Chinese New Year 2012 - Day 1 Dinner

My brother had brought back a special dish from Singapore for our Day 1 Dinner. It was a "Poon Choi"  - a one bowl dish from a popular Cantonese restaurant. "Poon Choi" originated from China, and you can read about its history in Wikipedia here. It is basically a dish where all the ingredients are placed into a single large bowl and cooked together. Traditionally a simple peasant dish - nowadays it has been elevated to culinary heaven and can be quite pricey. It is meant to be eaten layer by layer, but since my brother had to bring the dish back from Singapore, they mixed all the ingredients together and the sauce was packed separately.

 The dish cost quite a bit when converted into Malaysian Ringgit - about RM 1,000 -  because it contains mostly premium ingredients like abalone, dried scallops, dried mussels, sea cucumber, fish maw, etc. There was also Chinese sausages, Chinese cabbage, mushrooms, pork belly, a whole duck, lotus root and fatt choy. And the taste - fantastic ! The soup - more like a sauce, was like liquid gold.

We also had mum's braised Teo Chiew Duck. The duck is stewed in a sweet-savoury sauce until tender - left to rest and served cold.

 Homemade "Ngo Hiang"  - meat roll coated in batter and deepfried.

 "Ka Chang Ma" - a local chicken dish cooked with herbs, ginger and a copious amout of rice wine. This is a must on mum's dining table during festive occasions. The herbs give the dish a slightly bitter and smokey taste that is quite addictive.

There wasn't any veggie on the table, but no one was complaining.