Organized jointly by the ­Hakka Affairs Council and the Tao­yuan City, Nan­tou County, Ping­tung County and Tai­tung County governments, this year’s series of events was launched in August and continued through to the end of October, with separate contests held successively in Taiwan’s northern, eastern, central, and southern regions. Lee Yung-te, minister for ­Hakka affairs, spoke at a press conference to open the competition: “We’d like the people of Taiwan to experience the essence of Hakka culture through its wonderful cuisine.”

Rice-flour dough is pressed through a sieve to create ribbons, then boiled. After cooling, you have silver-needle noodles.

Silver-needle noodles meet seafood

The first contest, held in Tao­yuan City at the end of August, brought together a traditional Hakka dish, silver­-needle noodles, with a variety of seafood. The event was staged under the extended title of “Silver­-Needle Noodles versus the Dragon King of the North Sea and his Army of Shellfish.”

Silver-needle noodles are just one among a wide range of Hakka rice-flour products, so why were they chosen as the key ingredient? Tao­yuan mayor ­Cheng Wen-tsan notes that silver-­needle noodles were a popular snack food among Hakka farmers in the old days. “It’s the kind of food that represents the character of the Hakka people perfectly: working hard with limited resources.”

Chiang ­Chieh-an, director-general of the Tao­yuan City Department of ­Hakka Affairs, says that the ­Hakka people in particular love rice noodles, and because there are so many varieties, they can be used for different dishes according to the needs of the occasion. Among them, Hakka ban­tiao (flat rice noodles) are perhaps the most appealing. In fact, ban­tiao were chosen as one of the dishes for President Tsai’s inauguration banquet in May this year.

Making silver-needle noodles seems complex, but is actually not very difficult. The process involves soaking indica rice in water for three to four hours, after which the rice is ground, drained, steamed, shaped by passing through a sieve, and then boiled in hot water. After cooling, you have silver-needle noodles.

“Silver-needle noodles can be prepared in many ways: stir fried or in a soup, sweet or savory, hot or cold,” says ­­Chiang. Their use tends to vary with the seasons: in summer, the noodles can be mixed with grass jelly, green beans and sugar to create a cold dessert. They can also be used to create a very tasty stir fry with crispy-fried shallots, mushrooms, Chinese chives, dried shrimps, dried bean curd, and pork.

A group calling themselves the Spicy Girls won the professional chef section of the northern region Hakka Cuisine Competition. They used silver-needle noodles as a stuffing for zongzi (sticky-rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves), a very unusual creation.

Mountains meet the sea

Silver-needle noodles cooked with seafood are a novel combination.

Hakka people tend not to use much seafood, as the majority live in mountainous areas—only two Hakka townships, ­Xinwu and Guan­yin in Tao­yuan, lie on the coast. So the combination of seafood with silver-needle noodles for the northern region cuisine contest was an interesting one. This event included Hsin­chu, ­Miaoli and Tao­yuan.

Chef Luo Jin­han, a Hakka born in ­Miaoli County, is one of the judges in the contest. Luo says that authentic silver-needle­ noodles made from indica rice have a special tender but slightly firm texture with a strong rice fragrance, so the flavor is always unique regardless of whether they are used as a soup or a stir fry.

“As long as you have the right ingredients and the skill, the food will always be tasty,” says Luo. Silver-needle­ noodles are often stir-fried with other ingredients in a sauce, but when cooking them with seafood, it’s better to use seafood stock so the flavors are not too overwhelming.

The contest was divided into two groups: restaurant chefs and students. Chefs were required to meet higher standards, to present more delicate flavors and aromas, and to demonstrate more efficient preparation techniques.

But despite their relative lack of experience, contestants from the student group also produced amazing results. Luo tells us about one student team who produced a very tasty dish using deep-fried fish bones to make a stock, to which were added clams and silver-­needle noodles.

Silver-needle noodles can be sweetened to make a dessert, or combined with seafood or other ingredients to create a savory dish.

Pickled ingredients

The eastern region Hakka Cuisine Competition included the counties of Yi­lan, Hua­lien and Tai­tung, and was held in Tai­tung County on October 1. The focus of the event was on Hakka pickled foods, and contestants were invited to use these as a base for new culinary creations that would combine the traditional with the innovative.

Yan Zhi­guang, director of the Tai­tung County Department of Civil Affairs, explains that the majority of Hakka people who migrated to Taiwan from the Chinese mainland in times past settled in the mountains. For convenient storage and ease of carrying, they developed various methods of preserving food by drying or pickling, and this tradition became a major characteristic of Hakka cuisine.

Chef Qiu Bao­lang, one of judges of the event, concurs. Pickled food is a valuable component of Hakka cuisine, especially pickled mustard greens, mei­gan cai (dried pickled mustard), pickled radish, and salted mustard greens. Using some of these pickled foods with fresh local ingredients can lead to the creation of novel approaches to Hakka tradition. Qiu presented two new dishes in his chef’s showcase, using local ingredients including spring onions from San­xing in Yi­lan, gold-­diamond pork from Guan­shan in Tai­tung, and Hua­lien’s Fuli rice. 

Qiu was pleased to see that the chef group demonstrated a high standard of professionalism. They showed excellent plating skills and created a range of delicate flavors. For example, their pumpkin steamed buns stuffed with mei­gan cai, and soup cooked with two types of old pickled radish (one 50 years old and the other a mere five years) demonstrated very impressive multiple layers of flavor. In contrast, perhaps because the student group lacked the deep understanding of Hakka food culture, the pickled ingredients such as old radish and mei­gan cai had somewhat less impact in their creations.

In mid-October, the central region competition was held in Zhong­xing New Village, Nan­tou, where the focus was on advocating new concepts of environmental protection, carbon reduction and preservation of good health, aiming to utilize the locally produced teas in the preparation of Hakka cuisine.

In the southern region, the competition was an extremely lively event, with the so-called “ban­tiao three brothers” featuring strongly: Hakka ban­tiao, Min­nan guo zai (rice cakes) and he fen (rice noodles introduced to Taiwan by immigrants from Southeast Asia). These were combined with silver-needle noodles and rice balls as the principal ingredients for the contest: traditional Hakka foods infused with new ingredients.

Throughout the various stages of the competition, Hakka cuisine was transformed into a variety of new styles. ­Chiang ­Chieh-an tells us that the Tao­yuan City Government is planning an exchange event with Ka­gawa Prefecture in Japan featuring Hakka silver­-needle­ noodles and Kagawa udon noodles, aiming to promote Hakka culture worldwide through appreciation of its amazing cuisine.

The delicacy of Hakka cooking, now integrating the deeply rooted Hakka culture and Taiwan’s many delicious local cuisines, will be promoted to the international community to market Taiwan to the world. We all look forward to watching the results of this initiative unfold. 

Silver-needle noodles can be sweetened to make a dessert, or combined with seafood or other ingredients to create a savory dish.

Silver-needle noodles can be sweetened to make a dessert, or combined with seafood or other ingredients to create a savory dish.

The 2016 eastern region Hakka Cuisine Competition was hosted in a lively manner by Taitung County magistrate Justin Huang (front row, fifth from right). (courtesy of Taitung County Government)

The focus of the 2016 eastern region Hakka Cuisine Competition was on Hakka pickled foods, with a range of delicious dishes including braised pork with pickled mustard. (courtesy of Taitung County Government)

The focus of the 2016 eastern region Hakka Cuisine Competition was on Hakka pickled foods, with a range of delicious dishes including pumpkin cooked with salted egg yolks. (courtesy of Taitung County Government)

The focus of the 2016 eastern region Hakka Cuisine Competition was on Hakka pickled foods, with a range of delicious dishes including bamboo shoots with pickled mustard and pork. (courtesy of Taitung County Government)

The chef group demonstrated a high standard of professionalism, showing excellent plating skills and creating a range of delicate flavors. (courtesy of Taitung County Government)