Vegetable Tea
By Anna Wong
INGREDIENTS:
Spinach, cabbage, snow pea, lettuce, celery, crowndaisy chrysanthemum, garlic, bean sprouts, thin bean, dried shrimps, diced meat and squids.
METHODS:
1) Slice or dice all the vegetables
2) Boil the vegetables and mix them well
3) Fry the dried shrimps, diced meat and squids
4) Mix all the ingredients together
5) Boil salt tea
6) Pour salt tea into the mixture
7) Add peanuts, parched rice, salted radish and dried shrimps according to your choice
STORY:
‘Vegetable Tea’ is a famous traditional dish of my motherland - Heifeng County(海豐縣) in Shanwei City (汕尾市). We usually make this dish during Chinese New Year, around the 10th to 15th of the first month of the Lunar Year. Unlike other festival dishes, it is comparatively easy to make. However, it takes a lot of time to slice and dice. Therefore, apart from mommies, other family members would also take part. Once everything is done, we’ll invite relatives and friends to come and enjoy the tea.
My parents came to Hong Kong in 1979, a year before the abolishment of Reached-base Policy. They got married in 1981 and lived in a cottage around Lam Tin District. Two years later, they were relocated to the Temporary Housing Area (臨時房屋區, THA) close to Richland Gardens at Kowloon Bay. Each house is divided into tens of tiny flats, with one flat per household. Many fellow townsmen lived nearby and we gradually formed a small community within this area.
During Chinese New Year, my parents and I used to visit grandparents in the Mainland. We usually stayed there for a week and came back before the vegetable tea gathering. My parents continued this tradition in Hong Kong. They asked some neighbors to help. Since our house cannot accommodate so many people, we usually put the table in front of our flat and ask neighbors to enjoy the tea under sunshine. It was like the old days in their homeland.
The clearance of THA begins from early 90s and the last was demolished in 2001. In 1993, we were arranged to a public housing flat in the fifth new town (新市鎮) - Tsueng Kwan O. Most of our neighbors moved to different districts such as Kwun Tong and even Tsing Yi. Only a few live nearby. In the first year, we invited them to join our vegetable tea gathering. And we went to their flats as well. But later on, only those live close to us came. In recent years, only our family members join this gathering.
Originally, this dish served many functions apart from filling stomach. It gathered townsmen together after migration. They could exchange information and news. Let’s say if someone within the group needed help, they could discuss and organize during the gathering. However, this function cannot last and the community was shaken and broken down.
By Anna Wong
INGREDIENTS:
Spinach, cabbage, snow pea, lettuce, celery, crowndaisy chrysanthemum, garlic, bean sprouts, thin bean, dried shrimps, diced meat and squids.
METHODS:
1) Slice or dice all the vegetables
2) Boil the vegetables and mix them well
3) Fry the dried shrimps, diced meat and squids
4) Mix all the ingredients together
5) Boil salt tea
6) Pour salt tea into the mixture
7) Add peanuts, parched rice, salted radish and dried shrimps according to your choice
STORY:
‘Vegetable Tea’ is a famous traditional dish of my motherland - Heifeng County(海豐縣) in Shanwei City (汕尾市). We usually make this dish during Chinese New Year, around the 10th to 15th of the first month of the Lunar Year. Unlike other festival dishes, it is comparatively easy to make. However, it takes a lot of time to slice and dice. Therefore, apart from mommies, other family members would also take part. Once everything is done, we’ll invite relatives and friends to come and enjoy the tea.
My parents came to Hong Kong in 1979, a year before the abolishment of Reached-base Policy. They got married in 1981 and lived in a cottage around Lam Tin District. Two years later, they were relocated to the Temporary Housing Area (臨時房屋區, THA) close to Richland Gardens at Kowloon Bay. Each house is divided into tens of tiny flats, with one flat per household. Many fellow townsmen lived nearby and we gradually formed a small community within this area.
During Chinese New Year, my parents and I used to visit grandparents in the Mainland. We usually stayed there for a week and came back before the vegetable tea gathering. My parents continued this tradition in Hong Kong. They asked some neighbors to help. Since our house cannot accommodate so many people, we usually put the table in front of our flat and ask neighbors to enjoy the tea under sunshine. It was like the old days in their homeland.
The clearance of THA begins from early 90s and the last was demolished in 2001. In 1993, we were arranged to a public housing flat in the fifth new town (新市鎮) - Tsueng Kwan O. Most of our neighbors moved to different districts such as Kwun Tong and even Tsing Yi. Only a few live nearby. In the first year, we invited them to join our vegetable tea gathering. And we went to their flats as well. But later on, only those live close to us came. In recent years, only our family members join this gathering.
Originally, this dish served many functions apart from filling stomach. It gathered townsmen together after migration. They could exchange information and news. Let’s say if someone within the group needed help, they could discuss and organize during the gathering. However, this function cannot last and the community was shaken and broken down.
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