Sunday, November 7, 2010

Abacus Beads/Sueen Poon Chee

Abacus Beads/Sueen Poon Chee Abacus Beads/Sueen Poon Chee


This traditional Hakka dish is eaten during festive celebrations such as Chinese New Year, Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival for prosperity. sueen poon chee, or abacus seeds, are springy discs of yam, shaped after its namesake. For this dish, the ingredients cooked with this abacus seeds have to be very flavorful.

Ingredients:

1 lb taro, cleaned, peeled and thinly sliced(i used frozen ones, thaw and slice)
12 ozs tapioca starch
3 tbsp cooking oil
5 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup dried shrimp, soak and coarsely chopped
11/4 cup shredded dried squid - soak
6 dried Chinese mushroom, soaked till soft and sliced
1/2 lb ground pork
1/4 lb chinese chives - cut into 1 inch in length
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
1/2 cup chicken stock

Method:

Steam taro until soft and mash.
Place the tapioca starch in a large mixing bowl and add hot taro paste to it, stirring it in well
When the taro and starch mixture has cooled , knead it to form a dough.
Pinch off enough dough to roll into a ball , 1 inch in diameter. Press the ball between your thumb and forefinger so that it is depressed in the middle and shaped like an abacus seed.
Repeat until dough is used up.
Fill a pot with water to the three-quarter mark and bring it to a boil.
Place abacus seeds in the pot and cook, stirring occasionally to prevent the seeds from sticking to the bottom of the pot. When cooked, the seeds will float to the top. Scoop out the cooked abacus seeds and leave them aside to drain.
To a hot wok, add 2 tbsp oil and fry the garlic till golden brown before adding dried shrimp, shredded dried squid and mushroom. Stir fry the mixture , then set aside.

Add the remaining tbsp oil to the hot wok and fry the ground pork until it is cooked and no more pink.
Add in the cooked garlic, dried shrimp, shredded dried squid, mushroom, abacus seeds and the seasonings.
Add in the chinese chives and stir briefly.
Dish out and sprinkle with sesame oil.
Serve hot.
Abacus Beads/Sueen Poon Chee
Serves

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