Five Prosperity Pouch With Broccoli
(Vegetarian Version Included)

Photo of completed Five Prosperity Pouch With Broccoli

During the Chinese or Lunar New Year, dishes with special meaning and unique names are often served in an effort to bring luck and good vibes into the home. We decided to join in the fun! This "Five Prosperity Pouch with Broccoli" that we are sharing today symbolizes and is inspired by the Chinese five-fold symbols of happiness: prosperity, wealth, longevity, luck, and happiness. The five main ingredients of the prosperity pouch that we used are minced chicken, shrimp, seafood sticks, lotus roots, and carrots. These mixtures are stuffed into the tofu pouch or aburaage which resembles a golden prosperity pouch or ancient fortune bag. You can see how to make this fun and delicious dish in the video demonstration. If you are looking for the ideal dish to be served at the family reunion dinner for the upcoming Lunar New Year, do give this a try!

Five Prosperity Pouch Ingredients:

  • ⅛ Cup Minced Chicken (Substitute with plant-based meat for vegetarian version)
  • 8 Large Shrimps (Omit for vegetarian)
  • 2 Seafood Sticks (or Surimi,omit for vegearian)
  • ⅛ Cup Coarsely Chopped Fresh Lotus Roots
  • ⅛ Cup Coarsely Chopped Carrots

Five Prosperity Pouch Seasoning:

  • ¼ Teaspoon Chinese Rose Wine (May substitute with Chinese cooking wine)
  • ¼ Teaspoon Salt (-/+)
  • White Pepper (A dash or two)
  • 1- 1 ½ Teaspoons Oyster Sauce (Or vegetarian oyster sauce)
  • ⅛-¼ Teaspoon Sesame Oil
  • ⅛ Teaspoon Sugar

Five Prosperity Pouch Instructions:

  1. Peel and devein shrimps.
  2. Roughly chop them up into small pieces. Set aside.
  3. Chop up seafood sticks and set aside. Finely or coarsely chop is completely up to you.
  4. Peel and coarsely chop up carrots and lotus roots. Set aside.
  5. In a bowl, add in all the main Five Prosperity Pouch Ingredients - minced chicken, chopped carrots, chopped lotus roots, chopped shrimps and chopped seafood sticks.
  6. Add in all the seasoning under Five Prosperity Pouch Seasoning above into prepared Five Prosperity Pouch Ingredients.
  7. Stir to combine everything and set aside in the fridge for later.

Other Ingredients:

  • 1 Pack Tofu Pouch (Aburaage)
  • 1 Crown of Broccoli (Small)
  • 2 Cloves Fresh Garlic
  • Some Fresh Chives
  • 8 Dried Scallops/Conpoy (Small. For large use 4-5 scallops- omit for vegetarian)
  • ½ Cup Hot Water
  • ¼ Tablespoon Oyster Sauce (Or vegetarian oyster sauce)
  • ¼ Teaspoon Chinese Rose Wine (Or regular Chinese cooking wine)
  • ¼ Teaspoon Sesame Oil (Omit if dislike)
  • ½ Tablespoon Cooking Oil
  • Cornstarch Slurry (⅛-¼ Teaspoon cornstarch + 1 ½ Tablespoons water)
  • Water ( Enough for blanching broccoli)
  • Salt (To taste)
  • White Pepper (To taste)

Instructions:

  1. Wash dried scallops a few times.
  2. Add washed dried scallops in a bowl and soak them in half cup of hot water for 15 minutes or until softened. While waiting, prepare and cut the broccoli and other ingredients.
  3. Bring enough water to blanch broccoli in a pot to a boil.
  4. Add cut broccoli pieces and quickly blanch them for a few seconds. Turn off the heat.
  5. Transfer blanched broccoli to a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process.
  6. After 5 minutes, drain off the water and set the broccoli aside.
  7. In the same pot of hot water that you used to blanch broccoli, with the heat still turned off, add a few fresh chives and quickly blanch them for 1-2 seconds to soften the chives. We will use this as a twine later. Transfer the blanched chives to a plate/bowl of cold water to stop the cooking.
  8. Set the chives aside.
  9. Peel and chop up fresh garlic. Set aside.
  10. When the scallops are softened, take out the soaked and softened scallops to a plate. Don’t remove or pour away the water that you used to soak scallops. We will use this for sauce or gravy making.
  11. Take two forks and shred scallops into small pieces.
  12. Alternatively you can use your washed and cleaned hands to do this.
  13. Set shredded scallops aside for later.
  14. Take out the “Five Prosperity Pouch Ingredients” that we set aside in the fridge earlier.
  15. Take one tofu pouch and open up the opening part of the pouch. Some tofu pouch comes without the slit opening part. Just cut or slit open the top and there you have a pouch aka bag.
  16. Fill the tofu pouch with the prepared “Five Prosperity Pouch Ingredients” that we took out from the fridge. Roughly fill about a teaspoon or so of the pouch fillings mixture and flatten up as shown in the video.
  17. Take one chive that we set aside earlier and gently tie the pouch up as shown in the video. Repeat with the remaining same process (step 15-17). When this step is complete, proceed to the next step below.
  18. Heat up a skillet or pan with half tablespoon of cooking oil at medium heat.
  19. When the pan/skillet/wok is ready, add in shredded scallops and fry for 2 minutes.
  20. Add in chopped fresh garlic and stir fry for 5 seconds at medium heat.
  21. Pour in ½ cup of hot water that we used to soak scallops that we set aside, oyster sauce, sesame oil and rose wine/cooking wine into the pan/skillet/wok. Let them come to a boil at medium high heat.
  22. Then, carefully place the tied prosperity pouches into the pan/skillet/wok as shown in the video.
  23. Cover with a lid and let them simmer and cook for 12-15 minutes or until the minced chicken cooked through at medium heat. You can open one pouch up and check for doneness. If not, tie them back and put them back into the pan and let them cook for extra minutes if necessary. You can check for doneness with a cooking thermometer if you want to. Adjust cooking time accordingly.
  24. Remove the cooked pouches to a plate.
  25. In the same pan with the sauces still in a pan/skillet/wok, add cornstarch slurry.
  26. Stir until the sauce or gravy just slightly thicken up at medium low heat as shown. You may add some extra water if needed.
  27. Add in blanched broccoli that we set aside and stir fry for two minutes or so.
  28. Add salt and white pepper to taste if necessary and stir for a second or two.
  29. Stir & turn the heat off. Transfer the broccoli to a serving plate. Plate the broccoli around the plate and the prosperity pouches in the middle as shown in the video.
  30. Pour the sauce or gravy all over the broccoli and prosperity pouches and enjoy it warm.
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Tips & Notes:

  1. You can find the fresh tofu pouch, or fresh seasoned aburaage, at most Asian grocery stores, or they are also available online in a can here.
  2. We used Chinese rose wine for cooking, but you can substitute it with your choice of regular Chinese cooking wine or omit it if you can’t take alcohol.
  3. Dried scallops can be found at most Asian grocery stores or online.
  4. Remember not to pour away the water that you used to soak scallops. We will use this for sauce or gravy making for the dish.
  5. You can prepare the five main ingredients mixture for the prosperity pouch ahead of time and keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a day or in the freezer for up to one - two weeks if stored properly . If you keep them in the freezer, make sure to thaw them in the fridge overnight before using them the next day.
  6. We used THIS seafood sticks.
  7. You can easily swap this dish into a vegetarian version by simply substituting the minced chicken, shrimp, and seafood sticks with plant-based meat. Or you can use your choice of vegetarian ingredients as the stuffing.
  8. For the vegetarian version, many of the main ingredients are omitted. In order to add extra flavor to the entire dish, you can add some vegetable bouillon to taste as an alternative to the rest of the main non-vegetarian ingredients used in the recipe. But this is completely optional. Add roughly ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon of vegetable bouillon to taste at first and adjust from there. Add more if needed.
  9. You may not use up the whole filling if you are making a small serving for the day. In this case, keep them in the fridge or freezer for next time.
  10. We only made a small serving today for the demo and stored the rest of the filling in the freezer for the next serving.
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