1001431319On February 16th, millions of people across the world, including thousands here in Canada, will be coming together with their families to celebrate the Chinese New Year. To usher in the Year of the Dog, according to Chinese tradition, there will have plenty of colourful parades, fireworks and little red envelopes filled with money for children. But, of course, no holiday is complete without an array of culinary delights fit for a king and the New Year’s Eve Dinner is a staple of the entire holiday. So, be sure to ring in the Chinese New Year with these recipes the entire family is sure to love.
CHINESE DUMPLINGS
Filling Ingredients:
• ½ lb lean group pork
• ¼ head of Napa cabbage, chopped fine
• ½ onion finely diced
• 1 carrot finely diced
• 3 green onions, chopped
• ½ cup chopped chives
• 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
• 3 tablespoon soy sauce
• ½ teaspoon sesame oil
Dough Ingredients:
• 2 cups All-purpose flour
• ¾ cup boiled water
Directions for the dough:
1. Place the dough in a food processor bowl. Start the machine and slowly add the boiled water in a steady stream.
2. When you have finished adding the water, check the dough, it should be stiff enough that when you pinch it, it holds its shape. Add more water or flour, a tablespoon at a time while the machine is running. Do not over mix
3. Knead dough into a ball, let rest at room temperature for at least 15 min.
Directions for the filling:
1. In a bowl mix together pork, cabbage, onion, and carrot.
2. Mix in green onions, chopped chives and freshly grated ginger. Do not over mix
3. Season the meat with soy sauce and sesame oil. To check seasoning, fry a small amount of in a pan. Adjust seasoning accordingly.
Assemble:
1. Roll the dough out until about 1/8 inch thick.
2. Cut out rounds about 1 1/2 inch in diameter, (using a cup to cut of the rounds works well).
3. To fill the dumplings, press your index finger on your thumb to form a circle.
4. Place the dough over the circle and fill with a drop of filling.
5. Pinch the dough closed and close the seam with a fork.
6. Steam the dumplings in a steamer for 5-8 mins. The dumplings can also be boiled, until they float
HOT & SOUR SOUP
Ingredients:
• Dried black mushrooms
• 16 Dried cloud ear mushrooms
• Boiling water as needed
• 2.5 L Chicken stock
• 250 g Lean pork, cut julienne
• 180 g Bamboo shoots, cut julienne
• 80 g Soy sauce
• 10 mL White pepper
• 120 mL Cornstarch
• 250 mL Cold water
• 90 mL Rice vinegar
• 250 mL Cold water
• 2 Eggs, lightly beaten
• 10 mL Oriental sesame oil
• 1 Scallion, sliced thin
• 30 mL Cilantro, chopped
Directions:
1. Place the two types of dried mushrooms in separate
bowls. Add enough boiling water to each to cover the
mushrooms. Let stand until the mushrooms are soft.
2. Drain the mushrooms, squeezing them lightly. Reserve the soaking liquid.
3. Cut off and discard the stems from the black mushrooms. Cut the caps into thin strips.
4. Cut off any coarse, woody stems from the cloud ear mushrooms. Cut the mushrooms into 1-cm pieces.
5. Combine the stock and the mushroom liquid in a saucepot. Bring to a boil.
6. Add the mushrooms, pork, bamboo shoots, soy sauce, and white pepper.
7. Simmer 3 minutes.
8. Mix the cornstarch with the water until smooth.
9. Add the cornstarch mixture to the simmering soup, stirring constantly.
10. Simmer until the soup is lightly thickened.
11. Add the vinegar and sesame oil to the soup.
12. Slowly drizzle in the beaten egg, stirring slowly but constantly, so that the egg coagulates in thin shreds.
13. Top each portion with a few slices of scallion and a pinch of chopped cilantro.
PHO BO
((Vietnamese Beef [or pork, chicken] and Rice Noodle Soup)
Ingredients:
• 3 L Beef broth
• 12 slices Fresh ginger root
• 3 stalks Lemon grass, coarsely chopped
• 180 g Shallots, sliced thin
• 1 Cinnamon stick
• 90 mL Nuoc nam (Vietnamese fish sauce) or nam pla (Thai fish sauce) T&T market
• Salt to taste
• 750 g Beef tenderloin or other tender beef steak
• 750 g Rice sticks
• Garnishes, as desired: shallots sliced thin, mung bean sprouts, fresh mint leaves, fresh cilantro leaves, fresh red chilies seeded and sliced thin, lime wedges, chilli paste with garlic.
Directions:
1. Combine the broth, ginger, lemon grass, shallots, and cinnamon stick in a stockpot. Simmer 30 minutes.
2. Strain. Discard the solids.
3. Add the fish sauce.
4. Taste and add salt if necessary.
5. Partially freeze the beef to make it easier to slice.
6. Slice the beef into paper-thin slices.
7. Just before service, drop the rice sticks into boiling water.
8. Bring the water back to a boil and drain immediately.
9. Place each garnish in a separate bowl and arrange on the dining table.
10. Place 60 g beef slices in the bottom of each soup bowl.
11. Ladle 250 mL broth over the beef slices. The boiling broth cooks the beef in moments
12. Add rice noodles to the bowl.
13. Allow your family to help themselves to garnishes to flavour soup as desired.
**This recipe was originally published in our Winter 2017 issue. It was provided with thanks from Dimitra Konstantakou.**
