元旦‎ (Western New Year) in China

[Fengyi]

I thought it might be interesting to post some pictures of a Western New Year in China (just as a contrast to Chinese New Year in the West Pictures ) ....

I was invited to my great-auntie's flat in Beijing for a celebration lunch.....at 10:00am!!!

We managed to bargain it up to 11am though!

It was very fun to celebrate as it was a sort of lower-key version of Chinese New Year and as it was a public holiday, they had invited the husband of the daughter of my mum's cousin (complex enough?) to cook as his job is a as chef for the People's Liberation Army. So yes, we had proper Liberation Army Food for the festivities

Well, it started off with the Spring Roll rolling...

The filling was very meat-based with lots of 韭菜 (Chinese chives) and the wrappers were all hand-made - very delicate and lacey and quite hard to wrap!!

We also made ones with a filling of bean paste 豆沙 (urgh!) for those with a sweet tooth.

You can see the bag in the middle of the table.

Next came the jiaozi prep with my Dongbei countryside relatives doing most of the work:

because the relatives are a mix of Manchu and Han and come from all over Dongbei - there was a lot of argument about the best jiaozi wrapping technique!!!

But the filling was the same (pork and celery):

Note the INCREDIBLY large bag of MSG from Tescos!!!

They love this stuff - their bag of salt was only 200g, but the MSG bag was 900g and boy!! was it sprinkled on with a lavish hand. Having said that, the jiaozi were incredibly tasty - so it does work!

During all this work - at the same time(!) in the MINUSCULE kitchen (about 3 square metres!), the Liberation Army cook was cooking up a storm and produced 8 cold dishes and a myriad of hot dishes out of the cubby hole.....and here is part of them:

(with the pink thermos and toilet roll adding a particularly festive touch I felt )

The glasses held some Australian Shiraz (that we bought) which was quickly polished off in rounds of 'Gan Bei!' but enjoyed by all.

The 'lunch' finally ended at 6pm and we were packed off with 20 springrolls, mounds of jiaozi in Tupperware and a bag of the springrolls wrapper with the cries of every relative's suggestion for fillings resounding in my ears.

It was very happy - and noisy! and I was very glad that our New Year's Eve was quiet and decorous....it would have been hard to do a Chinese-style Western New Year with a hangover

Edited January 5, 2008 by Fengyi (log)

[Rehovot]

Wow! Delicious-looking and very inspiring.

You mentioned that your relatives had different opinions on jiaozi wrapping techniques and fillings. Can you explain some of the main differences?

Thanks and Happy New Year!

[Ce'nedra]

Wow! Delicious-looking and very inspiring.

You mentioned that your relatives had different opinions on jiaozi wrapping techniques and fillings. Can you explain some of the main differences?

Thanks and Happy New Year!

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I too am interested in this process.

What about making the spring roll wrappers? How was that made?

[Fengyi]

I'm sorry I didn't take any pictures - would have made it a lot clearer!

Basically, there were four types of jiaozi wrapping going on - with each being defended vigorously!! There was the one which involves about 5 pinches and results in a crescent-moon, squat one; one that was like a mini cornish pasty, one that was very elegant with intricate inter-weaving pleating and a extra-fast version that is often used in jiaozi restaurants in this area. All were quite different looking!

As for the spring roll wrappers, they were made by a neighbour at her place so I didn't see. They looked like the usual ones made by 'splatting' (for want of a better word!) the wet dough on a hot griddle surface. But they were done rather well - this lady was quite well-known for her skill with the wrappers!

[Ben Hong]

Fengyi, I got quite a shock when I looked at the first picture. The lady on the left (black vest, purple top) is the spitting image of my late mother!!

I enjoyed looking at the food.

[Chris Amirault]

Great stuff, fengyi! The photo above, which included a bag of the stuff, prompted me to start this topic on cooking with MSG.

[Fengyi]

Thanks for the kind words, Chris. I personally don't mind MSG one bit - but sometimes I think the use of it is a bit heavy-handed here particularly by my countryside-relatives!) - just like I find sometimes salt can be in the West. . .

Ben - I'm sorry to cause you a shock! But it's funny that you should say that my great auntie resembles your late mother...my great auntie is Manchurian - which goes to show the amount of genetic mixing. I'm also glad you enjoyed the food! I did too