WRAPPED WITH LOVE

These 'choongs' are no ordinary dumplings... they're Parcels of Love!

After 45 years, I finally learned how to make choong for Duan Wu Jie! Not only did I gain a greater appreciation for my Chinese culture but I had a deeper respect for all family matriarchs who strive so hard to keep such traditions and culinary art alive.

Making those trapezoid dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves are so tedious and labour intensive. This is the first time I actually got into the thick of the action but after several clumsy attempts, I managed to get the hang of it. Even tying up the dumplings need a bit of skill or else you'd find the string slipping off the wrapped parcels when they are being boiled in the pot.

The bamboo leaves have to be soaked for 2 - 3 days and
the water needs to be changed at least twice daily!

Mom-in-law's Hakka so she uses red beans instead of mung beans for the dumpling filling. Both the glutinous rice and red beans are soaked overnight before they are stir-fried with sliced shallots, white pepper and five spice powder.

MIL tells me that if the red beans are not soft enough then they have to be boiled for 1-1.5 hours to soften them further.

Golden orange orbs of salted egg yolks form part of the
choong filling

The filling is pretty much up to one's liking but my mom-in-law's version has red beans, pork, black mushroom, salted egg yolk and dried prawns that had been fried and pounded. My aunt's used to pack hers with pork, mung beans, black eye peas, salted egg yolk, mushroom, dried oyster, dried prawns and chestnuts.

A pot of lean pork cut into cubes stir-fried with black mushroom
which also constitutes the filling

Packets of five spice and white pepper powder for seasoning the dumpling's lieu (filling)

Crunchy pounded and fried dried prawns for additional flavour

Due to health concerns, each choong only has a small portion of salted egg
yolk as lieu to accentuate its overall flavour

It's tricky learning how to fold the leaf into a cone-shaped receptacle to hold the glutinous rice and various other 'lieu' ingredients. You can't pack in too much or too little. One also has to learn how to hold, cover and fold the leaf over different angles so that it forms a nice looking trapezoid.

Notice the difference between the untrimmed and finished versions?
The upper shot has the leaf tips protruding out while the lower shot
shows dumplings in which the tips have been trimmed off.

The dumplings need to be boiled in a pot full of salted, boiling water for about 1.5 - 2 hours.
Sometimes raw glutinous rice that hasn't been stir-fried is used but this means the choongs would have to be cooked for up to 4 hours.

Mid-way through the process, the bunches of dumplings are removed with the top ones placed back at the bottom of the pot while the bottom ones are then placed on top. This ensures the choongs are all evenly cooked.

STEEPED IN TRADITION

Our gastronomic journey began with this intriguing appetiser of Chinese-style clam terrine

I have no idea what Heng Hwa food is until I was taken to Putien in Singapore for dinner.

In Singapore, Putien restaurant is widely acknowledged as a pioneer of Heng Hwa cuisine. Founded by Heng Hwa native Fong Chi Chung, the sole modest eatery in Kitchener Road eleven years ago has now expanded to eight modern restaurants throughout the island state and one in Jakarta. A little bird twittered that Kuala Lumpur may be next.

The restaurant is named after Putian, a coastal city in the Fujian province of China which is also the birthplace of Heng Hwa cuisine. Surrounded by the ocean and majestic mountains, the city is blessed with lush pastures and bountiful catches from the sea. Its homely, hearty fare emphasises on the innate goodness and purity of the main ingredients, with sauces and condiments used sparingly.

Putien is evidently very popular with Singaporeans as the outlet was packed to the brim the evening we dined there. Its modern, cheery ambience incorporating the restaurant's signature muted turquoise-blue shade complements the refined but rustic offerings on the menu.

Dunno about you but I love cockles! My late paternal grandfather had a penchant for these; we used to blanch tubfuls of them in hot water and relish them with sambal or freshly ground chilli dip. So the Drunken Cockles (SGD9.90++) at Putien certainly took me down memory lane. Their rich metallic accent is tempered by the sweet, mellow Chinese wine and bracing sharpness of minced garlic and bird's eye chilli. Yummy!

The Mini Shrimps with Seaweed (SGD9.90++) tasted like Japanese inari (sweet beancurd skin) but it was a shame that the tiny white shrimps barely made their presence felt amidst the subtly sweet-briny seaweed.

I'm not big on pig intestines but the meticulously hand-stuffed ‘nine-fold’ Braised Pig Intestine (SGD13.90++) was pleasantly toothsome and richly flavourful from its braising liquid. Equally good was the crisp but fluffy savoury-sweet Stir-Fried Yam (small SGD 10.90++, medium SGD 16.90++, large SGD 21.90++). The slightly chewy discs were best enjoyed with the house chilli sauce.

To cleanse the palate, we had some Iced Bitter Gourd (SGD 5.90++); dipping the long, crunchy and bitter strips in light honey sauce. I'm definitely getting on in age - I used to hate this vege!

Putien also has a seasonal menu. The arrival of spring means an abundant supply of bamboo clams from its namesake city. Larger and slightly longer than local la la clams, the Steamed Bamboo Clams with Minced Garlic (small SGD 19.90++, medium SGD 29.90++, large SGD 39.90++) came with enough pungent garlic to knock you out twice! But the juicy sweet clams were absolutely sublime!

Scores of Singaporean 'floggers' have raved about the eatery's Lor Mee (small SGD7.90++, medium SGD15.90++, large SGD23.90++) – now I know why. The smooth, silky wheat noodles tasted somewhat like Hokkien mee suah. It's pure comfort food as the thick noodles come immersed in a thick, luscious soup laden with three-layered belly pork slices, la la clams, prawns, sliced black mushrooms, Chinese parsley and choy sum.

Another 'must have' classic is the Fried “Hing Wa” Bee Hoon (small SGD7.90++, medium SGD15.90++, large SGD23.90++) in which premium, super-fine rice noodles from Putian are deftly fried with peanuts, black mushroom slices, strips of beancurd puff, Chinese parsley, green vegetable and fried seaweed. Don't let its pale look fool you - the rice vermicelli is delicious.

If you fancy some home-style soup, the Braised Beancurd with Chinese Cabbage (SGD 19.90++, SGD 29.90++, SGD 39.90++) served in a black earthenware pot should go down well. You'd find handmade beancurd puffs, Chinese cabbage, clams, dried shrimps and dried scallops in the sweet, milky-white broth.

We rounded up with Chilled Bird's Nest with Pear (SGD36.90++ per person) – a luxurious mound of the gelatinous strands perched atop half a Chinese snow pear, drizzled with honey sauce. A perfect end to our rustic yet refined evening.

PUTIEN

127 Kitchener Road

Singapore 208514

Tel: (65) 6295 6358

Website: www.putien.com

THINKING OUT OF THE MLA BLACK BOX

Top toques...Mandarin Oriental snagged the overall winner title
at the recent MLA Black Box Challenge

Young guns to watch...the all-black Taylors University came in as 1st Runner-up

Event host, Hilton Kuala Lumpur consoled themselves with the 2nd Runner-up title

The knives were out and pans were fired up as teams of young chefs from some of the city's most prominent hotels and culinary schools battled it out at the Meat Livestock Australia (MLA) Black Box Culinary Challenge recently.

Aimed at raising the bar of these youthful talents, participating teams were given one hour to create a three-course menu that best showcased the various ingredients contained in a black box. Then the different teams had to swing into action; to prepare the dishes for the judging panel.

Soup's up! The Best Soup of the event was boiled up by Mandarin Oriental

While Mandarin Oriental wowed the judges to land them the Best Soup award, Taylor's University's men in black conjured up the Best Appetiser. Newbie DoubleTree by Hilton KL flexed its culinary muscle to snap up the Best Main Course and Westin KL got their sweet taste of success by landing the Best Dessert award.

Here's an overview what the competing teams whipped up.

It was admirable how creative these youngsters were. Whether it's appetiser, soup, main course or dessert, they pulled out all the stops and even cooked for some 300 invitees who showed up for the gala dinner.

Some of the appetisers (above) and main courses (below) on display

Horsing around a Country & Western theme ... a table centrepiece by Seri Pacific KL

Each hotel also had to decorate two tables for the dinner - Renaissance KL's simplest but pragmatic set-up seemed to have struck the right chord as it was awarded the Best Table Display.