Wednesday January 14, 2009

Chinese chef looks to his roots for Chinese New Year menu

By PRIYA MENON

CHINESE NEW YEAR is synonymous with tradition and the chefs at the Celestial Court, Sheraton Imperial Kuala Lumpur Hotel have taken this to heart when preparing the festive menu.

Every dish has a traditional ingredient that reflects the season.

“Dried oysters are called Hoi See which means good things, while sea moss is called fatt choy which means prosperity. So, we use all these ingredients and come up with our own dishes,” Chinese chef Ho Boon said.

Fresh stuff: The Braised Mushroom with Fresh Scallops and Sea Cucumber is a must have for the season.

Yee Sang, a dish with more than 20 ingredients, is an important element of any Chinese New Year meal. Bowls of condiments are put into a big plate together with sauces to be mixed by those present and it is believed that the higher the ingredients are tossed, the better the luck for the year ahead.

This year, Ho Boon’s Yee Sang dishes also have a twist like his Thai Style Yee Sang with Pacific Clam. Another Yee Sang worth sampling is the Yee Sang with Norwegian Smoked Salmon.

“Many people do not like to eat raw salmon so I decided to smoke it so it would not have the tangy taste,” Ho Boon said.

An array of shark’s fin soups are also available including Braised Shark’s Fin Broth with Four Treasures (abalone, fish maw, dried scallop and sea cucumber), Double Boiled Small Shark’s Fin soup with American Ginseng and Chicken and Braised Superior Shark’s Fin Broth with fresh seafood, crab meat and crab roe in supreme stock.

Tossing it up: Another must have said to bring luck for the coming year is the Yee Sang.

Ho Boon takes on the difficult task with ease and has come up with a selection of delicacies that include the Simmered Cod with Enoki Mushroom in superior fish broth.

“The soup is boiled separately for two days with shark bones and chicken and when a customer orders the dish, we add in the fish, wolf berries and the fresh Enoki mushrooms,” Ho Boon said.

Another complicated dish is the steamed egg white topped with prawns and crab roe. The combination is not attempted very often by other restaurants.

Despite being a chef for more than 26 years, Ho Boon still holds to tradition dearly and has included a famous dessert, nian kuo or sweetened brown sugar cake on the menu.

Delicate task: The steamed egg white dish is rarely attempted due to the complicated procedures involved.

“When I was young and growing up in Kuala Kubu Baru, we used to make huge pots of this dessert for the entire village and I decided to bring back this cake for this generation to taste,” he said.

The restaurant is also offering set menus for 10 people and reservations can be made at 03-2717 9988 or 03-2717 9850.

Sheraton Imperial Kuala Lumpur Hotel was known as Hotel Imperial until New Year’s Day. The hotel is located at Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur.