Eight-treasure pudding

Press, 8 February 1986, Page 14

Eight-treasure pudding

inspired by our .Vietnamese lodger Thao, we bought several books on Chineese and Aslan cookery, among them Kenneth Lo’s lovely “Complete Encyclopaedia of Chinese Cooking” in which one ol the contributors, Deh-ta Hsiung, writes about the New Year’s festivities. “Chinese New Year is a big event for both adults and children,” he writes. The festivities actually begin a week before the end of the old year, when the ritual of “sending the Kitchen God to Heaven for the Annual Report” tales place. The God is welcomed back on New Yeear’s Eve, when a big feast usually takes place. As early as four or five the next morning, the adults, who have been sitting up all night to see the New Year in, /will perform the ceremony of “Opening the Door to Welcome the Auspicious New Year.” Then candles and incense are lit, and firecrackers let off.

Everything suddenly comes alive. Children put on their new clothes and adults dress in their best. Everyone congratulates each other and exchanges the compliments of the season.

People call, on each other to offer New Year’s greetings and are invariably offered hot tea and a box of ‘treasures.’ The treasures usually consist of (hied dates and other fruits and. nuts. “Most households also serve a dessert called Eight-Treasure Rice Pudding, colourfully decorated with eight different dried druits and nuts, which are supposed to

represent the eight charmed objects which will ward off evil spirits.

Eight-Treasure Rice Pudding

225 g glutinous rice 40g lard 2 tablespoons sugar 15 dried red dates, stoned 30 raisins 10 walnuts halves 10 glace cherries 10 pieces candied angelica (chopped) 1x225g can sweetened chestnut puree or red bean paste Syrup 3 tablespoons sugar 300 ml cold water 1 tablespoon cornflour blended with 2 tablespoons water Place rice in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat, cover tightly and cook for 10 to. 15 minutes, or until the water is absorbed. Add 25g of the lard and the sugar to the cooked rice. Brush a 000 ml capacity pudding basin with the remaining lard. Cover thd bottom and sides with a thin layer of the rice mixture. Gently press a layer of the fruits and nuts, attractively arranged in rows, into the rice so they will show through when the pudding is turned out. Cover the fruits and nuts with another layer of rice, much thicker this time. Fill the centre with the chestnut puree or bean paste and cover with the remaining rice. Press gently to flatten

the top.. Cover with a pleated circle of greaseproof paper and secure with string. Steam the pudding for one hour. A few minutes before it is ready, make the syrup. Dissolve the sugar in the wafer in a small pan. Bring to the boil. Stir in the cornflour mixture and simmer gently, stirring until thickened.

Invert the pudding on to a warmed serving plate. Pour over the syrup and serve immediately. As this is a very sweet, substantial pudding, it will easily serve six to eight

“The New Year festivities go on for quite a few days, during which a great deal of food and drink is consumed. On New Year’s Day only vegetarian dishes are served, as a mark of respect for heaven and Earth, but no restrictions exist for the following days,” Deh-ta Hsiung continues.

“Chicken is eaten all year round, but duck is considered rather special and has therefore become a festival dish. Ham or a whole leg of pork makes another feast dish. To complete the ‘three meats’ of any feast, carp is served because it is regarded as a fish of good luck.

“On the fifteenth day of the first moon there is the Lantern Festival, which formally makes the end oi ;he New Year celebration, tn the evening there are precessions of lanterns oi ill kinds, and the highlight is a magnificent dragon dance.”