Pen Cai (in Mandarin) or Poon Choi (in Cantonese) is a traditional dish for the Hakka and Cantonese communities, and is typically served during special celebrations.

With the Chinese New Year right around the corner, why not give it a try? Despite its daunting and extensive list of ingredients and steps, Pen Cai is actually easy to prepare, and the end result is so beautiful and delicious that all the work is worth it.

This dish traditionally includes sea cucumber, smoked duck and roast pork, but this version is a little simpler.

Ingredients

Fresh ingredients

Dried and canned items

• 50g dried fried fish maw
• 45g dried Chinese black mushrooms
• 100g dried bamboo pith
• 10g fat choy (hair vegetable)
• 35g (5 pcs) dried scallops
• 75g (5 pcs) dried oysters
• 400g (1 can) stewed abalone
• 425g (1 can) sea asparagus

Fresh ingredients

• 750g chicken drumsticks
• 130g carrots
• 450g white radish
• 90g shallots
• 60g cloves smoked garlic
• 10g ginger
• 5kg Chinese cabbage
• 300g broccoli

For the marinade

• 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 teaspoon corn starch

Others

• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 100ml cooking oil
• 3 tablespoons corn flour
• 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Shao Xing wine

For the fried prawns

• 140g prawns
• 100ml cooking oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Method

• Combine the marinade ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and mix thoroughly. Fully coat the chicken drumsticks, then cover the bowl with cling wrap.
• Refrigerate for at least two hours or, for better results, overnight. You can transfer the ingredients to a ziplock bag for refrigerating if you wish.
• Soak the fish maw in hot water to remove oil. Drain and rinse. When it is soft, keep it in a colander placed over a bowl to remove excess liquid.
• In individual bowls, soak the Chinese black mushrooms, bamboo pith, fat choy and scallops in water until soft. Drain the bamboo pith and fat choy, but reserve the water from the mushrooms and scallops.

• Drain the canned abalone and sea asparagus but reserve the liquids.
• Using a mallet or the flat of a knife, lightly smash the shallots and garlic with the skin still on. Slice the ginger thinly, leaving the skin on.
• Rinse and peel the radish and cut off the top and bottom ends. Slice into 1cm round slices.
• Cut off the root ends of the cabbage, separate individual leaves, and rinse to clean. Drain in a basket or colander.
• Cut the broccoli into florets.

Frying

• Pour the cooking oil into a large wok on high heat.
• Once the oil is hot, add the dried oysters and fry until fragrant, about 1.5 minutes. This releases the aroma of the oysters into the oil. Remove and set aside.
• Add the chicken drumsticks to the wok and fry to brown the skin. Turn the drumsticks so the skin browns evenly. Reserve the leftover marinade. The chicken doesn’t have to be fully cooked at this point.
• Once the drumsticks have browned, about 1.5 minutes, remove from the wok and set aside.
• Add the smashed shallots, garlic and ginger to the wok, followed by the sesame oil. Stir-fry for another one to two minutes.
• Next, add the radish and fry until lightly brown, one to two minutes.
• Add the carrots and the mushrooms. Stir-fry for about 1.5 minutes.
• Add the fried oysters and give everything a quick stir.

Wilting the cabbage

• Arrange the cabbage leaves over the ingredients in the wok. Cover for 5 minutes without stirring to allow the leaves to wilt.
• While waiting, pour the sea asparagus and abalone liquids into the reserved chicken marinade and stir. Give it a taste. If the mixture needs extra salt – the flavour may vary based on the brand of canned products used – add a little chicken stock.
• When the cabbage has wilted, pour the mixed sauces atop the leaves without stirring. Cover again.
• Let the cabbage cook for another 5 minutes, checking occasionally. If the bottom layer has wilted more than the top, use a pair of tongs to transfer the lower layers to the top.
• Once the cabbage has fully wilted, use the tongs to remove as much of it from the wok as possible. Place the cabbage into a bowl.

The remaining ingredients

• Add the drumsticks back into to the wok, making sure they soak in the sauce.
• Place the scallops in the middle of the wok, just on top of the chicken. Reserve the scallop liquids. Once the scallops go in, don’t stir too often or they might fall apart.

• Transfer the cabbage back into the wok, covering all the ingredients. Include the liquids that might have collected in the cabbage bowl.
• Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Don’t stir the dish, but check occasionally by scraping a wooden spoon or flat ladle against the bottom and sides of the wok to ensure nothing gets burnt or stuck.
• Add the fish maw to the side of the wok, pushing it into the sauce and covering it with the cabbage.
• Next, add the bamboo pith, also pushing it into the sauce. Cover the wok and cook for about 8 minutes.
• Finally, arrange the broccoli florets over the top of the cabbage so they will steam. Cover and cook for three minutes.
• Remove the broccoli, then turn the heat off. Remove the bamboo pith and fish maw and set aside.

Assembly

• In your biggest bowl, start by arranging a thick mound of wilted cabbage.
• Check to make sure the drumsticks are fully cooked. Then add them to the big bowl, arranging them nicely, followed by all the other cooked ingredients, broccoli, fish maw and bamboo pith. The idea here is to organise all the ingredients in the bowl so they can be “shown off”.

Frying the prawns

• In a separate wok, heat the sesame oil on high heat for about 1 minute.
• Once hot, add the prawns, salt and pepper and flash-fry for about 1 minute until cooked.
• Remove from heat and arrange the prawns in the bowl.

Final steps

• Once you’ve arranged the ingredients, turn the heat for the first wok back up to high.
• Add the sea asparagus and abalone. Once the liquid starts to simmer, remove both ingredients and arrange them in the bowl.
• Add the soaked fat choy to the bowl, arranging it nicely.
• Mix 3 tablespoons of corn flour with the reserved mushroom and scallop water. Stir to combine.
• Optionally, add 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce into the mixture to darken the sauce.

• Add the mixture to the sauce in the wok and stir to combine.
• Add Shao Xing wine and bring the sauce to a quick boil. The sauce has a lovely umami sweetness from the flavours of the dried ingredients, while the cooking wine adds a lovely depth. It still tastes good without it, so you can opt to leave the wine out if you prefer.
• Finally, pour the sauce from the wok into the bowl, making sure you don’t spoil the perfectly arranged artwork of ingredients.
• And that’s it! Serve this dish hot, on its own or with steamed rice, and enjoy. Happy Chinese New Year!

This article first appeared in butterkicap.com.

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