Did you ever think about where Poon Choi comes from? Why most of the people must have Poon Choi every Chinese New Year?
“Poon Choi”, an indispensable dish for the Chinese New Year, has the meaning of auspicious celebration and abundant clothing and food. The ingredients in the Poon Choi have auspicious meanings. But looking at the ingredient, these dishes turned out to be only the taste of the Hakka group in the New Territories, and its origin is rather rough and plain.
Poon Choi has become part of Hong Kong’s cuisine culture. They seem to be an indispensable dish during the festive season, especially Chinese New Year. Most of us will get Poon Choi for big season, therefore most of the restaurants will be started to have a various varieties for us to pick which we package we prefer.
The origin of Poon Choi
The origin of Poon Choi originates from Hong Kong Yuen Long Wai Village. With the basic principle of “Harmony”, it contains hundreds of dishes and flavors. Poon Choi has the meaning of festive reunion, People like to eat Poon Choi during New Year and Festivals.
Tracing back to the origin of Poon Choi, there are probably two versions.
First version happens at the end of Song Dynasty. General Wen Tianxiang led his subordinates to be chased and killed by Yuan soldiers, and fled to the beachhead of the present Shenzhen (Dongguan at the time). At that time, it was late when Wen Tianxiang landed on the beach. The troops only had rice cakes with them and lacked dishes. The boatmen sympathized with their loyal ministers and used their own reserves of pork and carrots, plus freshly caught fish and shrimps. There are not so many dishes on the boat, so I had to put some and put them out together with wooden basins.
The second version happens to be the end of Southern Song Dynasty. In order to escape the pursuit of Jin army, Emperor Song had escape to Hong Kong Yuen Long. Villagers contributed the most precious ingredient they had to welcome the emperor’s arrival. Therefore, Poon Choi is always full of most precious ingredients on top of the dish.
Regardless of its history, Poon Choi has feature the catering industry, Poon Choi’s diversified cooking methods, and the structure of ingredients can be changed at will. It creates a happy and harmonious reunion atmosphere when enjoying it. All of this is in the final analysis a rare “harmony”, Delicious” enjoyment.
Poon Choi is a must for festive season!
Although the origin of Poon Choi was different, It still happened to be a most for all kinds of festive celebration such as wedding, birthday or even open house, Chinese New Year and so on!
People in the surrounding villages usually eat Poon Choi in the ancestral hall or in a large open area in the village, with benches and bowls and chopsticks. The old wooden pots for daily use were later replaced with antimony pots and burned in a small hot stove. Everyone surrounded the steaming Poon Choi, chatting and laughing, and tasting delicious food. Participants were mainly clan relatives of the same surname, and thousands of people were eating Poon Choi. The crowd was full of voices and shocking.
Brings the meaning of earn large sums of money
Hakka people pays attention to the meaningful names of all dishes. Poon Choi too! Sitting together as it symbolizes family reunion and a happy celebration; Poon Choi is rich in ingredients, indicating ample food and clothing; when a plate of Poon Choi is on the stage, the food is full, which means blessing the people who eat it. Earn earn large sums of money in coming year and prosperous whole year. The ingredients in the Poon Choi also have auspicious meanings: for example, radish symbolizes good luck, bamboo branches represent contentment and happiness, and fish balls represent more than a year.
Originally, Poon Choi in Hong Kong was only a food custom of a small number of Hakkas in the New Territories. Since 1996, the famous fashion designer Deng Tat-chi held a Poon Choy feast at the Deng’s Ancestral Hall in Ping Shan on New Year’s Eve, inviting a banquet for more than 200 cultural and media people. The media revealed that Poon Choy slowly became known to many urbanites and even started to use it as the main course of a banquet.
Merchants have determined that it is popular with Hong Kong people. Not only restaurants and hotels have added Poon Choy seats, but also tea restaurants and big-name stalls. Fast food restaurants and supermarkets even offer Poon Choi takeaways. Today, all Poon Choi has packed well and in a easier way to carry. Consumers just have to heat it up and enjoy the same delicious taste at home as well.
Poon Choi’s ingredient
There are many different styles of Poon Choy at present, but traditional Poon Choy in the surrounding villages of the New Territories, although each village may have some differences depending on what products are in the village, there may be some differences, but generally the food has been established by convention and has a set combination The placement has also been carefully considered: the lighter flavor will be placed on the bottom layer, such as pork skin and bamboo shoots, and the strong flavor will be placed on the upper layer, so that the lower layer can absorb the rich sauce, and the taste is connected. Put some sauce on the top layer with less sauce, which already has a meaty taste and more expensive ingredients, which are not only good-looking, but also allow people to eat the best ones first, such as chicken and prawns.
The ingredients are stacked in a large basin layer by layer from bottom to top. Generally, they are stacked in about six layers. The sixth layer is radish and pork skin; the fifth layer is bamboo and squid; the fourth layer is braised pork; Three layers of mushrooms; the second layer of fried eel and dace balls; the first layer, the first layer is chicken, fried shrimp, etc. Etiquette when eating, don’t provoke chopsticks, dig the lower level first and eat. When eating, you must start from the first layer down, and eat it layer by layer from top to bottom, starting with the freshest chicken and shrimp, and finally collecting the essence of the pot juice, the more delicious radish and pork skin, before you can taste the unique layers and umami taste of Poon Choy.
The New Century Poon Choi
Even after many years, traditional Chinese families still maintain the custom of eating Poon Choy in the New Year. Because of the many procedures, everyone began to look for restaurants that could do everything. But they are often expensive and make people sweat. This year, Mastersteam also launched its own series of Poon Choy, using the best ingredients, but at a very reasonable price, just to let more people to enjoy delicious Poon Choy at home. Here comes the best part! Anyone who makes a reservation for Poon Choy before 10/01/2021 can enjoy a special early bird discount!
The price is only RM 238, you can get Poon Choy dishes full of precious ingredients, and also comes with 5 heads of abalone and cured meat rice (for 5 people) for you to reunite with your family! Let you have a new gift pack to start with during the warm and reunion festival, healthy and happy, do you think it is worth everyone to start?