‘Pun Choi’ (盆菜)
‘Pun Choi’ is considered to be
the unique cooking relic of indigenous villages or ‘Wai Tsuen’ in Hong Kong. ‘Pun’ means a basin while ‘Choi’ is food and
vegetables. As a whole, ‘Pun Choi’ is literally a basin containing different
kinds of food ingredients. They are put together in layers with radish at the
bottom. In the past, wooden basins were
used, but nowadays, metals ones are used instead, and it is heat over a gas
stove while being served.
The origin
of ‘Pun Choi’
It was said that ‘Pun Choi‘ was invented during the late Song Dynasty around 1278-1279. When Mongol troops invaded Song China, the young
Emperor Zhao Bing (趙昺)fled to the area around Guangdong
Province and Hong Kong.
The stone was engraved with two Chinese characters Mui Wai (梅蔚), it is loacted at Ma Wan near Lantau, it was found that the area around nowadays Lantau and Ma Wan had been called Mui Wai since the Song dynasty. It was the fief of a Song official named Li MaoYing (李昴英). It is believed that the Emperor Zhao Bing (趙昺) had stayed there during his stay in the territory.
This boundary stone of the Li House, was unearthed in 1955 at Mui Wo on Lantau showing the place was the fief of the Li family, is now erected at a park near the Mui Wo ferry pier.
When
the young Emperor reached one of the villages in the New Territories, the villagers were delighted to serve Him as well as his army; they collected
all their best food available, cooked it, but because there
were not enough containers to hold the food, so they put the
resulting dishes in wooden washbasins. In this way, ‘Pun Choi’ was invented.
‘Pun Choi’ includes ingredients such as stewed
pork,
chicken,
duck, prawn, dried mushroom,
fishballs,
squid,
fresh or dried eel, pigskin,
Chinese arrow head,fried
beancurd
and Chinese
radish, etc.
Poon
Choi is special in that it is composed of many layers of different ingredients.
It is also eaten layer by layer instead of "stirring everything up",
but impatient diners may snatch up the popular daikon radish at the bottom
first using shared chopsticks.
Traditional
Village Poon Choi is served in large metal washing bowls with a perforated
metal or bamboo plate at the bottom to keep the food from burning, as it is kept warm on a portable stove when it is being
served.
Traditional Village Poon Choi is cooked in large wok over firewood stove
with different ingredients one after another.
Specially prepared sauce is used to stew the pork and cook in a big wok
over a large firewood stove.
Specially prepared sauce
Stewing port in a big wok
Firewood Stove
Ingredients include :
Chinese arrow head(慈菇)
Fresh
eels(鮮門鱔)
dried skin of bean milk(腐竹)
& fried bean curd(豆腐卜)
Mishroom
& beans(冬菇炒青豆)
Shrimps(蝦)
Dry
pigskin (豬皮)
Barbecure pork(燒肉)
When all the ingredients are really, Chinese radish which is the plainest is put at the bottom so that the sauce from the strewed pork can reach and add flavor to it. All other food ingredients are then arranged in layer after layer usually with chicken, roast duck and roast pork on top. Finally. a piece of aluminum foil is wrapped over for warm keeping.
