Abacus Seeds (算盘子)
some say you eat this to become smarter, others say you become richer, but why no one says I can be both?
I’ve always heard people say that abacus seeds are a labour of love—and honestly, I never truly understood what that meant until I tried making them myself. For the longest time, I was on a mini quest to find someone Hakka who could teach me how to make this dish. I crave it once in a while, but it’s getting a little hard to find in Singapore these days. I’d like to think it’s a dying dish here… which is such a pity, because they’re delicious!
by sheer luck, I was eventually connected with Mdm Ang, an ex-hawker who knows how to make abacus seeds. she learnt it from her Hakka mother-in-law, and these days, she only prepares the dish upon request or during Chinese New Year—since abacus seeds symbolises money! she also told me that she hardly ever makes it alone because it takes forever, and honestly, after trying it myself… same. But she found that it has became a lovely family activity, something that requires everyone to gather around and make together.
while we cooked, she shared some super useful tips when it comes to picking ingredients. First: always choose a taro that’s more round in shape, and avoid any with black spots as those are early signs of spoilage. Next, you can swap pork for chicken (as in this recipe) to make it halal-friendly, though traditionally it’s cooked with pork. And lastly, black fungus and shiitake mushrooms are interchangeable, though the latter is known to give the dish a deeper flavour.
so without further ado… here is the recipe (agak agak style)!
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Ngoh Hiang
since young, i have always been going to my nai nai’s house once a week to have a meal with her. these are the days where i look forward to her innovative, sometimes traditional, but comforting food for the soul. now that she is growing older, her movements have also slowed down a lot, and that trickles down to the amount of dishes that she can cook too…
