Chinese New Year

[chefzadi]

My in laws will making mandu gook. Korean dumpling and rice cake soup garnished with eggs and roasted seaweed.

A similar question is in the Chinese forum. But since it's celebrated by other Asians who follow(ed) the moon calender I thought I would post it here. (or does break some egullet posting rule?)

[dano1]

i'm off the hook this year, we're going out ;). I don't think i can eat anymore Peking Duck for a few years as it is....

[Shalmanese]

Hoo boy, this year is the major one. We're planning on having 45 people over in total, 25 on Tuesday, 20 on Saturday. My mother is cooking and I'm just a lowly sous chef so I don't know what's on the menu yet. I'll post back after the event.

[Ling]

I get to eat 2 Chinese New Year dinner too--one on Saturday with my family, and one on Wednesday with my bf's family. I don't exactly know what we're getting, but I'm sure the following items will make an appearance:

-some sort of steamed fish, freshly-killed that afternoon

-roast pork (last year we had an entire piglet!)

-the usual items from the Chinese bbq shop--soy sauce chicken, duck, maybe some of the red bbq pork (char siew)

-my mom will make these things she calls "egg pockets", which are little circles of fried egg stuffed with a seasoned beef mixture

-braised shiitake mushrooms on top of bok choy

-fried gluten (this is my favourite thing, even though the English name is so unappetizing. It's essentially a chewy dough that's fried and covered in different sauces. It's supposed to resemble different types of meat, but tastes nothing like it. Greasy and delicious!)

-a few dishes of vegetables

-"Buddhist feast", a vegetarian dish with different types of mushrooms among many other ingredients, with the red "foo yue" (fermented bean curd)

-noodles and maybe "sticky rice"

-some sort of soup

edit: I'm not sure what we're having at my bf's house, but I'm sure it will be another great dinner, as his dad went to culinary school in HK. There will be more people at this dinner, so there will probably be an even bigger selection of dishes!

Edited February 3, 2005 by Ling (log)

[His Nibs]

Hmm... going with a old family tradition.

Drunken Steamed Chicken,

Some sort of buddhist vegan stew (most likely using some dried shitakes, wood ears, cabbage and black moss aka fat choi with foo yu)

Yee Fu noodles with mushrooms (if i can get the good HK style ones, not the fried ones... the flat ones)

And....

Salmon Yu Sheng!

[chefzadi]

Are noodles or dumplings ubiquitious throughout Asian cultures that celebrate Chinese New Years? What do they mean? Noodles I'm guessing long life, longevity.

We'll be having Galbi as well, I'm sure.

[Luckylies]

uhm when's the first day? I'm plannig on eating my way through it!!

[His Nibs]

February 9.

However, the BIG MEAL comes on the day before aka the reunion dinner.

[WYF]

I'm making different rice cakes for new years. Daikon and chinese sausage rice cakes, coconut rice cakes, and also fresh water chesnut rice cakes. Also making fried sweet dumplings filled with sugar, peanut, coconut and sesame seeds. Family tradition at my favourite time of the year...

[Shalmanese]

Well, the eating has begun, this was at a friend of the family's house tonight, 14 people. Sorry about the crappy photos, all I could do to make 10 very hungry adults and 4 hungry kids to stay away from the food while I snapped a few pics.

Top left: Tofu strips with some kind of vegtable I don't know the name of in english. Long, thin and cylindrical, very crunchy.

top middle: Pork fried in some sort of sauce with peanut bits

top left: Seaweed and vermicelli

bottom right: Deep fried glutinous rice balls

bottom middle: Tofu with 1000 year old eggs

top left: Seaweed and vermicelli again

top middle: Pork with snow peas

top right: Pigs ear, braised in soy

bottom middle: Chinese Fried fish

bottom right: rolled beef tounge, braised in soy

top right: Chicken with hard boiled egg and green bell pepper

bottom middle: Pork ribs braised in what I think was coca cola.

bottom right: Jumbo Prawns

This came out later in the night, deep fried rice thingies with chicken, tomatos and mushrooms.

Edited February 4, 2005 by Shalmanese (log)

[Viola da gamba]

We're going out. I feel so happy. Still haven't recovered from Christmas cooking.

[browniebaker]

Gosh, I so want to cook an entire feast, but my husband and two little kids want to go out to our favorite Chinese restaurant. Hmmm, maybe I should be insulted? I'm the type of person who really gets into the prospect of cooking the whole Thanksgiving meal (15 dishes last November for just the four of us!), and I would like to do the same for the Chinese new year 'though I never have. I guess our new-year tradition is to eat out, not cook.

But I had envisioned a dinner of both our personal favorites and symbolic foods that are traditional. Some foods are obligatory, like noodles and whole fish. You know what the traditional foods are, but the personal favorites of the four of us that I would have to include (to lure the others to stay home) are:

sesame-and-ginger chicken-somen soup

red-braised pork belly or char siu

broiled salmon (the children's favorite fish)

ma-p'o tofu

pork-and-shrimp-filled pot-stickers

oiled sticky rice

eight-treasure sweet-rice pudding

baked pineapple buns (bo lo mien bao)

I bet we'll just end up going out to eat. Maybe one day. . . .

[ladyyoung98]

Well, the eating has begun, this was at a friend of the family's house tonight, 14 people. Sorry about the crappy photos, all I could do to make 10 very hungry adults and 4 hungry kids to stay away from the food while I snapped a few pics.

Top left: Tofu strips with some kind of vegtable I don't know the name of in english. Long, thin and cylindrical, very crunchy.

top middle: Pork fried in some sort of sauce with peanut bits

top left: Seaweed and vermicelli

bottom right: Deep fried glutinous rice balls

bottom middle: Tofu with 1000 year old eggs

top left: Seaweed and vermicelli again

top middle: Pork with snow peas

top right: Pigs ear, braised in soy

bottom middle: Chinese Fried fish

bottom right: rolled beef tounge, braised in soy

top right: Chicken with hard boiled egg and green bell pepper

bottom middle: Pork ribs braised in what I think was coca cola.

bottom right: Jumbo Prawns

This came out later in the night, deep fried rice thingies with chicken, tomatos and mushrooms.

←

oh my gawwwd theres some more of that food porn......

great pics..looks great

[Shalmanese]

Second dinner of the entertainment season, this time, at an aunt's place. Only 6 people in attendance.

bottom left:"Hong Shao"(lit: Red Fire) Pork, Pork braised with pepper and star anise I think

bottom middle:Tomatos and Eggplant

bottom right: Stir Fried chicken livers & gizzards

top right: "Ma La"(lit:numb & hot) Beef, Szechuan style spicy beef

top middle: Tofu with 1000 year old eggs (again! Whats with that?)

top right: Chilli Chicken, chicken pieces stir fried with birdseye chillis

bottom middle: Celery & Chillis

bottom right sweet and sour fish with snow peas

[Ling]

^I've never had 100 year old eggs with tofu, but my favourite dish containing the them is a shallow dish of steamed custardy (chicken) eggs with diced 100 year old eggs and diced salted duck eggs.

[Dejah]

This was today's preparation for Chinese New Year.

http://www.hillmans.soupbo.com/soos/seedball.html

[chefzadi]

My wife thanks you for the link to the sesame seed balls. So THAT'S how they're made. Those are her favorite treat.

Bing Ting is brown candy. Is it available at a Korean market (there's one right

down the street from us, if so do you know what the Korean name might be?) or do we have to get it at a Chinsese market?

[Dejah]

I'm sorry, but I don't know the name of bing tong in Korean.

Not sure if you caught the link for lobak goh in the China thread, but here it is again:

http://www.hillmans.soupbo.com/soos/lobakgoh.html

[Ben Hong]

Forgive me in advance Dejah, I mean no disrespect. But, I thought that "bing tong" was the very hard pebble sized chunks of clear translucent sugar (looks like chunks of dirty ice). The brown bars shown in the making of the sesame tay were called brown sugar (wong tong) by my people. In fact, "bing" means ice.

BTW, I think Po Po is photographically "right at home", where all popo's belong - putting the ingredient called love in the treats. Say hello for me.

Edited February 6, 2005 by Ben Hong (log)

[chefzadi]

Forgive me in advance Dejah, I mean no disrespect. But, I thought that "bing tong" was the very hard pebble sized chunks of clear translucent sugar (looks like chunks of dirty ice). The brown bars shown in the making of  the sesame tay were called brown sugar (wong tong) by my people. In fact, "bing" means ice.

BTW, I think Po Po is photographically "right at home", where all popo's belong - putting the ingredient called  love in the treats. Say hello for me.

←

Actually this clears up the what bing ting or wong tong is for my wife. She knows what to search for now.

As for Po po. I know exactly what you mean, Ben. I fell in love the instant I saw her. Where would I be without my maman as a chef? I'm sure she and Dejah's Po Po are about the same size too!

[Dejah]

Forgive me in advance Dejah, I mean no disrespect. But, I thought that "bing tong" was the very hard pebble sized chunks of clear translucent sugar (looks like chunks of dirty ice). The brown bars shown in the making of  the sesame tay were called brown sugar (wong tong) by my people. In fact, "bing" means ice.

BTW, I think Po Po is photographically "right at home", where all popo's belong - putting the ingredient called  love in the treats. Say hello for me.

←

Actually this clears up the what bing ting or wong tong is for my wife. She knows what to search for now.

As for Po po. I know exactly what you mean, Ben. I fell in love the instant I saw her. Where would I be without my maman as a chef? I'm sure she and Dejah's Po Po are about the same size too!

←

You are absolutely right, Ben! I had the wrong "tong" BUT, bing tong ain't pebble size... they are more fist size!

Po-Po is actually my mother. She is 95 and still directs with a loving but firm hand.

[chow guy]

I'm going to a Losar potluck Wednsday and bringing an Artichoke and Mushroom Lasgana with three cheeses with a saffron scented tomato sauce.

[SobaAddict70]

Pork ribs braised in coca-cola?

Tell us about that.

Soba

[Shalmanese]

It's incredibly simple, just boil and rinse pork ribs/chicken wings/something with a lot of gelatin to get rid of the scum.

Then simmer in 2 inches of coca cola uncovered until reduced into a glaze. The coke forms a thick, syrupy coating that is very sweet but doesn't taste like coke. You can also add star anise, 5 spice, soy etc for flavouring.

It's addictively good.

[plunk]

Interesting, what Ben calls "wong tong" is called "peen tong" (slab sugar) in my family. And since I can't read Chinese, I don't know what the package actually says!

Edited February 8, 2005 by plunk (log)