CHINESE NEW YEAR 2007

[Tepee]

Chinese new year lunch tomorrow, as it happens, by accident rather than design, weird menu as so many people to please.

    ...[snip]

    lots of work for the cook!

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I hadn't had time to read the posts prior to mine until now. Wha...? All handled by one person? I salute you, muichoi!

I'm thinking of hosting a lunch this Saturday...just popiah with tong sui, and maybe a meat dish or 2. With 15 ingredients to prepare for the popiah alone, I'm going to have my hands full. So, I can't imagine, in a thousand years, how I would be able to conjure up a lunch like muichoi's. Amazing.

Ben-sook, the above are rather simple dishes. It must be our age, because, siblings and I much prefer a 'plainer' tasting menu these days. Besides, those who go to work, will no doubt get their fill of auspicious-sounding restaurant dishes.

[Dejah]

Tepee! YUM! All looked delicious. Thanks for the shrimp dish. They look like something was tied around each one?

The arrowhead dish your eldest SIL contributed: was it stir-fried? Mine are still in my fridge.

I can just taste that vegetarian mix, wrapped in a fresh lettuce leaf.

Inspite of your warning about fatt choi, I added some to our stir-fry, made sure my elder son had a good helping so that his business will prosper!

[eje]

It's roughly 1 month left before Chinese Lunar New Year, the date falls on Feb 18, 2007. The zodiac animal that rules this coming year will be the Fire Boar>>not roasted pig  . People born on the years of the boar generally speaking will have a good year this year because of the astrological allignments in the heavens which doesnt happen all the time to each animal who rules the year, and the sign that should be cautious would be the snake, the prensence of the snake has angered the God of the Year Tai Sui, or Grand Duke Jupiter. People born in the year of the snake should always be cautious of accidents concerning falling or slipping, financial ventures are very risky this year. If dealing with big ventures or big amounts of money, May and October are the months to do it and avoid travelling to the NorthEast directions if possible, if not carry with you a charm called Pi Yao, it will appease Tai Sui and lift his anger upon the snake.

[...]

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aznsailorboi,

My wife is a bit superstitious and born in the year of the snake. I had sent her a link to your post some time ago and she made me promise to find her a Pi Yao. Sometimes I underestimate just how superstitious she is, and put it off. Finally, yesterday she reminded me of my promise, so we made a mad dash to our local Chinatown to locate a Pi Yao. I thought that it would be an easy thing to find in the tourist shops near the gates of Chinatown. Sadly, no luck there, just responses like, "I don't know anything about that Feng Shui stuff." Fortunately, we were able to stroll further afield and find a small shop with a helpful shopkeeper, a larger selection of charms and locate a Pi Yao bracelet for her.

Whew!

For dinner last night I made Barbecued Pork with Noodles in Broth (Cha Shao Tang Mian according to Nina Simonds), except I used mustard greens instead of american broccoli, slightly increased the sauce instead of making soup, and used flat rice noodles instead of plain thin noodles. Not much of a banquet or anything; but, quite tasty all the same.

Also, wow, Tepee, what a great spread and pictures!

Happy New Year to everyone!

[sheetz]

Growing up, CNY in my family was never as big a deal as it was for some other families, so it's interesting to see all the things other families do. We always ate at home and usually had chicken, fu juk soup with fat choi and dried oysters, and maybe a few other things. My dad also popped a pack of fire crackers before we ate.

This was CNY dinner:

First off was winter melon soup with dried scallops, red dates, black mushrooms, chicken, shrimp, and ham.

Then the cold platter with sesame walnuts, roast duck (store bought), bbq spare rib tips, 5 spice beef, and cold sweet and sour cucumber slices.

Next was the piece de resistance--boneless crispy skinned chicken stuffed with glutinous rice. I've mentioned this dish before as being intimidating, but I decided to just bite the bullet and go for it. (And in case I messed up I had a store bought soy sauce chicken for backup. ) Traditionally, the chicken is deep fried to achieve the crispy skin but here I pan fried it on both sides and served it in a cast iron skillet.

Inside:

It tasted great-the skin was thin and crisp like parchment, but was very time consuming to make. Probably took more time to prepare than the rest of the dinner put together.

To accompany this was a simple stir fried lotus root with mixed vegetables:

And to finish it off was sweet red bean soup with lotus seeds and lily bulbs.

Edited February 19, 2007 by sheetz (log)

[Tepee]

Sheetz, that chicken is awesome!!! So's the rest of the meal.

[Dejah]

Next was the piece de resistance--boneless crispy skinned chicken stuffed with glutinous rice. I've mentioned this dish before as being intimidating, but I decided to just bite the bullet and go for it. (And in case I messed up I had a store bought soy sauce chicken for backup.  )  Traditionally, the chicken is deep fried to achieve the crispy skin but here I pan fried it on both sides and served it in a cast iron skillet.

Inside:

It tasted great-the skin was thin and crisp like parchment, but was very time consuming to make. Probably took more time to prepare than the rest of the dinner put together.

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Sheetz! That chicken is the most beautiful dish I've ever seen! Congratulations for showing up the rest of us.

This is what's so great about the forum - we get to see dishes we've never cooked ourselves - but may be inspired by others to try something different.

[Ben Hong]

Oh hear me denizens of the China Forum! There is but one master and his name is SHEETZ. I am in awe.

YO' DA MAN

[sheetz]

Congratulations for showing up the rest of us.  

Thanks, but you're one to talk. I'm just trying my best to keep up with people like you and Tepee!

This is what's so great about the forum - we get to see dishes we've never cooked ourselves - but may be inspired by others to try something different.

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It's true. Just seeing what real cooks at home can do has given me the confidence to attempt things I would have never dreamed of doing before.

Edited February 19, 2007 by sheetz (log)

[Tepee]

Tepee! YUM! All looked delicious. Thanks for the shrimp dish. They look like something was tied around each one?

The arrowhead dish your eldest SIL contributed: was it stir-fried? Mine are still in my fridge.

I can just taste that vegetarian mix, wrapped in a fresh lettuce leaf.

Inspite of your warning about fatt choi, I added some to our stir-fry,  made sure my elder son had a good helping so that his business will prosper!

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A rice vermicelli is tied around each tightly rolled fuchook.

Yes, SIL stirfried the arrowhead. Erm....not a great dish, she's not much of a cook, but points for effort made. The dish could have been improved by steamcooking it for 10 15 minutes in the sauce.

Yes, the vegetarian mix is yummy. Mom adds some nam yue (red fermented bean curd) to it.

My mother added fatt choi too, despite our warning. Yut neen yut pai mah (one year once).

[Tepee]

Breakfast today. Hubby made pancakes filled with neen go. The pineapple tarts were made by me around 4 days ago. I refuse to buy those which sell outside because of the freshness issue and most of the pastry are made with margarine (I prefer butter).

[Tepee]

Shucks. More pampering from mom. We hoi neen-ed ('start' the new year) at my parent's. MIL doesn't cook much. Dinner will be with the in-laws, somewhere out, I think.

We arrived a bit late, so the dishes have already been 'violated', that's why I am photographing in very shallow depth of field.

BOO!!!

My mother doesn't like tomato sauce, so prawns are mostly cooked with dark soy sauce.

Sea cucumber cooked with yuen tai (pig thighs).

Broccoli, mushrooms and abalone. Funny thing is, we had fake abalone for the steamboat the other day, and it was unanimously agreed the fake one tasted better and it costs 10 times cheaper!

White cut chicken. Has to be a kampung (village in Malay) chicken, ie, free-range, so the meat has more chew in it.

There was also neen ngow tong (lotus root soup) with groundnuts. For dessert, we had cendol, a local sweet cold dessert soup with pandan-flavoured green pea noodles in a soup made with palm sugar and coconut milk.

Edited February 19, 2007 by Tepee (log)

[Ben Hong]

THAT'S IT TEPEE, I AM MOVING TO KL AND CAMPING OUT NEAR YOUR KITCHEN DOOR. ANYTHING THAT YOU THROW OUT WOULD BE BETTER THAN I CAN GET 'ROUND HERE.

Hmmmm retirement in 5 weeks...cold and snowy here...

[Dejah]

THAT'S IT TEPEE, I AM MOVING TO KL AND CAMPING OUT NEAR YOUR KITCHEN DOOR. ANYTHING THAT YOU THROW OUT WOULD BE BETTER THAN I CAN GET 'ROUND HERE.

Hmmmm retirement in 5 weeks...cold and snowy here...

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Ok, you can go to tepee's this year. I'll go to sheetz's 'cos it's closer than Malaysia! Besides, I'm younger than Ben Sook and can handle the snow and cold.

[Tepee]

Both of you are too funny! If I can afford it, I'd pay to have you guys here. Such a wealth of knowledge and experience....definitely worth more than a hundred banquets in price.

[hzrt8w]

Both of you are too funny! If I can afford it, I'd pay to have you guys here. Such a wealth of knowledge and experience....definitely worth more than a hundred banquets in price.

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Hey if you can't afford it, how about a discount and just get me over there? I know I am less experienced but California is much closer to Malaysia... airfare much lower!

Edited February 19, 2007 by hzrt8w (log)

[Dejah]

Both of you are too funny! If I can afford it, I'd pay to have you guys here. Such a wealth of knowledge and experience....definitely worth more than a hundred banquets in price.

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Hey if you can't afford it, how about a discount and just get me over there? I know I am less experienced but California is much closer to Malaysia... airfare much lower!

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Actually, I think Ben and I should hit sheetz's, then Ah Leung's, THEN Tepee's!

Let me see, who's in between that we've missed? Come on - give up your locations!

ETA: Right now, hubby and I are going to Po-Po's house for lunch!

Edited February 19, 2007 by Dejah (log)

[peony]

that's a lot of lovely food, teepee and sheetz

so me just show,

CNY snacks serve to guests ...

[peony]

we have a simple steamboat dinner today

with of cos the lo-hei ( yee sheng ) dish

more snacks

[Dejah]

Made our CNY visit to my Mom's (Po-Po), brother and s-i-l's home with a big bag of perfect apples, tangerines, New Year's candies, and malai goh. They had made the offerings already and we got to enjoy the feast:

silky poached chicken

siu yook

braises mushrooms

fun see

mixed vegetables with see goo

and foo yook and ho see tong.

Burp! ExCUSE me!

Peony: I'll have some of your cake, please.

[I_call_the_duck]

Everyone's dinners looked awesome! We only had two dinners (as opposed to 15). No pics, because by the time I'd finish taking pictures, there wouldn't be any food left.

Sheetz, that chicken looks so good!! I haven't had that it a looong time. Can you share the recipe? No need for a pictoral.

Next was the piece de resistance--boneless crispy skinned chicken stuffed with glutinous rice. I've mentioned this dish before as being intimidating, but I decided to just bite the bullet and go for it. (And in case I messed up I had a store bought soy sauce chicken for backup.  )  Traditionally, the chicken is deep fried to achieve the crispy skin but here I pan fried it on both sides and served it in a cast iron skillet.

Inside:

It tasted great-the skin was thin and crisp like parchment, but was very time consuming to make. Probably took more time to prepare than the rest of the dinner put together.

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Edited February 19, 2007 by I_call_the_duck (log)

[sheetz]

Sheetz, that chicken looks so good!!  I haven't had that it a looong time.  Can you share the recipe?  No need for a pictoral. 

It's really not that complicated as far as recipes go, just technically demanding and requiring a whole lot of patience.

First, get around a 4 lb chicken and loosen the skin around the neck. Cut through the wing joints and gradually separate the skin from the meat until you are down to the legs. Then pull apart the rib cage and remove. At the bottom of the chicken, cut through the tail bone so the tip of the tail remains attached to the skin. For the legs, cut at the joint between the thighs and the drumsticks, then pull the skin halfway down the drumsticks and hack the larger half of the drumstick with a cleaver. After this is done you're left with a whole chicken skin with just the wings and the drumstick tips attached.

Remove all the meat from the bones and cut into cubes. Marinate it however you would normally marinate chicken. Then stir fry the chicken and set it aside to place in the stuffing.

To make the stuffing, boil 1 1/2 cups raw glutinous rice the way you normally would, then stir in the cooked chicken and any other kind of stuff you like. I like lop cheung, lop yuk, black mushrooms, dried shrimp, peanuts, scallions, and cilantro. For seasonings you can add to taste: oyster sauce, soy sauce (dark or light), sesame oil, salt, pepper, or even chicken boullion powder.

To stuff the chicken, using kitchen twine sew up the neck opening and any tears in the skin, then fill the skin with the rice stuffing and sew it up. Using your hands mold the stuffed skin until it resembles a whole chicken again.

Place the stuffed "chicken" on a roasting rack and bake in a 325F oven for 45 min, then flip over and continue to bake for another 45 min. (This step is to render most of the fat from the skin so it gets crispy during the final cooking.) Cool to room temperature.

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat until hot, then add just enough oil to lightly coat the bottom. Place the chicken in the skillet and cover with aluminum foil. Place a heavy weight on top of the foil (I use a pot of water) and press down on it. Lower the heat to medium low and cook until the skin is browned and crispy. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 450F.

After the skin is browned flip the chicken over and press it down firmly into the skillet. If there's too much grease in the skillet you can pour it out or mop it up with paper towels. Place the skillet in the oven and finish cooking until the bottom is browned and the filling cooked through. You can turn the heat down to 200F and keep it warm in the oven until time to serve.

NOTE: Instead of roasting the chicken in a conventional oven at 325F for 1 1/2 hours I roasted it in a turbo convection oven. I assume the results would be the same, but just letting you know.

That's it! Easy peasy, right?

Edited February 19, 2007 by sheetz (log)

[I_call_the_duck]

Thanks, sheetz. No wonder Mom rarely made it for us. For some reason I thought it was just a boneless chicken that was stuffed with naw mai fan, which would be hard enough, but now that I look more closely at the picture, I can see it is just the skin. I also have a Fear of Deep Frying (more like Hatred of Cleaning Kitchen After Deep Frying), so I like the idea of browning it in a cast iron pan then finishing it off in the oven. Labor intensive, yes, not that hard, no, and looks so tasty. One of these days when I have a huge block of time to spare (like when the weather outside is nasty and I don't want to go out), I'll have to try it.

[Tepee]

Kung Hei Fatt Choy, Peony and Karen! Peony, looks as if it's the trend to have steamboat for CNY nowadays.

SHEETZ!!!!!! I got so excited. I just snapped this a while ago. While we dropped my BIL to ta-pau some lunch packet for my MIL, I noticed these hanging outside some stalls. Is this the way you do it? Is it difficult not to tear some skin? Wow.

Edited February 20, 2007 by Tepee (log)

[sheetz]

Wow, Tepee, those even still have the heads on! Yeah, mine was basically like that. Raw chicken skin is actually pretty resistant to tearing as long as you make sure the chicken skin doesn't have any punctures to begin with.

Edited February 20, 2007 by sheetz (log)

[SuzySushi]

Wow, Tepee, those even still have the heads on! Yeah, mine was basically like that. Raw chicken skin is actually pretty resistant to tearing as long as you make sure the chicken skin doesn't have any punctures to begin with.

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WOW! Sheetz, you have my deepest admiration for not only attempting but succeeding in making the stuffed chicken like this! When I first saw the photos, I (like several others here) thought it was a galantine (which is hard enough to make -- at least for me!) where the chicken is boned and stuffed, but the meat is left attached to the skin.