Walled Village Food 圍村美食
Poon Choi
Poon Choi is one of the traditional food that villagers enjoy together.
The ingredients of Poon Choi will change in different customs, including weddings, mont- old, vegetarian Poon Choi, etcetera. The month-old Poon Choi in Shan Ha Tsuen consists of chicken, squid, radish, pork skin, dried eel, dace fish balls, salt and pepper prawn, and freshly fried eel.
The preparation starts at 9 am and is ready by 5 pm. The process requires around 20 people to cook. Cooking Poon Choi needs stoves, and the use of stoves is related to the guest's number. The highest record in Shan Ha Tsuen was using eight stoves simultaneously.
盤菜
傳統圍村美食之一，逢年過節村民皆會齊聚享用盤菜。
盤菜的材料會根據節日或喜慶日子而改變，例如：結婚盤，滿月盤，素盤菜等。其中山下村滿月盤菜材料包括：雞，蘿蔔，魷魚，五花肉，豬皮，門鱔乾，鯪魚丸，椒鹽蝦，和鮮炸門鱔。
村民從早上九時便開始準備食材，下午五時正式出菜，過程需要大約二十人才能完成。盤菜烹煮時會使用大灶，數量跟據宴請賓客的多寡轉變, 賓客越多，使用的大灶越多。山下村最高記錄同時使用八個大灶烹煮盤菜。
Outlook of Poon Choi 盤菜最終完成品
Tea Cake
Tea Cake is a stuffed rice cake made with glutinous rice flour. It is an important offering for ancestral worship during the traditional festivals in walled villages and also one of Hong Kong’s intangible cultural heritages. Villagers like to drink tea while eating stuffed rice cake, which is called “Tea Cake.” The filling of Tea Cake is mainly divided into two flavours: sweet and salty. Sweet Tea Cake includes ground peanuts with sugar; salty Tea Cake includes radish, dry shrimps, mushroom, green beans, purple haricot, and more. According to Ms. Man (Home of Indigenous Culture and inheritor of Tea Cake making technique), residents in walled villages used to grow their own peanuts and were self-sufficient, so there were more peanuts, and villagers often used peanuts as fillings for snacks. Most of the Tea Cakes are round and white in shape but
Ms. Man added that there will be red and white Tea Cakes during god worship, meaning to have a son and daughter. When people are in their 60th birthday, there will also be peach-shaped Tea Cakes to represent congratulations.
茶粿
茶粿是用糯米粉和不同餡料製成的粿子，是圍村傳統節日的重要祭品，也是香港的非物質文化遺產之一。圍村人喜歡一邊喝茶，一邊吃粿子，所以稱為「茶粿」。茶粿的餡料主要分為甜和鹹兩種味道，甜的茶粿會有花生茸和砂糖，而鹹的茶粿就會有蘿蔔絲、蝦米、冬菇絲、綠豆、眉豆等。據傳統圍村文化之家和茶粿技藝承傳人文女士所述，以前的圍村居民會自己種植花生，自給自足，所以花生的數量比較多，圍村人也因而經常使用花生作為小吃的餡料。圍村茶粿大多數都是圓形白色的，但文女士表示當拜神的時候，茶粿就會有紅色和白色，寓意有兒有女，在六十歲大壽的時候也會製作桃形茶粿以示祝賀。
Tea Cakes with tea
茶粿和茶
Chaozhou And Walled Village Pastry
Peanut candy is one of the most popular pastries in Chaozhou. It was initially used as a wedding candy for women in Chaozhou and also used for worshipping the gods. There are many different kinds of peanut candies, but the materials are simple, mainly consisting of glutinous rice flour, peanuts, sesame seeds, and maltose. Different methods of making peanut candy can produce different looks and flavors, such as duck-neck candy, nan candy, black sesame candy, and peanut brittle.
According to Mr. Tang, an intangible cultural heritage inheritor of Chaozhou Pastry, the pastry shop “Hop Hing Lung,” located next to the Tang Ancestral Hall, was founded by his father. Mr. Tang inherited the business from his father, and the shop has run for about 60 years. Both father and son have inherited their skills from Chaozhou masters. Apart from Chaozhou pastries, the shop sells traditional Hakka pastries such as walled villages rice grain patterns, fried rice biscuits, and maltose cracker sandwiches.
潮州和圍村糕點
花生糖是潮州糕點中廣受歡迎的名品，原本是潮州嫁女糖，亦用於拜神。花生糖種類繁多，但用料簡單，主要由糯米粉、花生、芝麻、麥芽糖等製成。不同做法會製作出不同外觀和味道的花生糖，如鴨頸糖、湳糖、黑芝麻糖、花生酥等。據潮州花生糖非物質文化遺產傳承人鄧先生所述，位於鄧氏宗祠旁邊的糕點店「合興隆」是由其父一手創立，他子承父業，父子二代經營店鋪大概已有60年。父子二人的手藝均傳承自潮州師傅。除潮州糕點外，店鋪中亦賣圍村米通、圍村炒米餅和麥芽餅等傳統客家糕點。
Copyright 圖片版權
由組員自行拍攝 Photos taken by the group
1: 取自傳統圍村文化之家 Home of Indigenous Culture
Reference 參考文獻
元朗公共圖書館: 《元朗古與今：從圓塱到元朗》
文匯報（2020）：《【區區有故事之元朗】圍村文化難敵時代巨輪？ 元朗的鄉愁何以安放》
Antiquities and Monument: <Ping Shan Heritage Trail>
CATHARINA CHEUNG (2022): < Hidden Hong Kong: The Five Great Clans of the New Territories>
Hong Kong Intangible Cultural Heritage Database: <Spring and Autumn Ancestral Worship of Clans>
香港賽馬會——港文化。港創意:《 元朗十八鄉天后誕》
元朗網站：《元朗天后寶誕會景巡游2019》