The Abundance Pot 吉祥八宝

Every year I have TWO reunion dinner, one at my granny's place where the whole entire family will gather around at a super long table to savour the precious moments of happiness together. Each family/single are suppose to prepare/buy a dish, we share the burden so that no one is being overly drain preparing the dinner. Usually we have the reunion dinner 1-2 weeks before Chinese New Year eve so that the married couples can have the reunion dinner with their own family on the actual day.

MAGGI® Exclusive Chinese New Year Gift Pack (retailing at a promotional rate of $10.80) came handy. The gift pack consists of MAGGI® Concentrated Chicken Stock (very rich & salty, but after adding the right amount of water, it taste just fine), MAGGI® Premium Oyster Sauce (fragrant and lift up the flavour of any dishes), MAGGI® Seasoning (for extra flavor), a small packet of dried mushroom and a recipe of Eight Treasures Pot 吉祥如意八宝煲 - a symbolic dish befitting this festive occasion.



Although the indulgence is a tad costly, but definitely worth it. The "big bowl feast" bring smiles to all my family members and received many raves that they said this should be my signature dish every year!

Recipe: The Abundance Pot 吉祥八宝
Serves: 15-20 pax

Ingredients:
• 1 Canned Baby Abalone (8 pcs)
• 12 Dried Mushrooms, washed and soaked (to retain as stock for later use)
• 12 Dried Scallops, washed and soaked with 300ml hot water (to retain as stock for later use)
• 12 Large Dried Oysters (washed and soaked)
• 120g Fish Maw, soaked and squeezed to remove excess water. Slice into 3cm pieces
• 600g Sea Cucumber (ready to use). Slice into 3cm pieces
• 9 Red Dates (soaked)
• 10 cloves Garlic (sliced)
• 10 slices Young Ginger
• 1,000ml water (including 300ml of scallop stock, mushroom stock, abalone stock - top up the rest with water to make up 1L)
• 2 tbsp Wolfberries
• 6 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (optional)
• 6 tbsp Cornflour, mixed with 3 tbsp water
• 400g Lettuce (washed)

Seasoning (Mixed Together)
• 3 tbsp MAGGI® Concentrated Chicken Stock (healthier choice, less salt)
• 2 tbsp MAGGI® Premium Oyster Sauce (healthier choice, less salt)
• 4 tsp Sesame oil
• 3-4 few drop of MAGGI® Seasoning

Garnishing
• 1 stalk Coriander leaves (cut into sections)

Method:
1. Heat oil to fry garlic and young ginger till fragrant. Add mushrooms, oysters, sea cucumber, fish maw and red dates. Stir­‐fry well and add water.


2. Braise the ingredients for 20 minutes at low heat, covered. Add wolfberries and seasoning sauce, then braise for another 20 minutes.


3. Add baby abalone and scallop and cook till all ingredients are tender. Season with cooking wine and thicken the gravy with the cornflour mixture (pour the cornflour mixture slowly and keep stirring to prevent lumpy).


4. Lastly, add lettuce (i slice the abalone so that more people can eat) and garnish with coriander leaves before serving.

Tips:
- i use frozen scallop from Japan, instead of dried scallop (they are really tasty!)


- don't slice the fish maw too thin, it shrink after cooking


- buy ready to use sea cucumber but good quality (don't get the soft one as you going to braise it), i bought 1x 600g sea cucumber for $42. slice half diagonally, wash the inside, and slice half diagonally again, and horizontal into 3 cm


- i soak everything for about an hour, even the fish maw.

Recipe inspired by: MAGGI®

It is similar to pen cai 盆菜 except without the meats. I am glad that dish turn out well and everyone likes it. If you prefer a stronger gravy, add 1-2tbsp more chicken stock.

Ps: Many people asking why i never use a claypot for photo taking. that's because i'm cooking this dish for my family and rushing to bring over to my granny house. it will be messy to put in one pot and dish out to the container thereafter. but at least my presentation is nice also, no? ;p