In terms of making the beads, the dough is usually a mixture of mashed taro and tapioca starch. If you’re as much of a taro fan as I am, then you will find these an absolute delight in any way they’re served. To break away from the mould, you could always treat the abacus beads like you would a noodle and serve it in a broth. For the sake of easy reference, they’re quite similar to gnocchi, and are usually cooked then stir fried with mince, mushrooms and the like. They are essentially taro dumplings and are named after those old school calculator beads they are said to resemble. So enough of the brief Chinese lesson, what are these abacus beads and how are they even edible? I assure you that edible, they are. And thus this goes some way to explain Poh’s affinity with this renowned Hakka dish. In fact, the Hakka group are the second largest Chinese dialect group in Malaysia and as expected, many of their cooking styles have been incorporated into what is more generally regarded as ‘Chinese-Malaysian’ food. Like the Cantonese, the Hakka make up a large amount of many overseas Chinese, with many of them settling in South East Asian countries including Malaysia. Hakka speakers are generally from the south eastern parts of China and were believed to originate from central China. Translated literally, ‘Hakka’ means guest houses.
What is Hakka? It’s a Chinese dialect and a sub-categorisation of Chinese people who speak the dialect.
It has become one of my favourite dishes to cook, even though it is quite process intensive whipping this up for a mid week dinner! Now, I daresay I’ve mastered the dish enough to reproduce it for your judging.Ībacus beads is a famed and much loved Hakka dish. Since Poh first cooked abacus beads in her Masterchef audition back in 2009, I have been meaning to replicate the dish at home.
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