Nostalgia Food 3 - Salted Eel

In our family, salted fish was always a side dish on the dining table be it for a porridge breakfast, or for lunch, dinner and supper. Being Hakkas, our cooking have a bias towards preserved food whether vegetables, meat or fish. It is part of our clan history as nomads during the thousands of years our ancestors moved around China. In fact, the very name "Hakka" or "客家" means "Guest people".

In the past, my mum often made her own salted fish, particularly eels, as she said that the ones made commercially were not so tasty. So recently, when she said that she wanted salted eel, I had to trot off to the market to look for fresh eels. After a couple of unsuccessful forays to the fish markets, I finally found some at the 3rd Mile Market, Kuching.

Now to make the salted eel. 

First, de-fin and de-gut the eels and use the handle of a spoon to gouge out the "spinal cord" along the length of the fish. Wash and the cut the eel into about 4" lengths.

Add salt and mix to make sure that the fish is coated with salt.

Lay out on a rack and allow all excess water to drain off. I did this in a sealed container with a draining rack inside. Leave in a fridge for about 3 days.

Next is to dry the wet salted fish. I laid out the fish on a  large enamel tray and then covered with a fine stainless steel netting to keep out any flies. The trays need to be out in the sun for a couple of days until the salted fish is dry but not hard. The fish should look like those below.

Once done, put the dried salted fish into a  tightly sealed container and store in a fridge. Just take you what you need and fried until golden brown ...

Eaten with porridge or rice, it is a great side dish to improve your appetites - especially when you are feeling poorly without much of an appetite!!

Yummy!!!!!

Chinese New Year - Seventh Day - 人 日 or Birthday of Mankind

The Seventh Day of the Chinese New Year is 人 日 or the Birthday of Mankind. Traditional belief is that the Goddess 女娲 (Nüwa) during the first ten days of the New year made the on each succeeding day, the Chicken, Dog, Goat, Pig, Bull, Horse, Human, Grains, Heaven and Earth.

On this day, one of the dishes during lunch must be a single dish of seven types of vegetables ..... for our family, we celebrate with 七 樣 菜 茶 or seven types of vegetables and tea, the tea being our 客 家 擂 茶 (Hakka ground tea).

For lunch today we have  .....

Piping hot  客 家 擂 茶 (Hakka ground tea).

Steamed rice with fried garlic and oil.

Dish of 七 樣 菜 茶 or seven types of vegetables.

A platter of bean curd, dried turnips, Chinese leek and dried prawn.

A plate of 樹 菜 (Sauropus androgynus)。
 

Of course, last but not least,  the roasted peanuts, whole or ground as required.

A most satisfying and healthy meal to celebrate the Birthday of Mankind.

Today is Duan Wu

Today is Duan Wu and early in the morning, I had to prepare the standard "SanSheng" (chicken, pork and eggs/cuttlefish), rice wine, tea and for this festival, the savoury and alkaline dumplings, for the ancestor worship ceremony. The ceremony is by tradition at about 730 am and my mum led the worship.

One other tradition we have is possibly exclusive to the Hakka community - this involves the Shi Xiang Fu (?stone-joss stick-symbol/mark).


This Shi Xiang Fuu is a bundle of five types of leaves comprising of pamelo, artemisia argyi (aiye), willow, anisomles indica (fangfengcao) and a type of grass(?) with long blades. I am not sure what this plant is but my mum refers to it as shi xiang or stone joss sticks. Hence the name. One does not have to prepare the bundles of leaves as these are prepared and sold at most wet markets in Kuching.

Pamelo

Artemisia argyi (aiye)

Willow

Anisomles indica (fangfengcao)

Unknown type of grass (?) - shi xiang

Each household would have prepared/bought two bundles of the Shi Xiang Fu and on the morning of Duan Wu, they are placed at the front door - one on each side.

My mum told us that this is a tradition from the Ming Dynasty. At that time, there were orders from the Ming Emporer Taizu (Zhu Yuanzhang) to massacre all the inhabitants of a certain Hakka district during Duan Wu festival - only sparing certain families or households specified by the Imperial court. These families were told to hang the secret symbol (Shi Xiang Fu) at their front doors. One member of the spared families took pity on the people in his village and told all of the villagers to hang the secret symbols. The imperial army thus spared all those in that particular village. This event was celebrated annually by the villagers who escaped the massacre and the same event commemorated by all descendants of the villagers. Since the event took place during the Duan Wu festival, for theses families, it was a dual celebration. The traditions continued on to this day.