Chinese food for Christmas

[nakji]

I've spent the last week or so in a tizzy to stock my pantry full of things to make those familiar dishes from home for Christmas - shortbread, mince pies, tourtiere. There's a bit of guilt to all this, though, as I can't help but feel like I'm surrounding myself in a cultural fortress, locking out what China has to offer me.

In her memoir, "Shark Fin and Sichuan Pepper", Fuschia Dunlop writes that,

"What we eat is an essential part of who we are and how we define ourselves. Keeping up cultural traditions when abroad is no trivial matter...[y]ou take on the food of another country at your peril. Do it, and you inevitably loosen your own cultural moorings..."

Am I afraid to cook Chinese food for Christmas? I can't resist a gauntlet thrown like that. I don't want to end up one of those ex-patriates that lives on off-brand boxed macaroni cheese and overpriced German muesli.

I've decided to add some Chinese dishes to my Christmas dinner in celebration of my host country and the ridiculously delicious foods available here. When in Rome, etc. I don't want to make dumplings, as I won't have time, what with all the cookie baking I've got on my plate. Nor do I want to do any stir-frying, a la minute sort of dishes, as I want to hang out with my friends, not be futzing around in the kitchen bent over a wok while everyone is eating all my double-Devonshire toffees in my living room. Not that it takes a long time, but all that chopping...no.

So I'm leaning towards a braised dish, like red-braised pork, as it'll have those lovely flavours of Christmas like cinnamon and star anise. I'm also thinking of getting a whole roast duck and shredding it into a salad with pomegranate, cilantro and a honey-soy-mandarin orange dressing. Fusion. And buying some dumplings.

Anyone else, through custom or curiosity, adding Chinese dishes to their Christmas feasting?

[snowangel]

Interesting that you mention this. Last night, my folks were over for dinner and we talked about our Christmas Day meal. Mom has a nice flounder in the freezer, so we are going Chinese -- doing a steamed fish, with the inspiration from Barbara Tropp's tome. Time to hunker down with my other Chinese cookbooks and come up with some sides.

I should add that our Christmas Day tradition is to do something different every day!

[rooftop1000]

Since I have started reading different Expat Blogs before I take vacation trips it is refreshing to see someone want to incorporate "native" cuisine into a holiday meal rather than make desparate substitutions.

Certainely any dish that is Festive or goes with your core meal would be appropriate but I would lean towards Duck especially after having watched Christmas Story too many times. ( If you havent seen it, the family's Turkey is taken by the neighbor dogs so they have to go out for Chinese food on Christmas)

Enjoy, Merry Christmas

Tracey

[nakji]

Mom has a nice flounder in the freezer, so we are going Chinese -- doing a steamed fish, with the inspiration from Barbara Tropp's tome. Time to hunker down with my other Chinese cookbooks and come up with some sides.

Nice! And fish means "surplus", doesn't it? So it's like you're welcoming in a fruitful year. I have some carp paper cut-outs I'm going to hang as decoration over my table. Doesn't Barbara Tropp have a recipe for sauteed oranges? And something with walnuts? Those would be nice, and seasonal.

Since I have started reading different Expat Blogs before I take vacation trips it is refreshing to see someone want to incorporate "native" cuisine into a holiday meal rather than make desparate substitutions.

There is definitely a balance to be struck. They'll pry my shortbread out of my cold, dead hands. But why not incorporate what's available, right? It'd be a waste not to. I served kimchi, and sweet potatoes with yuzu marmalade the years I made Thanksgiving in Korea.

My family always had Chinese food for New Year's Eve, so I associate this cuisine with the holidays anyway. Of course, we had to sit through Dad's lecture on nasi goreng and the hawker stands of Singapore, too. Even my husband can quote him now.

I'm also making corn chowder with lop yuk, which - if you've never tried it - is really something special; a real twist on a classic.

[Chris Amirault]

Well how about that! I've just decided to go full-on Chinese for this Xmas dinner as well. I'll have ten folks, including three kids. I also have some time evenings this week for prep, and the full day before dinner. I can do a bit of stir frying as long as I have everything else set and the mise prepped.

So Erin and Susan, I'm excited to plan and execute along with you! I hope you'll also document, and I'll try to do the same.

Here's my first draft of a menu; a lot will depend on what's looking good at the store(s).

starters

shrimp & pork dumplings

nam yu peanuts

mains

braised lu shui beef with water chestnuts (fresh??), tofu sticks, and black mushrooms

steamed whole fish of some sort

steamed scallops with tofu in black bean sauce

steamed rice noodles with char siu

roasted chicken or duck?

salt & pepper shrimp?

clams with black beans?

sides

pickles

string beans with minced pork

whatever greens I can find that are fresh

noodles & rice

steamed rice

naw mai fon

dan dan noodles

"kid noodles"

The kids will go nuts for the rice, noodles, and dumplings, so I have leeway with the other items. I grabbed a few cookbooks before coming into work for ideas, but I'd be interested to know what people think.

[nakji]

Ooh, that's a lot of steamed dishes. What kind of pickles are you thinking of making? Also, I think you need a soup.

Does he need a soup?

[Chris Amirault]

Steaming is easy bc I can bring out my wok burner and have the steamer on the porch; it won't get cold out there the way that stir fry would.

Thought about soup, but I've found that this crowd avoids the soup unless you do a separate course, and then they get a bit crabby waiting for the other stuff....

[sheetz]

Thanksgiving being our big annual food day, our Xmas meals really don't have that same sense of tradition so pretty much anything goes. That said, I think if you'd like to incorporate some Chinese dishes into your feast any of the Chinese New Year foods would work just fine for celebrating the upcoming Western calendar New Year. I don't know what Chinese New Year's dishes are common in your part of China, but do try to include some of them. If you have access to turkeys a deep fried turkey would be a nod to both Chinese sensibilities as well as American tradition.

[snowangel]

Chris, that seems like a lot of food. How many folks?

Ditto on your thoughts on soup. They want it as a separate course, and get crabby waiting for "the meal."

Also, you mention dumplings. Steamed or pot-stickered (is that a legit verb?)?

[Chris Amirault]

Yeah, I've gotta cut back some. I think I'll steam the dumplings; that can be round one of the steaming.

[Prawncrackers]

Ha ha you guys are crazy, but i like it! Xmas is the only day of the year that my extended Chinese family insist on traditional Western food, no Chinese dishes at all. I love the way you are turning that around.

Chris, sheetz is right it looks like you are doing a Chinese New Year type feast. Let's go through it:

starters

shrimp & pork dumplings

nam yu peanuts

The dumplings are like sui mai or more like gau ji? Or would that be a selection of dumplings, that'd be wonderful - imagine tickling your guests tastebuds with several textures and fillings. The peanuts will be perfect chopstick warm-up exercise too.

mains

braised lu shui beef with water chestnuts (fresh??), tofu sticks, and black mushrooms

steamed whole fish of some sort

steamed scallops with tofu in black bean sauce

steamed rice noodles with char siu

roasted chicken or duck?

salt & pepper shrimp?

clams with black beans?

The whole steamed fish is a must and i like the idea of a hearty braise. The steamed noodles with char siu, is that like cheong fun? If so then it's a little out of place, if you're determined to make it then maybe have as another starter? S&P shrimp i can imagine everyone getting stuck into that. The scallop and clam (razors?) dishes are too similar i think, have one or the other. The big question for me is you need a roasted meat dish. Now if i were cooking for CNY i would just buy a suckling pig or a couple of roast ducks and not worry about roasting them on the day. If it's not convenient to buy on the day then maybe cook a big slab of siu yuk? It's the easiest of all the meats to reproduce at home.

sides

pickles

string beans with minced pork

whatever greens I can find that are fresh

Yes hopefully you can get some fresh gai lan, always go down well.

noodles & rice

steamed rice

naw mai fon

dan dan noodles

"kid noodles"

How are you going to make the lor mei fan? With some cured meats would be a treat.

[Chris Amirault]

Full disclosure: my meal is not designed with any fealty to aesthetic or culinary integrity. I have to accommodate a bunch of different people who like certain things and dislike others. No real goal to be authentic regarding, for example, a New Years feast, but if things fit together that way, that's fine.

The dumplings are like sui mai or more like gau ji? Or would that be a selection of dumplings, that'd be wonderful - imagine tickling your guests tastebuds with several textures and fillings. The peanuts will be perfect chopstick warm-up exercise too.

Not sure about the dumplings, but probably gau ji with different fillings, if I'm up to making them. The peanuts are a big hit in our house.

The steamed noodles with char siu, is that like cheong fun? If so then it's a little out of place, if you're determined to make it then maybe have as another starter?

That's a big favorite of my wife, and since I'm able to make fresh rice noodles it'll be a treat. I wasn't sure if the noodle made it a noodle or the meat made it a main, but no matter to me.

The scallop and clam (razors?) dishes are too similar i think, have one or the other.

Yes, I agree. Probably the scallop -- another big hit in the group.

Yes hopefully you can get some fresh gai lan, always go down well.

Hoping for decent pea pod leaves too, but they've looked tough lately....

How are you going to make the lor mei fan? With some cured meats would be a treat.

Lap cheung and, of course, homemade lop yuk.

[nakji]

My thoughts on soup: at a big party, I keep a pot going in the kitchen, then as people come in from the cold, they get offered some in a Japanese tea cup as a warm-up. I let it go during the whole time, and if anyone is feeling peckish long after the meal is done, it's a fill up that doesn't make you feel bloated. Some people may want a quick hit before going back out into the cold as well. Just because in Asia, alcohol isn't as commonly drunk, especially for women - so it's a nice way to warm up cold feet.

[Katie Meadow]

Chris, my invitation must have gotten lost in the mail. Can you send me another?

[snowangel]

Full disclosure: my meal is not designed with any fealty to aesthetic or culinary integrity. I have to accommodate a bunch of different people who like certain things and dislike others.

My, you are nice. I offer two things at every meal -- Take it or leave it.

[Chris Amirault]

Snooped through a few cookbooks today and made a few changes. The two books I relied upon the most for ideas this time around were Grace Young's Breath of the Wok and especially Fuchsia Dunlop's Land of Plenty. I'll be turning elsewhere for reminders on other items.

Decided against the roast bird, added an app, cleaned up the mains, and added some more vegetable sides. There are a lot of do-ahead dishes now as well. As for amounts, I subscribe to the Arab concept that your guests should be overwhelmed by your generosity and never feel that they are eating too much.

starters

shrimp & pork dumplings

nam yu peanuts

ma la wei dried beef (Dunlop)

mains

braised lu shui pork with water chestnuts, tofu sticks, and black mushrooms

steamed whole fish

steamed scallops with tofu in black bean sauce

red oil chicken (Dunlop)

sides

sweet & sour red bell peppers (combo of Dunlop and Young methods)

stir-fried mushrooms (Young)

pickled string beans with ground pork (Dunlop)

spicy cucumber salad (Dunlop)

stir-fried greens

noodles & rice

steamed rice

naw mai fon

dan dan noodles

"kid noodles"

My thoughts on soup: at a big party, I keep a pot going in the kitchen, then as people come in from the cold, they get offered some in a Japanese tea cup as a warm-up.

I'll be making punch or toddies or something for the arrival warm-up. Still figuring that out, though I'm leaning toward this rum punch, which has a prominent ginger note that would work well with the appetizers.

What kind of soup are you making, Erin?

[snowangel]

Chris, you've given cause to pause, and I'm going to embellish my menu. BTW, the punch sounds wonderful, and I just might do a riff on this.

In your starters, you mention shrimp and pork dumplings. Pot-stickered or steamed or boiled? Got a good recipe?

I'm leaning toward a soup as well, and probably Tropp's corn soup. Drop dead easy, and it will help me Clean out the Kitchen. Little kids really like this soup.

Edited to note: although I would prefer a broth soup, gotta keep those young ones without teeth in mind.

Edited December 22, 2009 by snowangel (log)

[Chris Amirault]

Still figuring out the dumplings, but now leaning toward boiled, perhaps even in broth as a starter.

I have all my book pages marked for xeroxing, which I do as a matter of course nowadays. After that is the shopping list, which worries me a bit: I'm afraid I'm relying on a lot of quality ingredients that may be hard to track down....

[nakji]

My soup will be a corn soup with lop yuk or some other sort of cured ham. I can pick some really quality stuff up at Wal-mart.

After that is the shopping list, which worries me a bit: I'm afraid I'm relying on a lot of quality ingredients that may be hard to track down....

You can always substitute - if you can't find decent greens, try using spinach, celery or whatever looks fresh and good - improvise. What other specialty items are you relying on finding?

[Chris Amirault]

The corn soup always surprises me: it seems so American, even New England-y, and not Chinese. Perhaps I need to make this for Christmas Eve dinner...!

[Chris Amirault]

Battling some lousy cold, but I got the bulk of the shopping done (save scallops and whole fish; fingers crossed for Thursday's selection). After dinner, I got started on some prep. Here's the basics.

I wanted to refresh the lu shui, so that's simmering on the stove with a few new ingredients and aromatics, following both Barbara Tropp and Dunlop:

I also chopped up the lops (homemade yuk and store-bought cheung) for the naw mai fon:

Got the green beans (yard long beans, specifically) pickling:

And prepared the nam yu peanuts (oh, baby):

I also started making the dried beef, which has 3-4 cooking stages, depending on how you count. First, I started with 2# of flank:

Doused it briefly in boiling water:

Quick rinse in cold water:

Then into the braising liquid:

Out:

Sliced:

Into the marinade:

About done for the night, but I have a decent head start.

[Prawncrackers]

Fantastic Chris, we've both got started with our preparations at the same time - except all i've done is take the goose out of the freezer

Have you given anymore thought on your dumplings? You know gau ji will always take longer to make than you anticipate. If I had to cook your meal I seriously would be tempted to make them today and freeze them. What is red oil chicken, is it poached chicken dressed with Sichuan flavourings? Personally I like to poach a really good chicken and eat it as is. Of course the chicken stock would be great for your veggie stir fries too. You could even stretch it a little and make chicken rice.

I still think you're missing some roasted meat, nothing says l love you as much as roasted meat, especially at xmas! Still not to late to prep that pork belly...

[Ce'nedra]

We're doing fusion...or something like that. Roast chicken (not turkey because those birds are enormous and there will only be three of us) with Chinese flavours. By that, I mean soy, star anise, five spice powder, shaoxing wine and so on. The stuffing will include chestnut, barley and whatever else we find at the markets tomorrow.

Christmas with a Chinese touch

[nakji]

Ha! Ce'nedra! I just made "fusion" tourtiere - I had no white cooking wine in the house, and they were asking $10 for cloves at the western supermarket (I ask you!) so my pie will be flavoured with Shaoxing and star anise, too.

Chris, that is some busy work right there. My plans are endangered - I'm not sure I'll be able to get my preserved pork for the soup tomorrow, because I don't know if I'll have time to get to Wal-mart. I'll have to fly by the seat of my pants and see what resents itself tomorrow.

[Chris Amirault]

Have you given anymore thought on your dumplings? You know gau ji will always take longer to make than you anticipate. If I had to cook your meal I seriously would be tempted to make them today and freeze them.

The thought I've given them is to toss 'em off the menu. If I hadn't had a cold the last few days I'd be able to devote a stack of time to them tonight, but I'm behind as it is. Plus those dried beef things are a lot of work. Let them eat jerky, I say. (Well, plus peanuts.)

What is red oil chicken, is it poached chicken dressed with Sichuan flavourings? Personally I like to poach a really good chicken and eat it as is.

Yep: that's it exactly.

I still think you're missing some roasted meat, nothing says l love you as much as roasted meat, especially at xmas! Still not to late to prep that pork belly...

I have two chickens so I'm thinking about roasting one of them with five spice & honey after a brine for the folks who don't like Sichuan heat....