Savoirfaire: A pot of blessings

It is said that pen cai was invented during the late Song dynasty . When Mongol troops invaded Song China, the young Emperor fled to the area around Guang Dong & Hong Kong. To serve the Emperor as well as his army, the locals collected all the best food available, cooked it, and put it in wooden washing basins. This was how pen cai was invented.

In recent years, the popularity of this dish has gain momentum in Singapore. As the society gets more affluent, the ingredients used in pen cai also gets more expensive. Usually food like abalones, shark's fin, scallops, mushrooms, sea cucumbers formed the main ingredients. Today, I attempted this dish with a little help from Cold's Storage. We bought the stock that comes with the claypot from the supermarket and for the rest of the ingredients, I used a little of my imagination. In my own rendition of pen cai, instead of abalones, I used limpets. I finished my stock of Japanese shiitake mushrooms, fish maw, fresh scallops, broccoli, chinese cabbage as well as leftover pig's trotters from the previous dinner. I am proud to say it turned out wonderful! The good thing (and easy thing) about cooking pen cai chez moi is that you use whatever ingredients you have and you can tailor it according to your own likes. A really good dish for the new year. May this year be filled with as much abundance as the pen cai we have here!