Great chefs ought to be celebrated, even if they are only one-dish wonders. So it was a pity, when I had the pleasure of attending a potluck party during Chinese New Year, that so many wanted to hide behind the shroud of anonymity. Fear of impending fame, perhaps? Unable to cope with orders? Just plain shy? 🙂 So as a sign of respect to my friends, I shall merely display the photographs without attributing the dishes to the respective chefs.
Firstly, the obligatory yue sang. I must have displayed so many pictures of yue sang on this blog, and my only defense is that I’m a big fan of yue sang despite the exorbitant prices attached to it. Nine hands pulverised the various ingredients, with possibly too much strength, as bits of crackers and vegetables flew all over the table.
And then, there was the homecooked siew yoke (roasted pork). I ought to emphasise here that everything that night was cooked by the various individuals or their family members, and I can’t resist a good homecooked meal in this era of cheap takeaways and easily accessible food at every lorong and longkang. The siew yoke was a sight to behold…layers of lean meat with fat and a nice crispy skin. Needless to say, it was the first plate to be wiped clean.
The mixed vegetables (loh hon chai), made of different types of mushrooms, chinese cabbage, black fungus, lily bulbs, tung fun (glass noodles), fatt choy (dried black sea moss) and fried foo chuk (beancurd sheets), was very popular.
One of the guys brought stewed duck. According to him, he had double boiled the stew for a few hours. The meat was tender and falling off the bones.
The pie tee is something everyone looks forward to as it is different from the usual nyonya recipe. The shell was perfect; not too thick that it would be hard to bite, and not too thin that it would crumble whilst one were taking a bite. The filling was unusual. It reminded me of chicken pie as it had a creamy base with cubed chicken pieces together with mixed vegetables and ham slices in it.
There was also a baked chicken dish which I brought, but unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of it.
All of the above dishes were served with fluffy chicken rice and steamed chicken. Very healthy indeed!!
Okay…I’ll be taking orders now… 🙂
