Traditionally at my home, my mom would make this dish for Chinese New Year's eve, serve half of it and have the other half for the second day of the new year, when we have the first real dinner to mark the beginning of the year. While the two key ingredients gave the dish its name, it is in fact made with quite a few more things, all of which have their own significance. I emphasized "at my home" because every family has its own interpretation of tradition and I'm sure if we were to ask 10 Chinese families what they put in their Chinese New Year dish, you'll get 10 different answers.
Dried oysters (as opposed to fresh) are the best for this dish. These need to be soaked for a few hours or overnight in just enough water to cover. The seaweed is not just any seaweed. It has to be "fat choi". See picture below - and for origin, check out this wikipedia article, it may come up in Chinese, just click translate. It is black and looks like human hair, hence its name translates as "hair veggie". It is quite expensive and there are fakes around. I've never bought it in Toronto. The supply I had was given to me more than 10 years ago. It's dried, it will last forever in the fridge but it won't last long on the table. Alas, this is the last of my supply - I will have to start looking for it, maybe in Hong Kong...
Dried seaweed or "fat choi" |
dried oysters |
Other ingredients: quail's eggs (birth, new life), dried mushrooms, bamboo shoots (spring, new life), lotus root (for meeting the right companion), dried scallops, enoki, dried bean curd can all be included.
Sometimes pig's tongue is also added for more luck (tongue in Chinese is "lei", sounds like luck).
Quail's eggs |
dried mushrooms |
Lotus root, bamboo shoot
Enoki mushrooms
發財好事 |
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