Tales of Abacus Seeds

Passport & Plate - Hakka Abacus Seeds

Singapore | Friday, March 6, 2015 | 6 photos

Ingredients
For the Abacus Seeds:
1) 700g Yam/Taro
2) 200g Tapioca Flour
3) 120g Hot Boiling Water
4) Few pinches of fine salt

For Stir-Frying
1) 6-8 Garlic Cloves,minced
2) 60g Dried Shrimps, soaked, minced
3) 30g Dried Cuttlefish, soaked & cut into thin strips
4) 50g Dried Mushrooms (about 4 to 5pcs), soaked overnight and sliced
5) 30g Jews Ear / Dried Fungus, soaked
6) 3 tbsp Cooking Oil for frying
7) 1 tsp Salt, 1 tsp Pepper and few dashes Fish Sauce to taste

For Garnishing

1) 2 Red Chilli to be sliced
2) some Coriander
3) some Spring Onions
4) Dried fried onion
5) Sambal chili

 

How to prepare this recipe
For Abacus Seeds:
1.Yam/Taro - Peel Skin,washed & cut into 1-2cm thickness.
2) Prepare a wok of boiling water & Steam the yam for 15mins until they are soft and cooked. You may use a chopstick or folk to poke through the yam to check if it is cooked.
3) Once they are cooked, transfer the yam into a large mixing bowl immediately as yam turns hard once it is cool down.Add in a few pinches of salt & in a quick motion, roughly mash the yam with hands or the potato masher.
4) Add in the other half of the the portion of tapioca flour, continue to mash and mix them while the yam is still hot.
5) Add a appropriate amount of boiling water & continue kneading. Add in the remaining tapioca flour, knead, & if necessary do add remaining boiling water, so as to be able to knead a nice dough.
6) Make dough into small &even balls. Using your pinky finger, make a dimple in the centre of each ball to resemble abacus seeds. .
7) Boil a large wok of water. Slowly add the abacus seeds into the boiling water, Stir it gently to prevent them from sticking together. Boil for about 10mins or until they float on the boiling water.
8) Prepare a pot of tap or cold water. Remove the cooked abacus beads from the boiling water with a strainer, then put the abacus seeds into the tap water.
9) Drain the abacus beads with a drainer. Coat the abacus beads with 2 to 3 tbsps of cooking oil to prevent sticking.

Methods:
1) Heat up the wok over high heat. Add vegetable oil, sesame oil & minced meat.
2) Add dried shrimps, cuttlefish and minced garlic and stir fry till fragrant
3) Turn down the fire to medium heat, add mushroom, fish sauce, pepper, salt and sugar. Stir until ingredients are evenly coated with the sauces.
4) Add spring onions & abacus seeds.
5) Turn up to high heat & then add 2 tbsp of water. Stir the ingredients lightly against the abacus seeds.
6) Turn off fire within half a minute.
7) Garnish

 

The story behind this recipe
From the time I started fighting for my parents’ attention to slugging it out in the corporate rat race, there is always this familiar taste that I would run home to no matter where I am. A glance into my childhood brings back amazing realisation of how the preparation of a family dish became the bonding activity that comes alive during festive occasions. Decades later this dish jolts of memories deep within the recesses of my mind whenever I miss home and my family.
Having grown up in a Chinese family where words of affection are scarce, food became one of the most sacred forms of love and good homecooked meals became the most intimate affair in our lives with our parents. There is no better involvement than getting five children round the kitchen table to prepare a meal from scratch.
Chinese bears the equity of creating a symbolic meaning out of every grain of food we consume, Abacus seeds aka Suan Pan Zi was introduced to us as the food that brings prosperity and wealth to the family, synonymous to a calculator-Abacus seeds board. Mum will always reminds us the importance of being thrifty and always be prudent in our spending habits; like how traditional Chinese will always calculate every single moola using their abacus seeds board.
I remember we were made to slice, knead, chop, steam and boil the round shaped dough to be ultimately fried by the master chef of the family. The entire notion of preparing the Abacus seeds is akin to getting my hands dirty with Play dough, except this is an edible version of good fun with the siblings. Messing around with the flour and dough always leads to the same house cleaning aftermath, yet mum is insistent to preserve the tradition which holds an unspoken significance in our hearts in the decades to come.
Today the 7 of us live in 3 different countries across 2 continents, yet the strong relationship and conversations established over our tales of abacus seeds draws an instant connection, keeping the hearts knitted.