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!!!

XO Marinated Salt & Pepper Chicken Ribs

Chicken Ribs... FRIED CHICKEN RIBS... In all it's crunch and crispiness... Juicy and tender flesh... 

I don't think I'd be the first one to say this but I have never heard of chicken ribs until I moved to Melbourne. It's odd. Though to be fair, it's not technically the ribs of the chicken. More like the wish bone to be exact. But, what's delicious about it is that it's got the texture of the thigh meat and easy to eat off of because it only has a single bone in the middle. Even more excellent when fried with salt and pepper or the duck egg yolk.

It's a dish that I've always been a fan of at low key, fuss free Chinese restaurants (especially the one at Rose Garden, ZOMG). Even though I see them sell chicken ribs and markets all the time, I actually never attempted cooking it at home until recently. No real reason in particular, just never got around to it.

I whipped up this recipe with whatever I had in the fridge and pantry. I think what really enhances a good salt and pepper dish is the fried toppings of onions, garlic and chillies. Oh, and the right amount of salt and white pepper, of course. Note: always use white pepper in Chinese cooking. I never paid much attention to the toppings previously and if I'm honest, I normally scrape it off to the side of my plate when having it at restaurants. But I realised that it actually adds so much more flavour and texture in each bite when having it together. It's so good, yum...

Anyway, this dish is seriously easy, tasty and cheap to make too. Such a winner as my sister and I couldn't have enough of it! Not messy to make because you're only frying it in a shallow pan and no splatter experienced. Hope you give this one a go.

XO Marinated Salt & Pepper Chicken Ribs

(an original recipe)

Click here to print the recipe

Ingredients:

For the chicken:

500g chicken ribs

2 tbsp XO sauce

2 cloves garlic (minced)

1 1/2 cup corn flour

Oil for frying

For the topping:

4 tbsp diced onions

1 clove garlic (minced)

1 - 2 birds eye chillies (sliced thinly) *

White pepper

Other:

Salt and white pepper

Sliced spring onions (to garnish)

* Note: May be substituted with diced capsicum

Method:

1)  Marinate the chicken ribs with the XO sauce and minced garlic for at least 3 hours or overnight in the fridge.

2) Just before cooking, coat the chicken in corn flour and set aside. Heat up the oil in a shallow pan filled to about 1 cm high. 

3) Once the oil is hot, fry the chicken in batches for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes per side. Remove and allow to cool for about 5 minutes on a wire rack.

4) While the chicken is cooling, drain the pan leaving about 1 tbsp of oil. Fry the onions, garlic and chillies for about 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add several dashes of white pepper and mix well. Set aside.

5) Place the chicken on a plate and top with fried onions, garlic and chillies. Season with salt and white pepper. Garnish with sliced spring onions. Serve immediately.

Mabrown (CBD), New Shanghai & Providence Cafe

Disclaimer: Winston dined as a guest of Mabrown, New Shanghai and Providence Cafe. All opinions are honest and based on my own experience at the time.

1) Mabrown (CBD)

Mabrown Signature Quails

Shan Dong Chicken Salad

Drunken Chicken

Owner's Granddad's Pork and Yam Dish

XO Prawns on Egg Noodles

Turmeric Fish

Peking Beef

Durian Ice Cream

A while ago, I got an email from the owner of Mabrown that really cracked me up. It was quite lovely and really caught my attention as it was a nice refreshing change from the usual, generic and less personal emails I tend to get (not that I have anything against those, they are what they are). He started off his email by saying, "Hello there Mr. Young Man Wince....." (LOL!!) before going on to say that he's read my review of his Balwyn store etc etc and would like to invite me and some friends over to try out the food at their CBD store in the most friendly and lovely tone. To end, he signed off his email by calling himself "Si Fu Peter" (which means "Master Peter"). Cute. We had a few email exchanges back and forth and of course I was more than happy to come in.

The location was just off Bourke Street, which was actually very easy to get to. We sat down and was met with Peter's son, Melvin, who was in his mid 20s and pretty much my age too. It was very nice speaking with him as he was telling me all about how he's grown up around the kitchen his whole life as both his Dad and Granddad were chefs too. It was because of this strong love of food that he's decided to leave Engineering and finally become a chef himself. Amazing. I'm sure Si Fu Peter (or any parent for that matter) would be chuffed to have their kids follow in their footsteps. I respected this very much. Not a lot of people would take on their family business like that, especially in the food industry because it's a lot of hard work. Good on you, Melvin.

Anyway, I sat down with my friends and we were ready to eat. I've been to the Balwyn store before numerous times in the past (which you can read about: here) and was excited to have my two favourite dishes: the signature Mabrown quail and also the XO prawns on egg noodles, which did not disappoint. Feels just like being back at the Balwyn store -- lip smackingly delicious. The chicken salad we had was sweet yet tangy and crunchy chicken on anything is always a good idea. The drunken chicken was actually my favourite dish of the night. The chicken was smooth and silky and the broth was absolutely divine. I really liked adding the broth to my rice topped with a small amount of chillies from the quails. Highly recommend this combination! 

The pork and taro dish was very interesting and wasn't actually on the menu but it was a family recipe from his granddad that Melvin really wanted to share with us. The sauce was so addictive I could have it for days. As for the beef, I did find it to be slightly overcooked. The fish had a great crunchy batter but sauce was a little too sour for my liking. I went back the other night and had the fish but with black bean sauce and it was great. I do like the fact that you've got quite a selection of sauces for your fish to choose from. To top it off, we got to have the Durian ice cream too -- so Malaysian!

Overall, we definitely enjoyed our meal here at Mabrown and I am personally very happy to hear that they've now got a branch in the city because it's more convenient for me to get to. The menu here was quite different to their Balwyn store, which gives you something to enjoy at both stores. This place really is a good option if you're looking for a place for some good Malaysian food in the city at night (I know I definitely have those days myself and this place definitely hits the spot). Plus, it's not too crowded, which makes it easy to get a table and at a convenient location too! In fact, I just came here again over the weekend with a group of 10 and we all enjoyed our food here very much. Just can't go wrong with those quails...

Anyway, thanks again for hosting us the other evening, Melvin. So nice to see an enthusiastic young chef like yourself cooking up a storm in the kitchen. Keep up the good work, mate!

2) New Shanghai, Emporium

Absolutely love the fit out

New Shanghai Xiao Long Bao (8pcs) - $7.80

Steamed Vegetarian Dumpling (8pcs) - $9.00

Pork Belly Braised Overnight in Sweet Soy Sauce - $17.50

Fried Garlic American Pork Ribs - $20.80

Shallot Pancake - $6.50

Salt & Pepper Soft Shell Crab - $29.80

New Shanghai Pan Fried Pork Bun - $10.50

Sahhhh juicy...

Steamed Pork Belly Buns (2 pcs) - $6.00

There's a lot of this happening when you're food blogging:

Table filled with food but no one's eating them until it gets cold, hah 

New Shanghai is a place that's been on everyone's radar since it's opened. To me, there are 2 main reasons for this: 1) It's at the new Emporium building. 2) Rumour has it that it sells good dumplings, specifically, Xiao Long Baos (XLB). Have heard a lot of good things about this place so did not mind it at all when I was asked if I wanted to come and enjoy a menu tasting that they were hosting. 

Firstly, I thought that it was quite cool that even though New Shanghai is a full-fledged restaurant on its own yet located at the food court of Emporium. As soon as I walked in, I was quite taken aback and impressed by the decor they had going on. A harmonious balance between new and old; simple and sophisticated. I like it very much. Goes to show that a good dumpling restaurant doesn't have to be at a dingy alleyway next to a dumpster at Chinatown. Sure, people say that is part of the charm but to me, it gets old pretty damn quick. I would choose a much cleaner and comfortable setting like this over the former any day. 

We were escorted to a private dining room at the back of the restaurant where the tasting was held. And boy, were there a lot of bloggers in one room. We were all given free reign to order whatever we wanted from the menu so we decided to order a variety of dumplings and also some main dishes to share.

Now, let's get straight to business: the Xiao Long Bao's. They were delish. Definitely one of the best ones in Melbourne (there are a couple of other places that do good ones too). To me, a place that does good XLB is what sets itself apart from all the bazillion dumpling restaurants around. Most places do decent steamed pork dumplings because it hits the spot and is quite standard. But, with XLBs, it takes a little bit more care and finesse. Skin must be delicate but still has a slight bite. And more importantly, filling must be soft, flavourful and incredibly soupy. Not juicy, SOUPY. And soupy, it was. In fact, last time my friends and I were here, she literally squirted soup all over herself when she bit into the XLB too quickly. So, yes. Bravo to New Shanghai for ticking all the boxes for what makes a good XLB.

The other dumplings were very consistent that night. In fact, they've been quite consistently good every other time that I've been here since too. Conclusion: dumplings at New Shanghao = good. Unfortunately, it can't really be said about the main dishes here. The soy sauce braised pork is a dish that I've had at so many other restaurants and also make it a lot at home that it is quite rare for me to find an exceptional one, including the one here. Too fatty. Nothing special. Still prefer the one I make at home. Besides that, ribs were quite tough and the soft shell crab had barely any crab and batter was chewy. I know a lot of people were raving about the steamed pork belly bun here too but, again, this to me was quite common and nothing too extraordinary to me. It was just okay. Normal.

Despite the above, I must say that I really like coming to New Shanghai and it has slowly become a regular favourite amongst my friends and I. Although, I recommend just sticking to the entrees, noodles and dumplings because they do them really well here. The mains, you can skip because to be honest, they're not as good and frankly, quite boring. Oh oh and I also highly recommend the Shepherd's Purse dumplings (not pictured) as it's my second favourite after the XLBs. The skin is slightly different. Extremely silky yet has a slight bite and resistance to it -- it's amazing. Sauce is a mix of peanut and chillies which is such a good combination too. Make sure you order it!

3) Providence Cafe, Carlton

I love this glazed curtain wall feature in the cafe... Stunning

Soy Magic Coffee

Smoked Trout, Bubble & Squeak Potatoes, Hot Smoked Trout & Herbs with Poached Eggs

Egg & Gamze Bacon Pie

Breakfast Salad

Pumpkin & Burrum Biodynamics Lentil Fritters with Cate's Chilli Tomato Pickle, Coconut Yoghurt & Lovely Leaves

Berry Clafoutis with Gundowring Rhubarb Ice Cream

I was quite keen to come for the tasting at Providence Cafe as I knew it was a new venture by the same people behind the super successful Grain Store in the CBD. Located towards towards the northern end of Rathdowne Street, Providence Cafe is actually set in the building of a pretty modern apartment. The concept of this cafe is actually quite unique with a focus on "farm to table" dining. To me, this is quite different (and frankly a little difficult) for a cafe in the CBD which tends to go for a more edgier approach. 

Even though almost every new cafe in Melbourne these days choose to use a lot of edible flowers and microherbs to enhance the "Instagrammibility" of their food, I appreciated the fact that Providence went against all of that and stuck to a more rustic approach. You see it everywhere from Kettle Black, Top Paddock, Hammer & Tong, etc etc etc. Again, quite unusual for a new cafe to against all of that, especially in the inner city. Oh, the owner also explained how every single plate was handcrafted, which again, contributed more towards the overall rustic feel of the cafe (but in an understated way).

As for the food, I really liked the smoked trout with potatoes and eggs as well as the egg and bacon pie the most. Besides being utterly delicious, these two dishes almost exemplifies what the entire cafe is about. Food that is not necessarily fancy but downright rustic, delicious and highlights the amazing locally sourced ingredients from passionate farmers around Victoria. It was incredible. Every mouthful of these two dishes really made me feel like I was at a country farm restaurant. Loved it.

Although, must say I wasn't too big of a fan of the breakfast salad and lentil fritters. It's not that it wasn't cooked well, it's just that I don't normally like to have salads or anything with too much spice for brunch dishes. It's just a preference thing. That said, coffee here really is fantastic. From the way the barista spoke so passionately and enthusiastically about the flavours and craft of making good coffee, I knew my coffee beverage was in good hands. 

Overall, I quite like Providence Cafe for the location, salmon with potatoes and eggs dish, egg and bacon pie and also the coffee. Plus, it is quite different to many other cafes around as this is the only cafe that I've been to that really made me feel like I was at some farm restaurant in the country. They've really executed the "farm to table" concept well because of all the connections they have with local farmers AND the fact that they're located next to a farmers market on weekends definitely helped too! It was nice of the owners to give us all a voucher to use at the farmers market next door after our brunch so that we could show support to the local farmers. I bought myself a beautiful slab of pork belly from McIvor Farms and some amazing vegetables, which made for a great roast pork with crackling dinner the following night.