DIY Hakka Dish Recipe: Abacus Seeds

It’s the third day of the Lunar New Year – back to work for me! I hope you all had a great celebration.

Several years ago, I was taught to make a Hakka dish – Abacus Seeds (or 算盘子 in Chinese). I’m not Hakka; Skye is. Therefore, Abacus Seeds is a must-have dish every time we celebrate the Lunar New Year.

Last year, I had wanted to do up a blog post on how Abacus Seeds are made, but I didn’t manage to get around to doing it. So this blog post is a year overdue!

This dish has an auspicious meaning – resembling beads on an abacus, Abacus Seeds signify abundance of wealth.

Alrighty, so, to make this dish, you will need:

  • Yam
  • Tapioca starch
  • Water
  • Cooking oil
  • Diced garlic
  • Diced mushrooms
  • Black fungus
  • Minced meat
  • Pepper
  • Salt
  • Sugar
  • Light soy sauce
  • Fish sauce
Here we have some yam. These weigh about 2kg after peeling, and would serve an army.

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