The availability of east and west ingredients nowadays and the fusion of cooking styles simply offer a fantastic variety of culinary possibilities. There are simply an infinite number of different dishes offering different textures and flavours. I simply love all good foods of all types such as Cantonese, Peking, Thai, Indian, Italian and French.
From that simple passion, I have an avid interest in cooking so much so I would almost consider a career in it. Coming from a Hakka Chinese background living in Scotland, our family used the term hau3 for sit6, directly translated to "good fire eat" to describe having a good feast. From having experienced such delights I have a special interest in traditional Hakka home cooking.
Often Hakka dishes are simple and enhancing on natural tastes that come from fresh ingredients. I really love the fresh taste of ginger root and spring onions. Some dishes also include dried and preserved ingredients. Some of my favourites that provide stronger flavours include dried chinese mushrooms, preserved dried black beans, yellow & soya bean sauce, preserved chinese radish, dried scallops and squid, and preserved Chinese winter vegetables.
In a practical lifestyle, the way to good eating throughout one's independence (i.e., away from mum's home cooking and eating out) is very much based on our own cooking kung fu. Since the age of 12, I was introduced to cooking through encouragement from my parents as part of helping out with the daily chores. Being a good cook invariably includes being good at grocery shopping, food preparation, knowing your kitchen, timing, good taste, and cleaning up. I'm still learning all the time. As a result of many years of the implicit apprenticeship I was more abled to cook for myself and friends armed with a rice cooker, wok and a pair of wooden chopsticks. Cooking has since become a passion whenever I have time to shop for fresh ingredients, prepare and cook meals.
After many years of cooking kung fu practice and having been inspired by Dylan Sung's Hakka page, I thought I would add to the spirit of cultural exchange by openly sharing my favourite Hakka recipes through the internet. What I have today is a start and over time I shall try to improve this page and add more recipes.
The foundation of the chinese family meal is typically plain rice. This is the staple diet and the main form of carbohydrate. Having bread, potatoes or chips is very rare along with a traditional chinese meal.
Rice is usually cooked in a rice cooker and its so much more convenient this way. The cooker may also be used simulataneously to steam a dish placed on a steaming rack while the rice is being cooked. Its well worth buying one if you have rice quite often and most Chinese families do. Rice can also be cooked in a pan however more carefull attention must be paid to prevent the rice from burning at the bottom.
On top of the rice foundation the whole meal usually consists of between 2-4 dishes (depending on the number of people dining). Each dish usually provides a different taste to the meal. These dishes usually involve meats, vegetables, fish, chinese soup, etc, basically any dish that can go with rice.
The meal involves placing all dishes in the middle of the table. Once everyone is at the table, the meal usually begins with "sit6 fan". Each person eats with his/her bowl of rice using their chopsticks to pick food from each dish. It is very normal to bring the bowl of rice to mouth level and to shovel the rice in. :) Plates are not usually used with chopsticks since its harder to place the plate to your mouth. If you use plates, use a Chinese spoon along with your chopsticks.
It is nice to pick out the choice bits for the eldest or youngest in the family. Its bad manners to gather too much food in your bowl before eating it - this is a sign of selfishness!
Warning: dishes placed in the middle of the table should not form a straight line (i.e., 3 dishes should form a triangle). If there is only 2 dishes then form a diagon line. Also never play with your chopsticks - this is bad luck.
Steaming through the use of a wok & lid requires a shallow metal rack/stand where the dish can be placed while the water is boiling to generate the steam. Note that once the water starts to boil, the heating can be turned down a little to keep the water boiling, e.g., from gas mark 4 to gas mark 1- this very much depends on how well you know your cooker. Getting to know your own cooker is part of your kungfu!
If you have a large enough rice cooker, the dish can also be steamed using the rack while the rice is being cooked. This really frees up your cooker for other dishes to go with your meal.
Wok stir frying is usually the quickest method to cooking anything. Like any kung fu, timing is very important in cooking. If you've ever been into a chinese restaurant, the cooking stove is usually like a metal bench with gas hobbs for 3-4 woks. During busy time some top chinese chefs will often use 3-4 woks at a time (kinda like cooking juggling!). For home cooking this is usually limited to timing your stir fry with your rice cooker. You should normally start the stir fry when the rice has been cooked and in its keep warm stage. This is really common sense, however in eagerness it can be a simple mistake to make in starting the stir fry before the rice has been cooked. I guess it can be kept warm in the oven while the rice has cooked but this will usually ruin the dish by drying it up.
Boiling is quite a simple method of cooking. Whole chickens or ducks can be boiled and the remaining stock used for soups or used to cook other vegetables such as Pak Choy or Choi Sum. Not only is this simple it is also quite healthy.
There are other methods of cooking like blanching (good in pre-cooking brocholli), roasting, shallow frying and deep frying however the majority of dishes I describe will be through steaming, stir frying and boiling mainly for convenience. As part of cooking kung fu, it is also recommended that you get to know how to clean up. :)
Clean the lemon sole. Its usually sold gutted and de-gilled but if not its fairly easily to do - some people simply cut the whole head off but I'd recommend keeping the head on. Use a butchers knife to scrap off any slime from it's scales and cut the fish into two halves. Lightly sprinkle some salt on the fish and then place the two halves into a medium sized dish. The dish should be deep enough to hold the two pieces.
Finely chop some ginger slices (around 6-7) into fine threads and place the threads ontop of the fish. Finely chop the spring onions (around 2-3) into threads and also place the spring onions on top of the fish. Finally, pour around 2 table spoons of vegetable oil on top of the fish.
The dish is then steamed for around 20-30 minutes or steamed for the same time as it takes for your rice to cook in the rice cooker. Serve with a dash of soy sauce on top of the fish.
Other fish can also be used including salmon, trout, dover sole, and sea bass (more expensive but really nice!). A slight variation of this dish (especially with trout) involves adding a sprinkle of Chinese winter vegetables.
Clean and place the ribs into a large pan (or any large bowl) and lightly
sprinkle with salt and corn flour.
Sprinkle a teaspoon of corn flour over the ribs. Finely chop the ginger
and add to the bowl.
Finely chop the garlic and add to the bowl. Finely chop 2 chillies and
add to the bowl.
Wash, drain and crush the black beans and add to the bowl.
Add about 3 tablespoons of oil into the bowl and then mix all the ingredients
together.
The rib mixture can then be placed into a dish and steamed for 25-30 minutes. This dish can usually be steamed along with the rice.
Put the rice in a pan and give the rice a rinse. Add about 2.5 pints of water, add salt and cook at around gas mark 3. Chop 5-6 slices of ginger into threads and add into pan.
While the pan is heating stir the rice occassionally to prevent it sticking
to the bottom of the pan - in fact do this throughout the first 20 minutes
at 5 minute intervals.
After 5-10 minutes the water should start to boil so turn the heat down
to around gas mark 1-2. Just low enough to keep the rice jumping. While
the congee/juk is cooking, cut the chicken into thin strips and finely
chop the spring onions. When the congee starts to look like porridge add
the chicken and spring onions(these can be added in at the last minute).
Cook for another 10 minutes.
Serving
Serve congee in a bowl with soy sauce to taste.
Congee is usually served for breakfast or as a filler between meals. It is not usually served as part of a dish that makes up a feast like the other dishes. But I like congee and it can be varied with different meats such as salted spare ribs, pork, beef, eggs, etc. It is also excellent with yil jar guoi :)
Wash the vegetables and use your own judgement to break into mouthful pieces(usually 3-4 inches long). All fresh Chinese vegetables (like choy sum, pak chop, gai lan, chinese spinach) should be crisp and tender and should snap easily. Its best to buy younger choy sum but if your choy sum is large - you might want to peel away some of the outer skin near the root - this is usually tough. Choy Sum stands for vegetable heart so you can bet that the best bit is the heart of the choy sum. :)
Crush the garlic on top of a chopping board - just flatten it with the side of your butchers knife(Dow Ma). If you don't have one of these then just use the bottom of a pan.
First heat up your wok until its very hot. Add the oil and even out over the surface of the wok by tilting it. Lightly sprinkle salt into the wok and add the garlic. There should be a slight sizzling sound but not as loud as when you add the choy sum. It should sound like thunder due to water on oil.
Fry for around 5 minutes and add your oyster sauce. After 10 seconds you can serve on a dish with a dash of soy sauce. This dish is best cooked last because it is so quick to make.
Rehydrate the wood ear fungus and Chinese mushrooms with hot/warm water and leave for about 30 minutes. These expand pretty quickly. Drain away water once rehydrated.
Clean and chop the chicken into cubes(with or without bone) and place into a steaming dish. Lightly sprinkle with salt. Add 6-7 tablespoons of water and dash of soy sauce to cornflour to form a mixture and pour evenly over the chicken.
Finely chop ginger and garlic and add into the dish. Chop the chinese mushrooms into threads and add into dish together with the wood ear fungus. Finally, add yellow bean sauce and oil to the dish and mix into the ingredients.
Simply steam for around 25-30 minutes and serve hot.
Clean the pork removing the skin. Finely chop the belly pork (just short of mincing). Finely chop spring onions. Add pork and spring onions into a steaming dish and lightly sprinkle with salt. Add the eggs and around 4-5 tablespoons of warm water. Add the vegetable oil and briefly whisk the mixture until its even (do not whisk for too long).
Steam for around 25 minutes and serve with a dash of soy sauce.
This dish can be varied by substituting the pork, for example with rehydrated dried scallops & mussells or adding a salted duck egg (along with 2 eggs).
Clean, deshell and gut each king prawn and soak in salty water. Gutting a prawn involves making an incision along its back and taking out the blue/green substance thats usually found.
Cut the onion into cubes. Cut the tomatoes into 4s. To make the sauce, place the cornflour into a cup, adding a quarter cup of water (around 10 tablespoons), good dollop of ketchup, teaspoon of salt & sugar, dash of soy sauce and mix until even(remember to give this a good stir before adding into the wok!).
Drain the prawns.
Heat wok until its hot - literally smoking and add oil. Tilt wok to even oil over wok's surface. Lightly sprinkle with salt and add the slices of ginger. Add onions and stir fry for a minute. Add prawns and tomatoes and stir fry for 1-2 minutes. Add the ketchup mixture into the wok, stir around, place the lid over the wok, reduce the heat by half and let it steam for around 5 minutes.
The end result should bubble with the sauce thicker than when it was added. Serve hot.
A day before cooking, descale and clean the fish. Cut even incisions into the fish and then cut into 2 halves. Liberally sprinkle both sides of the fish with salt and place into a dish. Cover dish with foil and place in the fridge for a day.
Cut 6-8 thin slices of ginger and further chop them into threads. Place the fish into a new dish and cover the fish with the ginger threads. Evenly pour 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil over the fish and ginger and steam for about 20-25 minutes.
Serve along with the other dishes.
More later...
Last updated on the 7th October 1998