5 day forecast
Time to fire up your stove for the Year of the Dragon
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Rainbow Beef in Lettuce Cups can be made with ground chicken, too. -
Sichuan Dumplings in Spicy Sauce from "Complete Chinese Cookbook" by Ken Hom. -
Peking Duck: Not as hard to make as you might think. -
Shanghai Fried Noodles: Bring this dish from the street into your home.
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You gotta envy the magical, fire-breathing dragon, and the people born under its sign in the Chinese zodiac.
The most powerful of the animals that symbolize each of 12 years in the astrological cycle, the dragon is believed to be a deliverer of good fortune, a roaring symbol of wealth and power. Talk about having an edge on the competition.
Jan. 23 marks the first day of year 4710 of the Chinese calendar, or the Year of the Dragon. The Asian community will celebrate by passing out red packets of "happy money" shooting off fireworks and performing dragon and lion dances.
There also will be food, tons of it beginning with a sumptuous reunion feast on New Year's Eve to celebrate the end of the old year.
An opportunity to showcase the cook's best dishes, the meal features food believed to bring the family great wealth and happiness in the New Year. Everything ladled into a bowl or spooned on a plate, in fact, has an auspicious meaning connected to longevity, good luck, health or a reunion.
Noodles symbolize a long life while chicken represents happiness and marriage, especially when served with "dragon" foods such as shrimp or lobster. Tangerines mean luck.
Happily, you don't have to be born in the Year of the Dragon to enjoy the delicious foods that celebrate it nor even live near a Chinese restaurant. Below we offer easy recipes typical of what you'd find at a Chinese New Year's banquet. Most take less time to prepare than you'd spend waiting for the delivery guy with the white takeout boxes and fortune cookies.
Sichuan dumplings in spicy sauce
PG tested
Jiaozi, or boiled Chinese dumplings, are considered a "lucky" food because they resemble yuan bao, dumpling-shaped silver and gold ingots used as currency in ancient times. Homemade wrappers are best, of course, but they take time and a bit of skill. That's why I like this recipe from Ken Hom's "Complete Chinese Cookbook." It allows for premade wonton wrappers, which are made with flour and egg and come packaged in small stacks.
-- Gretchen McKay
8-ounce package wonton wrappers
- 1 ounce Chinese dried black mushrooms
- 1 pound ground pork
- 4 tablespoons chopped green onions or Chinese chives (available at Asian food stores)
- 1 egg white
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- Salt and black pepper
- 1 tablespoon peanut oil
- 2 teaspoons chili oil
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped green onion
- 2 teaspoons roasted and ground Sichuan peppercorns
- 3 tablespoons sesame paste or smooth peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons chili bean puree
- 1/3 cup chicken stock
Soak the mushrooms in a bowl of warm water for about 20 minutes, or until soft and pliable. Squeeze out excess water and cut off and discard the woody stems. Finely chop mushrooms and combine them with the rest of the filling ingredients. Add 2 teaspoons salt and a little black pepper to taste, and mix well.
Dip your fingertip in a bowl of water, and then run it around the edges of the first wrapper to dampen it. (This will help the dough stick when you pinch the corners together.) Place 1 rounded teaspoon of filling in the center of the wrapper. Gather the 4 sides up over the filling, allowing it to fold in pleats naturally. Gently pinch the wonton wrapper together just at the top of the filling to seal. Continue until you have used up all the filling.
Heat a wok or large skillet until hot and add peanut and chili oils. Add garlic and green onions and stir-fry for 20 seconds, then add the rest of the sauce ingredients and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove to a bowl.
Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil and poach the dumplings for about 3 minutes, or until they float to top. Remove, drain and serve with the spicy sauce.
Makes about 25 to 30 dumplings.
-- "Complete Chinese Cookbook" by Ken Hom (Firefly, $35)
Rainbow Chicken in lettuce cups
PG tested
Chicken represents marriage and happiness in Chinese culture, so we substituted it for ground beef in this simple stir-fry recipe. It's an especially fun dish for kids, because it's messy and they get to eat with their hands.
If you're not allergic, be sure to use peanut oil even though it's more expensive: it stands up better than vegetable oil to high heat and adds a nutty flavor. You'll find bean thread noodles, a translucent noodle made from ground mung beans, in the Asian section. When cooked, they puff up into a crunchy white strands.
-- Gretchen McKay
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/2 ounce dried Chinese mushrooms
- 4 ounces carrots
- 4 ounces bamboo shoots
- 4 ounces zucchini
- 4 ounces red bell pepper
- Head of iceberg lettuce
- 1 1/2 cups peanut or vegetable oil, divided
- 1 ounce bean thread (transparent) noodles
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped shallots
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped green onions
- 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
- 2 to 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- Salt and black pepper
Put ground chicken in a bowl with the rice wine, light soy sauce, sesame oil and cornstarch. Mix well and let marinate for about 20 minutes.
Soak dried mushrooms in warm water for 20 minutes, then drain and squeeze out excess liquid. Trim stems and shred caps into 2-inch-long strips. Meanwhile, peel carrots and cut into fine shreds 2 inches long. Cut bamboo shoots, zucchini and bell peppers into similar fine shreds. Separate and wash the lettuce leaves, wiping off any excess water. Set aside to dry.
In a large wok or deep-fat fryer, heat 11/2 cups oil until it is slightly smoking. Fry noodles until they are crisp and puffed up, then drain on paper towels. Set aside 2 tablespoons of the oil -- the rest can be cooled and stored for future use.
Put 1 tablespoon of reserved oil into a very hot wok or skillet, and when it begins to smoke, stir-fry chicken mixture for about 1 minute. Remove and put into a bowl. Wipe wok or skillet clean.
Reheat wok or skillet over high heat, and when it is hot, add remaining 1 tablespoon oil. When it is smoking slightly, add garlic, shallots and green onions and stir-fry for 10 seconds. Add shredded carrots and stir-fry for another minute. Add remaining vegetables, except lettuce, along with soy sauce, rice wine, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Stir-fry mixture for 3 minutes, then return chicken to the mixture and stir so that it is just coated. Turn onto a platter. Arrange the lettuce and noodles on separate platters, put some hoisin sauce into a small bowl.
To serve, spoon some filling into a lettuce cup. Top with hoisin sauce and fried noodles.
Serves 4 to 6.
-- Adapted from "Complete Chinese Cookbook" by Ken Hom (Firefly, $35)
Spinach, Shrimp and Bean Thread Noodle Soup
PG tested
Noodles guarantee that all at the table will have a long life, so long as you don't cut them.
- 2-ounce package bean thread noodles
- 8 ounces (about 20) large shrimp
- 2 quarts water
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 pound spinach leaves
- 5 cups chicken stock
- 3 garlic cloves, lightly mashed
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1-inch-thick slice ginger, peeled and lightly smashed
- 1/4 cup garlic oil
In a bowl, soak bean threads in hot water to cover for 10 minutes, or until they soften. Drain well and set aside. Peel and clean shrimp and drain well over a bowl. Set aside.
Bring water to boil. Add salt and baking soda. When water returns to a boil, add spinach and cook for 5 seconds, or until spinach is bright green. Immediately turn off heat. Run cold water into pot, then drain off water. Run cold water into pot again, drain well and reserve spinach.
In a large pot, place stock, garlic, salt and ginger and bring to a boil over high heat. Add reserved spinach, stir well and allow stock to return to a boil. Add garlic oil. Add reserved shrimp, stir in, and allow soup to return to a boil. Add bean threads, stir to mix well, and allow the soup to return to a boil once again. At this point, the shrimp will have curled and turned pink, indicating they are cooked.
Turn off heat, transfer soup to a heated tureen and serve.
Makes 4 to 6 servings.
-- "Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking" by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo (Chronicle, 2009)
Shanghai Fried Noodles
PG tested
This dish is highly addictive. We substituted broccoli florets for the snow peas.
- 12 ounces fresh thick round noodles or Japanese udon noodles
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons light soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon cold water
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 3 green onions, white parts only, chopped
- 1 star anise (available in Asian markets)
- 2 cups snow peas, trimmed
- 2 cups shredded napa cabbage
Prepare noodles according to package directions or boil until al dente. Rinse noodles under cold water to get rid of any starch and then drain well. Toss noodles with sesame oil until evenly coated and shiny.
Combine soy sauces, sugar and cornstarch slurry in a small bowl.
Heat vegetable oil over high heat. Add ginger, garlic, green onions and star anise and stir-fry for 10 seconds. Add snow peas and cabbage and stir-fry for 1 minute, or until snow peas are cooked but still a little crunchy. Add soy sauce mixture and stir for 20 seconds. Toss in the noodles, and stir until they're coated with sauce and heated through. Serve immediately.
Serves 4.
-- "Feeding the Dragon: A Culinary Travelogue through China with Recipes" by Nate and Mary Kate Tate (Andrews McMeel, 2011, $24.99)
Peking Duck
PG tested
"This is probably the most well-known dish from Beijing, and it is a favorite of locals and foreigners alike," write the Tate siblings in their new cookbook/travelogue, "Feeding the Dragon," about this imperial banquet dish, which is served stuffed into super-thin Mandarin-style pancakes.
It's a decidedly rich dish, not to mention expensive (my 5-pound duck cost almost $30). But it's not as hard to make as you might think. The key is allowing the skin to dry after it's been coated in sauce. (We sat ours, uncovered, in the fridge for about 5 hours, and then blow-dried it for 20 minutes.)
My husband didn't carve it as expertly, or quickly, as a Chinese chef --that skill takes years to master -- but the results were still pretty darn good -- lucious, sweet and crispy-crackly all at the same time. And you can't beat the presentation.
"We think of it as the Chinese fajita," writes Mr. Tate. "Crispy skin, juicy and succulent duck meat . . . all wrapped up in a thin tortilla-like pancake."
You can find a fresh duck at Market District stores and frozen Mandarin pancakes at Lotus Foods in the Strip District.
-- Gretchen McKay
- 5-pound duck
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
- 1 tablespoon warm water
- 8 green onions, white parts only, slivered into 3-inch lengths
- 1 medium English (seedless) cucumber, peeled and slivered into 3-inch lengths
- 20 Mandarin pancakes
- 1/2 cup hoisin sauce
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Use a knife to scrape any rough patches off the duck's skin. Remove innards, if necessary, cut off wing tips and remove excess fat around the cavity opening. Rinse duck and blanch in boiling water for 4 minutes. Remove and pat dry with paper towels.
Combine honey, rice wine and warm water in a small bowl. Liberally brush several coats of honey mixture all over the duck. Place duck upright in refrigerator and let dry for 6 hours, uncovered -- or speed up this step by drying the duck with a hair dryer (on cool setting) for 20 minutes. The results are comparable.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place duck breast side up on a broiling pan and cover loosely with foil to prevent burning. Roast duck for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Remove foil and roast for an additional 10 minutes, or until skin turns a deep orange-brown.
Place green onions and cucumber slivers on a serving plate. Warm individual pancakes in a dry skillet over high heat for a few seconds. Carve duck with a sharp knife into thin strips and arrange meat on a platter.
Now you are ready to make Chinese fajitas: Roll some of the duck meat, green onions, cucumber and a smear of hoisin sauce up in the Mandarin pancake, eat, and repeat.
Serves 4 to 6.
-- "Feeding the Dragon: A Culinary Travelogue through China with Recipes" by Nate and Mary Kate Tate (Andrews McMeel, 2011, $24.99)
Correction/Clarification: (Published January 20, 2012) In the Jan. 19 section, the amount of spinach was left out of the Chinese New Year recipe for Spinach, Shrimp and Bean Thread Noodle Soup. It calls for 1 pound of spinach leaves.
First Published January 19, 2012 12:00 am
