2011 Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner Menu

 This is Ong's family 2011 CNY low sung dishes at a glance.

Clockwise: Salmon Yee Sung, Red Chillies yong tau fu..red colour signifying a 'ong' new year. Steamed chicken and chillies prawn..all dishes have been sized down to fit in the table.

Clockwise: Fermented beancurd fried chicken which is the grandchildren's all-time-favaourite, mixed vegetable, "Hoi Sin pou" (Stewed seafood in a pot)- every year my mom in law has been complaining that we can't finish the soup. So this year she has added all the exotic seafood into this soup and needless to say it was finished till the last drop..in fact the base is the normal chicken soup of past years. So obviously it's the quality and not the quantity that counts! Another plate of green vege is never too much for CNY dinner since everything is meat, meat, and meat..

Clockwise: Ginger duck, Sea cumber with pork's trotter, a typical dish of the Hokkiens.  Hokkien noodle, special request from grandchildren as well. Fried yong taufu in beancurd skins.

Tossing the yee sung..very messy..but it's like a must-have for every chinese new year.

Happy Chinese New Year

A Crustacean Affair

Someone presented these hairy crab as gift from Shanghai. These crustacean creatures are harvested from lakes and are considered as delicacies for anyone visited Shanghai. Coincidentally the time of visit during November was the peak season to savor this exotic cuisine.

Don't be deceived by it's Chinese name "Dai Za Hai" (Big "water gate" crab) and expect this crab to be big and meaty like the king crab. The crab is actually very small. It's meat is sweet but it won't fill your tummy. All that can be savoured is the fatty creamy roe. It is tasty just by steaming it with ginger and wine. Making sure that you don't over steam it to get the creamy texture. Anyway..i am not the big fan for crab and i don't really know how to appreciate this exotic delicacy.