Saturday, February 21, 2015

Vegetarian

On CNY Day 1, every year without fail, we will go to "bai nian" (pay CNY day 1 respect and wishes) to my in-laws and eat the first meal of the day which is a "vegetarian" meal with them.

Vegetarian meal eaten on CNY Day 1, cooked by my spouse after the reunion dinner. Ingredients: glass noodles, bean curd sheet (fupei), bean curd puffs (topok), black chinese mushroom, black wood ear fungus (muk ee),  button mushroom, straw mushroom, enoki mushroom (golden needle mushroom), flower buds of daylilies (golden needle  - 金針 - kam chan), chinese cabbage (wong nga pak/ napa cabbage) cooked with red yeast fermented bean curd (nam yu - 紅腐乳/南乳). "Vegetarian" in quotes because it has dried oyster (hou si) in it.

According to a story told to me, dried oyster is considered "vegetarian" because the goddess Guan Yin has allowed it. I have no comments about this story because I could not verify it of course.

Then this year, I spent 2 hours and 43 mins in the ER of a public hospital accompanying a relative who was having some unexplained discomfort, nothing life threatening fortunately. There were not many people, mainly parents with sick babies and children in the ER. The relative was referred to a specialist for follow up on Monday.

Late lunch was at Paparich. No photos as everyone was ravenous after the nearly 3 hours wait at the hospital. Well, looking at the amount of people eating there, Paparich just got richer.

25 comments:

  1. Mun, I love this dish even though I do not observe any vegetarian ways. I alone can finish the whole plate. I just love all the ingredients in this dish except the dried oyster. I do not know how to enjoy the dried oyster.

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  2. I love this zhai choy.. I dont like veggies but if mum cooks this one, I can finish the whole pot!! Glad to hear your relative is ok, both my boys got fever on cny eve and chor1, but now ok already..

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  3. I would love something like this now...after all that meat! Feeling bloated and heavy!

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  4. I like that vegetarian dish and won't mind having that as my main meal. However, I don't like dried oysters and I find the smell and taste way too strong for me.

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    1. I think after soaking the dried oysters will not taste that strong. But do you like to eat fresh raw oysters?

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    2. Oh yes! I LOVE fresh oysters hee..hee...

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    3. Once upon a time I used to eat fresh oysters.

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  5. Nice dish! I didn't know that dried oysters are considered vegetarian. Interesting, dear! xoxo

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    1. Please don't take my word for it. I only wrote what I was told, hehehe.

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  6. First time in my life I hear got people say that oyster is considered vegetarian. I don't think during Guan Yin's time, oysters were part of his people's cuisine. Must be the interpretation of the people after Guan Yin's time.

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    1. Maybe you should ask around and see whether anyone else heard this as well.

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  7. I cooked the exact same dish and took it to Ipoh with me (I've put it in my blog last year). I've cooked this dish a few times already as it's always a crowd pleaser!

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    1. Yes, it is a very easy to eat dish, and tasty too.

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  8. I love this dish too! My sister cook this during the first day and I ate a lot!!

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  9. Sorry to hear about your relative's trip to the hospital! :x

    I've never had this tradition personally, we eat mee sua with chicken soup on the first day, have never eaten vegetarian during CNY before. Is it a Buddhist tradition?

    The food looks good though and I like how you explained how dried oysters are allowed. That's interesting!

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    1. No idea whether it is a Buddhist tradition or not. I love to eat mee sua so I would welcome the idea of eating mee sua with chicken soup on CNY day 1. Please don't take my word for the dried oysters because I myself find it hard to believe, LOL!

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  10. I am so surprised with this story of Goddess Guan Yin and dried oysters!

    My friend's wife told me once about their family eating vegetarian for the 1st and 2nd day of CNY which I felt not really a practical theory.

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  11. Sorry to hear that you have to spend some time in the hospital. 2.5 hours wait is quite fast waiting time at the ER. Over here, it's at least 4 hours if non emergency.

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    1. Oh, the SLA here is 3 hours max for non emergency, it says on the notice board.

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  12. I just seen a video from China that the lady added dried oyster to her vegetarian dish but many were saying how come dried oyster is considered vegetarian.

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