Chinese potato stew

Ingredients for Chinese five-spice potato stew: arrowhead, Chinese bacon, and green onions
Fresh arrowhead and dark strips of Chinese bacon simmer together to make a fragrant, dark stew.

Khiung Hee Fat Choy! Happy Year of the Ox! For our Chinese New Year’s family feast, I cooked Five-Spice Potatoes and Chinese Bacon from The Hakka Cookbook. This Chinese potato stew comes from childhood memories of Popo, my grandmother and a master forager and cook.


Long ago on a drive through the flat rice fields near Oroville, California, Popo suddenly shouted to my father to stop the car. She had seen a stand of plants growing in an irrigation ditch along the road. Sensing wild potatoes grew underneath, she directed us to plunge our hands through the cold water into the muddy silt. We found plump bulbs attached to the stems and pulled them out.


That night Popo cooked the wild potatoes, better known as arrowhead (ci gu), with Chinese bacon to make a dark fragrant stew. The sweet spicy perfume of five-spice powder and smoky bacon filled the kitchen and our memories of that day.

Chinese five-spice potato stew
Five-Spice Potatoes and Chinese Bacon


That was the only time I remember Popo using arrowhead for the Chinese potato stew. Often, she simply substituted thin-skinned potatoes from the supermarket. Look for arrowhead in Asian markets. Make sure the bulbs are firm and fresh. Or use potatoes as my grandmother did. Chinese bacon, dried soy sauce and five-spice marinated strips of pork belly, also contribute to the dark, fragrance of the stew. You’ll also find the dried smoked pork belly in Asian markets.


Her stew was relatively easy to cook. Simply slice the bacon, lightly brown, and add garlic and ginger. Add water, a little dark soy sauce, sugar, and five-spice powder and simmer, covered, until the bacon is almost tender. Then add peeled and sliced arrowhead and cover and simmer until tender. Serve with hot rice and enjoy.

For a detailed recipe, see page 19 of The Hakka Cookbook.

Chinese banquet in one big pan

Poon choi at Chung Shing Restaurant in Tai Po, New Territories of Hong Kong
Puhn choi at Chung Shing Restaurant in In Tai Po, New Territories of Hong Kong in 2005

A Chinese banquet in a wash basin? We gasped when the waitress set a huge metal pan filled with a mountain of food before us. The pan, literally a wash basin, held a layered multi-course feast known as basin feast (puhn choi, pen cai, poon choi). It’s a popular choice for family gatherings such as Chinese New Years, weddings, and family reunions because everyone eats from one dish which symbolizes unity. Guests gather around the basin and literally eat from the top to the bottom, working their way through the different courses.

This specialty comes from the New Territories of Hong Kong where many Hakka live. One story about the origin of puhn choi suggests that when Emperor Bing of Song moved south in the late Sung period, his large entourage overwhelmed the small villages. Inventive villagers simply didn’t have enough dishes to feed the large group so they piled the food in the biggest containers they had–wash basins.

Basin Feast (Puhn Choi) from The Hakka Cookbook
Basin Feast (puhn choi) from The Hakka Cookbook, page 84

Centuries later, the basin feast has morphed into a popular celebration dish in Hong Kong. Now, this one-pan Chinese banquet finds it way to San Francisco. This recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle lists several local restaurants that offer puhn choi for take-out for Chinese New Year. Because a multi-course feast comes layered in one big pan, it works well for a portable take-out Chinese banquet for a family. Restaurants go upscale, serving up expensive ingredients for these special occasion feasts. Or if you like, make this humbler, make-ahead home-style version featured in The Hakka Cookbook, page 84.

Happy New Year! Khiung Hee Fat Choy! ????!

Hakka recipe in art exhibit

“Your cherished family recipes could be featured in a museum exhibition,” read the Facebook post. I thought this might be a great opportunity to share our Hakka recipes and story. I signed on immediately.

The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) features a new virtual exhibit RECLAMATION: Recipes, Remedies, and Rituals. The exhibit focuses on women around the kitchen table. Nine women artists use videos, photos, and stories to show how they use food and ingredients. Recipes submitted by the public supplement the artist’s presentations.

Hakka Steamed Black Bean Spareribs

I submitted a Hakka recipe that I previously shared on this blog, my mother’s Steamed Black Bean Spareribs. I loved the pungent savory goodness of the fermented black beans, garlic, and the pork as they cooked together in a steam bath. This dish bears resemblance to the Cantonese version, although my mother’s version reaches deeper, darker flavor levels. Because many Hakka and Cantonese lived side-by-side in southern China, they often borrowed and adapted flavors and techniques from each other. Perhaps that’s why Hakka food is often considered a branch of Cantonese cuisine.

I hope you enjoy the exhibit and the many recipes and stories.

Hakka noodle bowl

Hakka Ginger Chicken Noodle Bowl is easy, healthy, and zesty.

Many Hakka dishes have the reputation for being heavy, fatty, dark, and salty. This new Hakka Noodle Bowl, defies that stereotype. I combined the two easiest and shortest recipes in The Hakka Cookbook, to create a zesty, colorful, noodle bowl that appeals to today’s taste for lighter, healthier food.


Start with Steeped Chicken Breasts (page 22 of The Hakka Cookbook). The lean chicken gently cooks in the residual heat of boiling water. Cool and tear the moist meat into coarse shreds. You can also use leftover cooked chicken or meat from a purchased rotisserie bird.


The zesty Fresh Ginger-Onion Sauce (page 66) brightly seasons the chicken and noodles. This sauce combines lots of fresh minced fresh ginger, green onion, and garlic. Pour boiling hot oil over the mixture to lightly temper the pungency. The sauce is often served with salt-baked, steamed, or poached chicken, but I find it also adds a vibrant lively flavor to noodles, seafood, and vegetables.


Cook your noodle of choice–I like Chinese wheat noodles or soba. Mix noodles with the ginger sauce and soy sauce to taste. Place in large bowls. Top noodles with mounds of cooked shredded chicken and slivered vegetables. Offer extra ginger sauce to add to taste. Enjoy–you will love this fresh, light noodle bowl.

Hakka Ginger Chicken Noodle Bowl

You can scale this recipe up or down. The chicken and sauce can be prepared a day ahead, cover and chill. Use leftover Ginger-Onion Sauce on salads, noodles, seafood, and vegetables.

Makes 2 or 3 main dish servings

6 ounces dry Chinese wheat noodles or Japanese soba
Fresh Ginger-Onion Sauce (page 66 of The Hakka Cookbook, makes about 3/4 cup)
Soy sauce
1 1/2 to 2 cups coarsely shredded cooked chicken (Steeped Chicken Breasts, page 22 of The Hakka Cookbook)
Salt to taste
2 to 3 cups slivered or thinly sliced vegetables such as cucumbers, carrots, jicama, radishes, cherry tomatoes, cabbage, red bell pepper, red onion (choose 3 to 6)
Cilantro leaves for garnish
Chile sauce (optional)

1. Cook noodles in boiling water as directed on package. Drain and rinse well with cold water. Drain.

2. In a large bowl mix noodles with 3 to 4 tablespoons Ginger-Onion Sauce and 2 to 3 tablespoons soy sauce, or to taste. Place noodles in 2 or 3 large serving bowls.

3. Mix chicken with about 3 tablespoons Ginger-Onion Sauce, 2 to 3 teaspoons soy sauce, and salt to taste. Mound equal portions of chicken on each bowl of noodles. Arrange mounds of vegetables on noodles. Drizzle vegetables with a little of the Ginger-Onion Sauce, offer remaining sauce to add to taste. Garnish bowls with cilantro. If desired, offer chile sauce and soy sauce to add to taste. Mix lightly to eat.

“Eat Bitter”, a new Hakka zine

Hakka history, stories, and recipes

Page from “Eat Bitter” Credits: DESIGN- ROO WILLIAMS, PHOTOGRAPHY – LYDIA PANG, WORDS – LYDIA PANG

Recently I got a flurry of alerts from my blog to let me know The Hakka Cookbook had been mentioned in several posts online. Checking them I read a story introducing a new zine called “Eat Bitter” about a Hakka family and their food.

I was thrilled to learn that Lydia Pang, the creator of the new publication was a young Hakka woman. Pang, whose father is Hakka, grew up in Wales, a country without much cultural diversity. She had worked in more ethnically diverse London and New York and began to feel she didn’t know enough about her Chinese heritage. It was time to learn more. She decided to write about her family’s favorite foods and stories shared at the dinner table. The result, “Eat Bitter,” allowed her to explore her identity and preserve the culture and recipes of her Hakka family.

Page from “Eat Bitter” Credits: DESIGN- ROO WILLIAMS, PHOTOGRAPHY – LYDIA PANG, WORDS – LYDIA PANG

The title of her publication, “Eat Bitter,” reflects the Hakka history. The Hakka have long endured multiple migrations, hardship, and persecution. Called “guest people” because they often arrived to settled lands last, the Hakka got the meager leftovers. Through their hard work, they survived and flourished. Working through obstacles, whether in life or in the kitchen, makes the reward taste so much sweeter.

Page about Pang’s father’s Sunday sik fan from “Eat Bitter” Credits: DESIGN- ROO WILLIAMS, PHOTOGRAPHY – LYDIA PANG, WORDS – LYDIA PANG

The zine’s bold design and creative layout vibrate on the red and black saturated pages (sample pages shown above). With help from her family, Pang records recipes such as Ears &Thighs (steamed chicken thighs and wood ear mushrooms), Fatty Pork (simmered pork belly with garlic and black beans), and Paw Paw’s Sponge (steamed sponge cake.) Photos and sketches reveal the cooking process.

To pre-order her magazine visit eatbitter.co Pang will donate a portion of the sales to Welcome to Chinatown, a grassroots organization that provides resources to hard-hit businesses in Manhattan’s Chinatown.

Weeknight stir-fry from the farmers’ market

Stir-fry Chinese summer squash for a quick summer weeknight dinner.

I buy most of my Asian vegetables at my local farmers’ market. The produce is so fresh that if I don’t get around to cooking everything I bought, veggies are often still good the following week. Farmers bring an ever-changing seasonal selection of Asian veggies, greens, and herbs that tease me to try something new. My purchases often show up on the dinner table as a quick weeknight stir-fry.

Last week I bought see qwa or angled loofah squash. Loofah squash (aka si gua, angled loofah, silk squash, Chinese okra) is long and slender with a rough dull green skin. Protruding ridges run down the length of the squash. Inside, the flesh is white and soft. When cooked, the squash turns silky soft, slightly sweet, and tastes delicately refreshing.

Chinese summer squash (see gwa or si gua)
Peel rough skin off see gua, sort of a Chinese summer squash to reveal soft tender flesh. For a firmer texture, peel off only the ridges, leaving strips of skin on squash.

Last night I decided to stir-fry the squash with what I had on hand: ground pork, red bell pepper, and onion. I peeled the squash then cut it into bite-sized chunks. I thinly sliced the red pepper and onion. To season the mild squash, I finely chopped lots of fresh ginger and some garlic.


In an ad-lib weeknight creation, I stir-fried the ground pork with the ginger and garlic. Then stirred in a spoonful of fermented black beans, onion, and the red bell pepper. I cooked them briefly then added the squash and stir-fried for a few minutes until the squash softened slightly but still held its shape. While stir-frying, I added a couple tablespoons of Chinese rice wine (shaoxing), and soy sauce and salt to taste. In minutes, dinner was ready. Delicious and easy. For another recipe, see this previous post.

Mustard Green and Pork Soup

On these days of shelter-in-place, I tuck into a bowl of Mustard Green and Pork Soup to make my world warm and cozy. The hot broth enriched with pork, garlic, fresh ginger, and pungent mustard greens sends warmth throughout my body and hugs my soul. With a scoop of hot rice, the soup turns into a whole comforting meal in a bowl.

Variations of mustard green soup appear in many Hakka kitchens. The Hakka love mustard greens in many forms–fresh, pickled, salted, and preserved. In this simple version of the soup, bold, direct flavors come from just a few ingredients. Start by flavoring broth with crushed garlic and ginger slices. In this fast shortcut version, mix ground pork seasoned with garlic, salt, and pepper. Poach chunks of the pork mixture in the broth to instantly imbue the broth with meaty flavor. Alternatively, with lots of time at home, you can use chunks of pork butt or bone-in pork neck to slowly enrich the broth. Simmer until the meat is very tender. Then immerse loads of mustard greens into the hot soup. As the greens simmer in the broth, their mustard pungency leaches into the broth to contrast with the rich pork.

It’s so easy, you don’t need a recipe but if want one, look at page 26 in The Hakka Cookbook or below.

Sometimes I embellish the soup with the addition of sliced carrots and chunks of tofu, or replace the pork with chicken. In almost any variation, it is a feel-good meal.

Mustard Green and Pork Soup

Use almost any type or maturity of mustard green, from leafy to broad stem varieties. I prefer the young stalks of Chinese mustard greens that I find at the farmers’ market but you can use the curly leafy mustard greens from the supermarket.

Makes 6 to 8 servings as part of a multi-course meal or 3 or 4 whole meal servings

6 cups chicken broth homemade or purchased
3 thin slices fresh ginger, lightly crushed
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
8 ounces ground pork (see note following)
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
12 to 14 ounces mustard greens

1. In a 4-quart pan over high heat bring the broth, ginger, and crushed garlic cloves to a boil.

2. Mix the ground pork, minced garlic, cornstarch, salt, and pepper. Drop about 1/2-inch lumps of the pork mixture into boiling broth. Return to a boil, cover and simmer, until pork is no longer pink in center of thickest part (cut to test), 3 to 5 minutes. Skim off fat and discard.

3. Meanwhile, trim the tough stem ends off the mustard greens and discard. Cut the greens into pieces 2 to 3 long and about 1/2-inch wide, to make about 8 cups. Rinse and drain. When the pork is done, add the mustard greens, bring to a boil, and cook until bright green and tender crisp, 3 to 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls or a large serving bowl.

Note: For a richer soup, omit the ground pork, minced garlic, and cornstarch and replace with 1 1/2 pounds bite-sized chunks of bone-in pork neck or 12 ounces boneless pork butt, cut into 1/2 inch-chunks. Simmer pork, covered, until the meat is tender when pierced, 45 minutes to 1 1/4 hours, before adding greens. Add a little water or more broth, if some of the broth has evaporated.

Free access to The Hakka Cookbook

Our world changed with the COVID-19 crisis. We are hunkered down at home with no where to go–no classes, no work, no parties. Take advantage of this time at home and cook through it. Learn a new skill, try new recipes, cook and eat together.

Two online subscription sites that I am associated with have generously offered free access to recipes from The Hakka Cookbook as well as recipes from other cooking experts and authors.

Grokker cooking video

Want a cooking class or a yoga practice? Check grokker.com , an subscription online site that offers videos from cooking, yoga, and fitness experts. I demonstrate a few recipes from The Hakka Cookbook, as well as other mainstream Chinese recipes. You’ll also find teachers from all cuisines. Grokker is offering free access until the end of April with this link.

Cover of The Hakka Cookbook

Looking for some new recipes to try? Our your libraries closed? Browse through a curated collection of cookbooks at the online subscription site ckbk.com . View the contents and recipes of The Hakka Cookbook as well as many other classic cookbooks. They are offering free access to hundreds of cookbooks for 30 days with this link.

We can get through this. Food will make it better. Stay healthy and well!

Story behind The Hakka Cookbook

Popo, my inspiration for The Hakka Cookbook

For the story behind The Hakka Cookbook, check out my guest post at ckbk.com , a online curated cookbook collection subscription site. My inspiration came from Popo, my grandmother, who nagged us about being better Chinese children. Popo would say, “You should be proud to be Hakka.” This quote fell on deaf ears. As the only Chinese children in Paradise, a small retirement town in northern California, my brother and I were much more interested in fitting in rather than learning how to be more unique. Decades later, Popo’s words haunted my memory and eventually inspired me to find my Hakka history and identity through food.

Chinese New Year feast

Happy Chinese New Year!

Plan your menu for the symbol-laden Chinese New Year feast now. The lunar new year is fast approaching.

In 2020, January 25 marks the beginning of the Chinese year 4717. The celebration marks a time of renewal, marked by food, traditions, and festivities. On the Chinese horoscope, each year is dominated by an animal sign: Rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey rooster, dog, and pig. Each animal has special characteristics. This is the year of the rat.

A family reunion feast highlights the New Year celebration. The table is traditionally filled with foods that send auspicious messages to attract wealth, luck, success, unity, longevity.
As I plan the menu for our family’s new year feast, I’m looking through The Hakka Cookbook for ideas. I like our meals to be a cooperative effort, sort of an organized potluck plus cooking lesson. It’s easier to share cooking duties and hopefully everyone can learn something new.

For my grandchildren, I try to include one cooking activity. In the past, we have made wontons, dumplings, and pot stickers. This year we may make Stuffed Tofu (pages 31, 33). The Hakka invented stuffed tofu when they could not find wheat flour in their new home in the south to make the dumplings they ate in their former home in northern China. Instead of putting the meat filling in a wheat flour wrapper, they stuffed the filling into chunks of tofu.

Noodles with Mushroom Pork Sauce from The Hakka Cookbook

Noodles represent long life. I like the dark, umami-rich flavor of Noodles with Mushroom Pork Sauce (page 104). Or perhaps we’ll cook Garlic Noodles and Shrimp (page 193), sort of a Hakka-style Chow Mein.

Fish is a must-have on Chinese New Year table. The fish brings surplus and abundance to the new year. I like Steamed Fish with Green Onions (page 39). Steaming keeps the delicate flesh moist and is so easy.

A green vegetable represents growth in business. I love the simplicity of the stir-fried Chinese Broccoli in Sweet Rice Wine (page 230).

Possibly we may cook the famous Hakka Salt-baked Chicken (page 64) or some of the easier variations or maybe we’ll buy a Chinese roast duck. What’s on your menu?

Hakka Salt-Baked Chicken from The Hakka Cookbook

For me, Chinese New Year is about food and family. Wishing you a Happy and Prosperous New Year! ????! Khiung Hee Fat Choy! Gong Hay Fat Choy!