Couple stay home and cook their maiden Prosperity Pot

Ready to feast: Tan and Ng adding gravy to the poon choi dish at their home in Sungai Ara, Penang. — ZHAFARAN NASIB/The Star

GEORGE TOWN: For most couples, Chinese New Year celebrations would mean enjoying meals with both sides of the family.

However, with interstate and inter-district travel restrictions under the movement control order (MCO) this year, couple Christopher Tan and Ng Su-Ann decided to tweak things a little.

The often busy working couple took to the kitchen to prepare poon choi for the first time.

Tan, a journalist, decided that this year, he would whip up poon choi, a traditional Cantonese festive meal with many layers of ingredients because his wife, Ng, a company corporate communications manager, has never tried it.

“When discussing our new year plans, my wife mentioned that she had not tried poon choi.

“A few restaurants were offering it as take-away, but it was pricey and we did not like some of the ingredients.

“So, I decided to recreate it with the ingredients that we like, ” he said at their home in Sungai Ara, Bayan Lepas, here.

“We tried to keep it close to the significance of each layer and ingredient as it is called the ‘Prosperity Pot’, with each layer symbolising something.

“There are three tiers to it, with the bottom layer starting off with cabbage, but I replaced that with crunchy siew pak choy as we prefer it.

“For the second tier, we chose chicken, shiitake mushrooms, bunapi mushrooms, carrots, broccoli and onions.

“While the top layer has prawns, salmon and abalone, topped with thick gravy.

“All the ingredients are marinated and cooked separately, then layered in the pot and the gravy is mixed together, thickened and poured over the dish, ” he said.

Tan said he had watched videos and asked his mother for tips to prepare the dish.

“Luckily my wife has not eaten poon choi before, so she is not able to compare the taste, ” he joked.

“Each dish symbolises something, like the green vegetables symbolise close family ties, the prawn is for livelihood, onion symbolises cleverness, the shiitake mushrooms are for longevity, chicken for family togetherness, prosperity and joy, fish for prosperity, carrots for good luck and abalone for good fortune.

“Poon choi usually has oysters for good fortune, but we did not include oysters, so we used oyster sauce as substitute, ” he said.

Tan said this Chinese New Year was different as although their respective parents live on the island, they were separated by the districts.

“We would normally visit my parents in the morning and hers in the afternoon.

“Then we would visit my relatives for dinner, where it is usually a big family gathering with great food and company.

“We never cook during Chinese New Year as we visit relatives on the first and second day and after that it is usually back to work.

“So this year it is different and it is the first time we are cooking at home, ” he said.

Ng who was impressed by the final product said it looked better than the ones she had seen in restaurants.

“Since it is a quiet new year this time, we thought it would be best to stay home and cook our own meals, ” she said.