After the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, he moved to Amritsar and started a shoe business.
How Hakka Chinese helped build Indonesia despite exclusion
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At each of these pop-ups, Lim showcased the flavours of her upbringing.
“My grandfather would always make me taste whatever he was cooking. In fact, my grandmother was a chef at the Airlines Hotel in Amritsar, when female chefs were unheard of in those days.”
The Hakka people are Han Chinese who once lived in northern China. Social unrest during the Qing dynasty caused many to move to the south of the country.
The Hakka never owned land and were constantly on the move; the name hakka means “guest family”, in reference to their fleeting presence in places.
It’s food that unites
Over the years they assimilated with the Cantonese-speaking population in eastern Guangdong province, and many settled there.
Hakka cuisine emphasises soy products such as tofu, as well as fermented mustard greens and preserved meats and vegetables. After Hakka people settled in coastal areas, they began to incorporate seafood, including fish and prawns, into their cuisine.
“Hakka food is the country cousin of the more refined Cantonese food. It’s hearty, robust soul food, using a lot of soy-based products, dried and fermented vegetables and meats,” Lim says.
“When the Hakka Chinese in Kolkata first started serving their food for outsiders, the dishes would be based on the ingredients the market had that day, cooked fresh. Then they adapted to local tastes, adding a bit of vinegar and a bit of chillies, culminating in the very popular Tangra Chinese food,” she adds. Tangra is an area in Kolkata.
Lim’s journey into professional cooking started at home in August 2020. Her development continued with Gormei, a culinary experiences and travel company started by former Hong Kong resident Argha Sen, when it started operations in Kolkata.
Sen pushed Lim to go beyond chilli chicken and Hakka noodles to cook dishes that do not feature on restaurant menus in India.
“We started making dishes like Hakka salt-baked chicken, which comprises a whole chicken marinated with sand ginger and rice wine, wrapped in layers of parchment paper and cooked in hot salt,” Lim says.
The cuisine Lim showcases still comprises traditional foods eaten by Hakka communities around the world.
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These include yong tau fu (stuffed tofu) and the aforementioned yam abacus seeds and salt-baked chicken. She also uses huangjiu (Hakka yellow wine) in her cooking.
“I even brought the Hong Kong typhoon shelter prawns to diners in India, which has now become my signature dish,” she says. “For me, this is very personal because I feel the younger generation has lost interest in learning about how and what our ancestors ate.”
Lim is passionate about showcasing food that represents the best of both China and India. “It’s food that unites. And who knows, soon rice wine making could become as commonplace in India as Hakka chow!” she says.
“I believe that the journey – some call it crusade – that I started around three years back, to showcase Hakka food beyond the standard noodles, has been very well appreciated by foodies everywhere and I aim to take it to newer audiences around the world,” she adds.
