Thanks to the Hong Kong Tourism Board, I got the opportunity to visit Hong Kong for the very first time and experience the culture as well as the preparations made to celebrate Chinese New Year. During my visit, we learned the art of making a traditional and symbolic Chinese New Year dish at Shanghai Min, a popular chain restaurant in Hong Kong serving quality Shanghainese cuisine.
The Poon Choi, or Big Bowl Feast, is an extravagant pot of yummy goodness, made with a ton of ingredients. Instead of mixing the ingredients, all the contents of the Poon Choi are carefully placed layer by layer in the pot. Traditionally, the Poon Choi is served in a wooden washing basin. This has then transitioned to large metal pots and large claypots.
Preparing this dish takes up a lot of time and effort, and it is customarily eaten on festival days whereby a large group of family and friends gather to celebrate a special occasion. One Poon Choi feeds at least 10 people, and it symbolizes togetherness, prosperity and abundance. When steamed and served, all the flavours from the ingredients come together and the taste becomes exquisite.
At Shanghai Min, the chefs have combined the traditional Cantonese and Shanghainese methods of making the Poon Choi. The core essence of the Poon Choi remains, but Shanghai Min dresses its version with a delicious white pepper pork bone soup that enhances the flavours even more.
With 19 ingredients altogether, the highlight of Shanghai Min’s Poon Choi is the pork knuckle, which is simmered for four hours before being used in the dish. Aside from that, Shanghai Min’s Poon Choi contains prawns, fish maw, yam, abalone, mushrooms, lotus, steamed chicken, vermicelli, black fungus, dried meat, rice cakes, Chinese dumplings, cabbage and many others.
We got a chance to taste Shanghai Min’s Poon Choi and the broth is indeed top-notch. We loved the combination of ingredients in the peppery soup. It makes eating the Poon Choi more satisfying and fulfilling. For takeaways, Shanghai Min’s Poon Choi is served together with the pot, and the soup on the side. Just pour in the soup, reheat it over a medium flame and it will be ready to be enjoyed.
My family makes Poon Choi every year at home and some of the ingredients that differ from Shanghai Min’s version include duck meat, vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower, roasted pork, scallops and black moss. After we’re about halfway done with the Poon Choi, it always look like a giant pot of mess, but the taste always gets better as you reach the bottom.
If you haven’t tried the Poon Choi, do ask your folks or grandparents to make the dish at home! Some Chinese restaurants also serve the Poon Choi for dine-in and takeaways, so just do some research in advance.
Shanghai Min’s Poon Choi is priced at HK$798 and it is available from 19 January 2015 onwards. For more information and reservations, kindly visit Shanghai Min’s website and Facebook page. Don’t forget to access Discover Hong Kong before you plan your next travel itinerary to explore the beautiful city!
