Poon choi, the walled-village basin

Ingredientsserves 10

Equipment

• The basin: a wide, flat-bottomed metal basin, 36 to 40 cm across, that can sit straight on a burner. On this dish the basin is the dish.
• Without one: a wide enamel roasting dish that can take a flame, or a 30 cm paella pan. The last forty minutes are on the heat, so glass and ceramic will not do.
• A big stockpot, and two or three woks or frying pans going at once
• Room in the fridge: the soaking dried goods and the stock both spend the night there

How the time splits

1. 20 minThe day before: the dried things go in to soak, the bones and hen are blanched and the stock startedhands on
2. 2 hrThe stock simmershands off
3. 12 hrStock strained; the dried things soak overnight in the fridgehands off
4. 1 hr 30 minOn the day: radish, pork rind, squid, mushrooms, taro and wombok, each cooked on its ownhands on
5. 1 hrThe pork belly braises under a lid while the chicken steepshands off
6. 45 minChop the chicken, fry the prawns, build the basinhands on
7. 40 minStock poured in, lid on, lowest heathands off

Method

1. The day before, soak the mushrooms, pork rind, squid and beancurd sticks separately in cold water, in the fridge overnight — and never on the bench in hot weather. Blanch the pork bones and the hen, rinse them, and put them in the stockpot with the ham, two slices of ginger and 4 litres of water. Simmer two hours, strain, cool and refrigerate.
2. On the day, cook the bottom layer first. Simmer the radish in a litre of the stock for twenty minutes, until a chopstick goes straight in. The radish is the bottom of the basin and nothing cooks it once it is in there: hard now means hard at the table. Stir-fry the wombok with a little oil and the garlic for two minutes and set it aside.
3. Squeeze the pork rind dry, blanch it for five minutes with ginger, spring onion and a tablespoon of wine, and squeeze it again. Fry the curry powder in oil, add the rind, two tablespoons of oyster sauce and a bowl of stock, and simmer ten minutes until it has drunk the sauce. Blanch the squid for a minute and toss it briefly in the same wok. Braise the mushrooms in their soaking water with a tablespoon of oyster sauce and a lump of rock sugar for twenty minutes. Fry the taro in oil until the edges are golden. Every component must be seasoned and good enough to eat as a dish on its own before it goes in. Leave the seasoning to the stock at the end and the whole basin tastes of one thing.
4. Marinate the pork belly for half an hour with a tablespoon each of light soy, oyster sauce and wine and some pepper, then fry it until browned on all sides. Add the garlic and the 南乳 and fry until fragrant, then the beancurd sticks and a bowl and a half of water. Cover and braise on low for an hour, until a chopstick goes through. Any less and the pork is chewy and the 南乳 has not gone in.
5. While the pork braises, poach the chicken as for 白切雞: dip and lift it three times, steep thirty minutes, check the thickest part of the thigh reaches 75 °C, then into iced water and chop it. Fry the prawns in a little oil until red on both sides.
6. Build the basin from the bottom up: radish and wombok; glass noodles and pork rind; taro and squid; the mushrooms and the pork with its sauce and beancurd in the middle; chicken and prawns on top, skin up. The things that soak up sauce go low and the handsome things go high, and the pork's sauce runs down through the layers.
7. Bring the stock back to the boil and season it with four tablespoons of oyster sauce, the dark and light soy, the rest of the rock sugar and a tablespoon of wine. Pour it in down the side of the basin to about seven-tenths full, never over the top. Cover and give it thirty to forty minutes on the lowest heat. High heat and too little stock and the bottom burns — this is where a basin is lost. Keep it low and seven-tenths full, and listen: if the sizzle gets loud it is running dry, so add stock.
8. Take it to the table in its basin, on the burner or a heatproof mat, and eat from the top down; the radish and rind at the bottom, reached last, are the best part. Divide leftovers into small containers and get them into the fridge within two hours — a basin this size cools far too slowly on its own — and bring them back to a full boil to reheat.

Take care

• Pork, poultry, crustacean (prawns), mollusc (oyster sauce, squid), soy, wheat. The chicken must reach 75 °C at the thickest part of the thigh, and the pork must be braised right through. A basin this size cools very slowly: divide leftovers into small containers and refrigerate within two hours, and bring them to a full boil to reheat.

The story

A dish of the New Territories walled villages, with two legends, both Song dynasty: that the last boy emperor, fleeing south, reached the hills of Dongguan and the New Territories and the villagers packed everything they had into wooden basins for him; or that 文天祥's soldiers, with no bowls, ate from basins. For centuries after it was the clan feast in the ancestral hall, a whole village round dozens of basins; only in the 1990s did it become the New Year dish every Hong Kong restaurant delivers. The recipe really is the layers: everything cooked apart, built from the bottom up so the juices of the top run down, and eaten from the top down. It is the biggest dish in this book, and the one most worth writing down while the village cooks who know it are still here.

Same kind

Pork hock braised with dried oysters and peanutsTaro and pork belly, steamed and turned outDried oysters braised with shiitake, the 好市 dish

Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.