Different dialects have different dishes for reunion dinner. While the Cantonese would go for sweet and sour pork, steamed chicken dip in pounded ginger and a pot of nutritious herbal soup; some Hakkas would prefer “Pun Choy.”
In the past, the Hakkas were a people always on the move. They used to migrate from Northern China to the south. Along the way, many faced hardship and could not afford a grand feast of various dishes for their reunion dinner.
To overcome this problem, each household contribute a dish. You bring this, I bring that, we put them together into a large basin made of wood, metal or clay and eat together. You get to eat my fish and I get to eat your chicken, get the idea?
“Pun” means basin while “Choy” means dishes. “Pun Choy” is actually various dishes in a basin to be shared by everyone. It is a communal dish, almost like “pot luck.”
It is our family tradition to have “Pun Choy” for reunion dinner because my husband and our children are Hakkas. You can put any food you fancy into the basin. We normally have roasted pork, waxed duck and sausages, steamed chicken, fried fish, prawns, mushrooms, abalone and broccoli for our large metal basin. Everyone in the family loves and enjoy this.
What do you have for your reunion dinner?
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188 Hugh Low Street, Ipoh 
Pun Choy my favorite, too. My mom makes that every year too… a big big pot too.
The usual fare of a Cantonese family, carp, steamed chicken (however, the kids prefer soya sauce chicken but is a no-no to serve a dark face chicken to the gods first), roast pork, hair-fungus with mushrooms and abalone (包餘, guaranteed excess) . All great sounding names. Under no condition will be there any gourd dish in sight as the name sounds exactly like death. Unlike the northerners no dumpling are served. Cheap food and hence inferring that you are going to be poor.
However, since my mom passed away and am living in Los Angeles, a potluck party with friends is the order of the day; playing mahjong and eating. It’s going to be a fifty people affair this year. However, in my family, the Reunion Dinner is the most important. So we are celebrating the last year of the day rather than the day itself – spent sleeping like the Western New Year from partying into wee hours the night before.