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I hope everyone has had a wonderful Chinese New Year reunion dinner and a festive and fun celebration for the first few days of Chinese New Year. I looooove Chinese New Year, it’s the occasion that brings family and friends together, and it’s a tradition that reminds all Chinese of our root, culture, and civilization. Never mind the obnoxiously loud and cheesy Chinese New Year songs, the bright red and gold Chinese New Year decor, and the endless foods and offerings for the many prayers and rituals. They are what make us Chinese, and we should embrace all these unique practices for generations to come.
While I am always excited about the reunion dinner and the many courses of traditional Chinese New Year dishes, I have to confess that it’s the leftover that really tickles my taste buds. Yes, I am talking about chai buey, or 菜尾, literally meas “leftover.” In Penang, especially in my Nyonya family, the day after the first day of New Year is when we make a huge pot of chai buey—a soup or stew concocted with all the leftover ingredients from the reunion dinner. It’s generally consisted of meat (chicken, roast pork, duck), vegetables (preferably fresh “mustard green/gai choy/ 芥菜” or kiam cai/picked salted mustard green), and all the other leftover from the reunion dinner, including steamboat (hot pot). The chai buey is infused with tamarind juice, bean paste (taucheo), some dried red chilies, with some peeled assam keping (optional). You then stew the chai buey over low heat to bring out all the flavors of the leftover ingredients, and the end result is a pot of mouthwatering, appetizing, and utterly delicious stew that I can eat for days…
This is my chai buey that I made a couple of days ago with some leftover roast pork, mushrooms, and other leftover Chinese New Year dishes. The great thing about chai buey is that it just gets better overnight or days later as the flavors break down and continue to develope with time. My late mother would keep chai buey for up to 3-4 days, while she kept adding fresh mustard greens to the soup. Everyone in my family loves this dish—the soup goes so well with steamed white rice and sambal belacan, and the dish is full of hidden treasures, if you are willing to dig in and find the goodies.
As chai buey is made of leftover foods, there is really not a proper recipe to create the dish. It’s really flexible and you can use your taste buds to create your own version of chai buey and use the key seasoning ingredients below to bring out the flavors:
- Tamarind juice—soak a golf-ball size tamarind pulp in 4 cups of water and extract the juice
- Yellow bean paste or taucheo—this gives you the earthy and salty taste in the stew/soup
- Dried red chilies—remove the seeds of the dried chilies and dump them into the soup. A great chai buey should be slightly spicy.
- Mustard green or gai choy (芥菜)—we love this vegetables in chai buey, nothing can replace it. In Hokkien, it’s called “kua cai.”
- Water—since this is a soupy stew, you should add water because the best part is sipping the sour soup!
For the perfect balance of flavors, use some salt and sugar (optional) to achieve your desired taste.
Now, tell me if you love chai buey?
Note: Chai Buey can also be found at the many economy rice stalls in Malaysia, and some chicken rice stalls also serve chai buey. I have to warn you that it’s not the most appetizing and photogenic looking stew/dish, but once you try the flavor, I am sure it will win you over. Enjoy!
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I’ve had this before,I could taste it through the screen,CNY leftovers makes for wonderful dishes don’t they.=)
David – this is my favorite comfort dish that reminds me of home.
I’ve had great success in making this in a slow cooker. It saves a lot of time and the flavors blend really well after cooking for 6-8 hours.
Slow cooker, that’s a good idea.
This is one of my all time favourite dish. I can have it for days & days without getting sick of it. Like you said, it gets better overnight or days later. Since I am residing overseas, I hardly have a chance to make this dish. When I desperately crave for it, I go out to Chinatown to buy some BBQ meat and gai choy to make a pot. Yes, it does sound like a waste not to use leftovers but have to satisfy craving……all is worth it, hehehe!!! The next time I make it, I will use some yellow bean paste too…I don’t normally have this as an ingredient but worth giving it a shot. Anything just to make the dish even more tastier and irresistble. BTW, how much of this paste do we need to add….is one tbsp enough to start off with? Cheers!
Yes, this is what I do too, buy roast pork from Chinatown and make chai buey. It’s the cheated version but it works because my late mother also used to make it like that, with the leftover roast pork from prayers. For the taucheo, you can use 1 or 2 tablespoons to start with. It really adds depth and flavors to the chai buey, try it. :)
I tried the Roast trotters version.. turns out that it taste superb! It tasted better when you pre-roast/ saute the meat withh garlic and pepper first, before simmers with water…
Thanks for your tips.
Never had this before but looking at the ingredients, they’re all familiar to me. I can imagine why you like this dish. Back home, we have a sourish soup with pickled mustard green and spare ribs similar to the Filippino’s sinigang.
Yes, we also have another dish called Kiam Chai Ark (salted mustard green with duck) but the soup base is completely different, but yes, sourish and similar taste structure. YUMMY.
I absolutely love this. My mom and aunts always cook them after a family wedding banquet with the leftover from the restaurant. Agree that there can be a detailed recipe because it depends on what leftovers are available :)
Ellie – those wedding banquets leftover makes the best CHAI BUEY. I am drooling just thinking about it. YUMMY.
This is my first time commenting even though I have been an avid reader of your blog. Thank you thank you for posting this. My mom used to make this but I had no idea what it’s called. I didn’t even have an inkling on how to search for it on google. This is wonderful and I will bookmark it.
Ping, glad that you found this chai buey on my site.
It used to be called Kiam Chai Buey in Penang.. in the 60/70s the cook for the wedding reception will recycle all the leftover for this dish, guest could then take a portion back for their dinner later..great way to recycle leftover
Correct, Vincent. I looooove those chai buey from wedding banquets leftovers. Growing up as the youngest in my family, I have had so much GREAT chai buey from the wedding, and my mother would then give them away to neighbors and friends. So much hidden treasures inside them, and the taste is always soooooo much better and sweet.
omy freakin good, i love chai boey..i didn’t know it was made from leftovers though, i think the ones served in restaurants/hawkers are not leftovers…and i know my mother’s friend also made it before not from left-overs but specially made..
The ones served at restaurant may not may not be leftover. If you buy from economy rice stalls, there are probably some leftovers.
I think I need to stop visiting your website now because it makes me feel so home sick! I can see all the delicious dishes you cooked but can’t taste them physically :(
I live in Cirencester, UK, the town which has a couple who won £56millions lottery few days ago. If I have that sort of money, I probably setup a Malaysian restaurant & bakery locally so that I can have my meal there everyday. Anyway, enough of dreaming and get back to reality!!!
Thanks for sharing chai buey pictures & recipe. I shall make the effort to cook them soon for my wife & kids to eat. In cooking this dish, did you mix all the ingredients in a pot, bring them to boil, lower the heat and then add the kua cai? For how long you need to cook this dish in low heat?
p/s: Just kidding about stopped visiting your website. I am a fan on your facebook.
HS – LOL, you are so funny. That’s exactly my intention, my site is a channel to bring back the memories, tastes, and smells from home. Food conjures up so much emotions in me, it’s just amazing. I usually boil the soup first (with the meat and leftover) and then I add the kua cai the last. Then keep boiling on medium heat to make the kua cai really tender. The best. My family’s favorite part of the kua cai is the bottom of the young stems, they are always the first ones to go. LOL.
Hi Bee!! Gong Hei Fatt Choy!!! Aaah This recipe is just in time for all the CNY leftovers!!! I have my hubby pick up some “Gai Choy” on his way home from work today … plus with the snow coming down … this is the prefect dish!!! Can’t wait to dig in!!!
Tricia – that’s great. Thank God we can get gai choy easily here, what would we do without it????
My Chai Buey are finally all gone. Everyday, I would add new gai choy. The last 2 days … there are only gai choy … just couldn’t let my hubby throw away the soup/stew!!!
Thanks for the recipes. The last time I had this soup was at least 15 years ago.
Do you have craving for chai buey now that you see it?
I just looove this dish. It’s simple to make and it tastes lovely.
Correct, there is no real recipe, just throw everything inside. Hehe.
What a coincidence! My mum called me yesterday to inform that she had just made chai-buey (we call it chap chai) and asked me to come over so that I can ‘tapau’ some home. My mum likes to make it a little more soupy (but still full of flavour and kaw!) because we just luuurrrrve the soup. This is another post CNY must!
Yeah. I know in certain places they are called chap chai. To us Penangites, chap chai is a completely different dish.
I love this! Goes so well with just rice!
I know! I just just slurp the soup and eat with plain white rice.
OMG! Just looking at the picture is making my mouth water!! Gosh do I miss Penang and Chai Boey!! YUM!
Another superb blast from the past, Bee. Absolutely love Kiam Chye Buey. Craved for it when I was pregnant. Had to have it everyday!
*Slurping into keyboard*
I bet, the sour sour taste is very appetizing!!!
HI
Came across your site while sourcing some recipes online and wow that chai buey looks divine and I am sure its taste fantastic. I love this dish or should I say crazy over this dish. When I was living in KL my mum used to make them everytime after the food leftovers from cny. I havent eaten them in 9 yrs now since my mum passed away. I cant get any of this in Australia and when I saw your posting it brought back so much fond memories of this wonderful dish. I know chai buey is make from leftovers but can I use fresh ingredients like vegies and roast pork etc etc. Would greatly appreciate if you can give me the recipe for this dish. Thanks
Sonny – yes, you can make this from fresh ingredients. Go to Chinatown and get 1 pound of roast pork, cut into pieces, then add 4 water to boil, then add taucheo, dried red chilies, and tamarind juice (about 1 cup with golf-ball size and soak for 30 minutes to fully extract the juice). Then add mustard green or kua cai. Add more tamarind juice if not sour enough, not salty, add more taucheo or salt. Not spicy, add more dried red chilies. That’s all. Good luck.
I’m cooking this right now and I just can’t wait to dig in…yummy!
Chai boey is one humble but FANTASTIC dish with many die-hard fans!! Great job in posting this up, Bee!
It’s not possible to be indifferent to kiam chai boey bec it stimulates all your tastebuds. Just had them during CNY, and craving it again. I love it after a day when everything turns kinda mushy, and the flavours all come together. It’s the most deeply-satisfying soul food for me.
I missed Chai boey, have not eaten this dish since I came to US, that is about 28 years. Will definitly be in Malaysia next year during the CNY so I can taste this again
Love this dish. Made it a couple of times last month. Besides roast pork, I would add in pork shoulder and tomatoes, including kiam chai and kai choy/kua chai. Instead of tamarind I use vinegar. I guess living in CA one needs to improvise. Will try adding taocheo next time.
Hi, We are cooking this for lunch today. My mother in law is nonya, she add balachan instead of taucheow. Equally yummy.
We live in the UK and hardly have the opportunity to have many left over dishes. But that is not stopping our craving for this delicious dish. My wife usually buys a rotisserie chicken from any supermarket (sometimes she add a bit of the roast pork), then add kai choy from chinatown, throw in some fresh carrots, dried chili, assam slices, etc. just as you mentioned above. However, we have never tried the yellow bean stuff. Will give it a try next time. Thanks!
I also made this dish with our leftover CNY dishes. Added store-bought Chinese roast duck and roast pork to enhance the depth of its flavor. Fabulous! Say, what is the name (and recipe) of the soury soup served with yam rice back in Penang? It’s not this dish, is it?
Mmm thanks for a great trip down memory lane. Wow, so many other homesick Malaysians and Penangites! Just need to check if my memory is correct. I faintly recall being told when I was young that anything can be added except for fish, seafood and taufoo. Is this right? In your pic, I think I see a piece that looks like fried taufoo or taupok – or is my eyesight getting worse than my memory lol! Also, thanks for the tip on the taucheo. Is this your own discovery or a tradition, ie from adding dishes like pongteh or dishes that were cooked with taucheo for reunion dinner? Tia!
Hi you are doing so well on Nonya food.Can you spend some time introducing Malaysian home cook Indian curries and Malay curries.
My daughter is half chinese and boy does she loves the Malay and Indian curries when we visit Malaysia.
Thanks
Hi Bing, you can find some Malay and Indian recipes on Rasa Malaysia (http://rasamalaysia.com), my main site.
Bee, I am planning to cook ayam pongteh for tonight’s dinner and wondered if you had the recipe. :-) Goggle is a good help, nonetheless. I just want to say that every single time I come to your nyonya site, I can never help myself but to come back and look at this recipe yet another time. I loooove chai buey so much but rarely get it at my local chap fan place. LOL. Anyway, good eye food for me today. Thanks for your lovely site!
Jayne – Ayam pongteh is a Melaka Nyonya dish and my family has never made it. I have seen the recipe before it shouldn’t be too hard to cook. Good luck.
I cooked this dish when my hubby requested. My hubby from Taiwan, he love it after the 1st try. Sometime we bought roast chicken from costco than he will asked slice the meat and save the chicken bones.
oooh… just to mention. I intend to make chai buey one of these days. What sorts of leftovers do you think are best suited for this? I had chai buey with leftover roast duck and siew yoke and it was unbelievable! But we don’t have these 2 lying around very often (gets polished off before I realize it).
真的好吃，比中国四川川菜鱼好得多。他们也用芥菜。但是不是那么好吃
太感谢你呢。
So yummy! better than Si Chuan, Chuan Cai Yu (one dish of soup) a lot (they use fish)
Thankyou!
(I am Thai but live in China)
I love your website! It’s so important to keep nyonya cooking alive. My late grandmother made this every Chinese New Year and everytime I eat it I remember her and all the New Years we had at her house. Keep up the great work!
Oh what a yummy dish which i missed so much, this reminded me of my wonderful landlady who offered me this dish before. It really make me mouth watering. I ‘ll try to cook this dish one day. Thanks for posting the recipes.