Friday, January 11, 2008

"Happy New Year 2008!"

We welcomed the New Year with 'Lui Cha'. It's a Hakka dish I learnt to cook from one of our resident Priest several years ago. It's our Parish Priests' favourite dish. It's been a while since I cooked this. Our assistant Parish priest was leaving for further studies and hubs and I decided we'd host a farewell for him with a "Lui Cha" party!

It was crazy!! We had about 30 adults and 15 kids and a mountain of vegetables! But we had loads and loads of fun!! Look at the amount of fried vegetables. On another table, we had a huge pot of Spaghetti for the kids. Some kids couldn't resist trying the 'lui cha' and surprisingly enjoyed it too!!Great food!! Fantastic company! Amazing friends!! What a welcome to a happening year - 2008!! Thank you Lord!!

10 comments:

Sue Sue said...

Hey, welcome back. I thot where have you been. Happy New Year to you and your family.

Ooohhh... lui cha, I don't know why I never like it. But my sis, mom and my dad are crazy over it.

Rita Ho said...

Happy New Year!

Is lui cha the dish where you mix about 7-8 fried condiments with rice and pour green tea over it? If so, I love it! I used to enjoy eating it at a restaurant in Desa Seri Hartamas. Can't remember the name now but it is a branch from an Ipoh chain and they proudly display photos of Chow Yun-Fatt and Jodie Foster dining there.

Wishing you and your family excellent health, success in everything you do and everyday happiness in 2008 and beyond.

Terri @ A Daily Obsession said...

phew, so happy u r back!really missed u lah! btw what is lui cha?never heard of it.also, do u know where to get those little plastic soy sauce containers (shape of a fish etc) for sushi?

JK said...

Glad to see you back here. Lui cha is a Hakka delicacy, right? Started eating this recently and I love the taste, especially the soup.

Bento Pet said...

sue sue: Happy New Year!!
Lui Cha is really an acquired taste. You either love it or otherwise. My husband enjoys the vegetables with the rice but doesn't really like the soup.

There are so many styles of soup too! I've tasted many variations and every one claims to be the best! Incidentally, I think it all tastes good because I LOVE lui cha!!

Bento Pet said...

rita ho: Yeap!! That's the dish! I liked the Lui Cha served in the Hakka restaurant in Desa Seri Hartamas too!! It was about RM12 or RM16 per serving. Unfortunately it's closed down already. The soup is so green and fragrant!

They served nice "Sween poon chee" (some kind of Yam 'pasta'?). Delicious!!

Happy New Year to you and your husband!!

Bento Pet said...

terri: missed you too!! just been so busy, more so with CNY so close!!
Apparently Lui Cha is a Hakka dish. Being Hakka myself, I never heard of it until I was introduced to it 6-7 years ago.

It's basically made out of vegetables, cut up into tiny bits and then fried with dried prawns. With 4-5 vegetables, some tofu, peanuts and flavored with lots of pickled lobak (choi poh). Mixed together, it's a fragrant and delicious! Coupled with a herbal soup made up of basil, mint, sesame seeds and peanuts - it's a 'love it' or 'despise it' moment of truth!!

About those little plastic sauce containers - I think the closest place you can get them is from Daiso in Singapore. I haven't seen any in KL or PJ. They come in all sorts of shapes and colors.

Nightwing said...

I enjoy eating it too...hehe...me not hakka.

Bento Pet said...

jo-n: To many, it's really an acquired taste. It was 'love at first taste' for me!

Bento Pet said...

nightwing: looks like we've got quite a few lui cha fans around! Welcome to the club!

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