought our entire family and extended family together like no one else can. CNY always remind us so much of her because we would fly to her hometown to visit her every year without fail. I didn't know any other grandparent growing up (they've all passed before I was born) but Ah Po was all the grandparent I needed. 

Each of us has had so many cherished memories with our beloved Ah Po. I love how that out of all her many grandchildren, she always knew that I was the peckish and hungry one so she would always come and sit next to me in the living room to feed me rice in her homemade soup in the afternoons. Ah Po would blow each spoonful to make sure the temperature was just right before feeding it to me and I would always tell her "it's really yummy, Ah Po!" with glee in Hakka. I felt SO loved from every single bite.

I also remember how there was also a mentally challenged couple that always used to pay her a visit in the afternoons. Even though they were shunned and struggled with being accepted by many in society, Ah Po always spent the time talking to them, giving them food and making sure that they were doing alright on their feet. 

No matter how exhausted she was, she'd still take care of her family as a widow and go out of her way to help others. No matter how much a person's wronged her, she still chose to forgive, forget and embrace them like no other. Ah Po really was a remarkable human being. We were so blessed to have her in our lives and we love her so, so much. Her Passing was hands down the hardest thing any of us had to go through and it really shattered us to pieces. I still remember it like it was yesterday. It's been almost 10 years since we lost her but we still miss her tremendously. 

In loving memory...

Anyway, this was a dish that we would eat on the 1st Day of Chinese New Year. A tradition that most Malaysian Chinese families share. This recipe was passed down from my late Grandmother, to my mother, and now to me. 

Ah Po's version is slightly different because even though this dish is meant to be vegetarian, she always added Dried Oysters because it added a fantastic flavour and it is one of those premium ingredients that cost a lot (sometimes more than AU$100/kg) so we like to eat it on special occasions. The dried oysters I got from the Asian Grocery here in Melbourne aren't as extravagant in quality and price (about $19 for a generous box) but they do the job. Another twist to the tradition is that Ah Po would also always make this Dried Oyster, Red Dates and Radish Soup to go with the Vegatarian Stew (or "Jye").

Dried oysters that I bought from the Asian Grocery (along with all the other ingredients for the dish)

I learned this dish from Mum when I was back in Malaysia over Christmas. This was the first time I made this and as it was very important that I made this for my relatives when we had CNY dinner at my place last Saturday. Let's just say, Ah Po was definitely remembered at the dinner table that night. 

It is a huge privilege and joy for me to make this dish in remembrance of her and then share it with everyone today. I'm sure that she's looking down right now, smiling, and I cannot wait to see my Grandmother again one day… 

Miss you so much, Ah Po!

_________________________________________

Ah Po's Chinese New Year Vegetarian Stew ("Jye" or "Jap Chye")

Ingredients:

2 cups dried bean curd sheets (soaked overnight)
1/2 cup wood ear fungus (soaked overnight)
1 cup dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked overnight)
3/4 cup dried lily flowers (soaked overnight)
1 pack (approx 15 pieces) tofu puffs (soaked for 1/2 hour)
250g glass vermicelli (soaked for 1/2 hour)
1 large handful hair moss (soaked for 5 minutes)

1 tbsp oil 
3 cloves of garlic (smashed)
10 large Chinese cabbage or wombok leaves (cut to 1 inch strips)
4 small or 2 large carrots (sliced diagonally into strips)
10 pitted dried red dates

4 tbsp oyster sauce
1 piece rock sugar (approx. 1 inch cube)

5 cubes of fermented red tofu (approx. 2cm cubes)
1 tbsp of the fermented red tofu liquid
Water to cover

Optional but recommended:
7 dried oysters (soaked overnight)

To finish:
1 tbsp of oil

Method:

1. Remove all the liquid from the oysters (if using), beancurd sheets, wood ear fungus, mushrooms, lily flowers, tofu puffs, glass vermicilli and hair moss. 

2. Squeeze out the liquid from the mushrooms and slice in half. Cut the beancurd sheets into 2 inch strips. Cut the tofu puffs in half. Tie the strands of lily flowers into a knot.

3. Heat up a large wok. Add the oil and fry the garlic until fragrant. Add the mushrooms and wood ear fungus. Fry in high heat until it begins to sear and become fragrant, stirring occasionally. 

4. Add the dried oysters, beancurd sheets, lily flowers, Chinese cabbage, carrots and red dates. Stir to mix evenly.

5. Add the oyster sauce and stir to mix evenly.

6. Add enough water until just covers the ingredients. Add the rock sugar, fermented red tofu, tofu liquid and stir to mix evenly.

7. Add the tofu puffs and cover the wok. Reduce the heat to low and allow to simmer, covered, for 45 minutes.

8. Remove lid and stir in glass vermicilli and black moss. Taste to see if extra red tofu liquid or oyster sauce is required (usually not necessary).

9. Switch off heat. Drizzle final tablespoon of oil for extra sheen. Serve hot with rice.

Dried Oysters, Red Dates and White Radish Soup

Ingredients:

8 dried oysters (soaked overnight)
10 pieces dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked overnight)
2 slender or 1 large white radish (aka daikon)
12 pitted dried red dates

2.5 litres of water

Small handful of black moss

Method:

1. Drain the oysters and mushrooms. Squeeze the mushrooms to release the liquid and slice in half.

2. Peel the white radish and slice diagonally, 2cm apart.

3. Add in all the ingredients in the pot (except the black moss) and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover the pot with the lid and reduce to simmer for 2 hours.

4. Finally, stir in the black moss. Serve.