Braised pork trotters is one of the Chinese New Year dishes enjoyed during this festive season as pigs are auspicious animals in Chinese culture and symbolize strength and good fortune.
This dish is prepared using store-bought boneless pork trotters, tossed with noodles symbolizing longevity equivalent to being in good health and paired with "lucky" vegetables combo.
Our family enjoy duck dishes but we do not have it often since duck is almost like a "luxury" menu item on the dinner table as it is not easily available in the regular grocery stores or supermarkets. Thankfully, there is ready-cooked vacuum-packed roast duck and we will stash a few packs in the freezer whenever it is on sale; then prepare them as special menu item during festive occasions such as Christmas, New Year or Lunar New Year.
Not only they are better quality than those Cantonese-style roast found in most of the Chinese deli here, these ready-cooked vacuum-packed roast duck also makes meal prep a breeze when it comes to preparing duck dishes such as this Lunar New Year special menu item Roast Duck with Kumquat, Steamed Broccoli and Cauliflower.
Kumquat 金吉 literally meaning "golden luck" symbolizes prosperity and good fortune, aligning with auspiciousness for Lunar New Year.
Pen Cai (literally translates to “basin dish”) is a popular festive dish customarily enjoyed during Lunar New Year. A "basin dish" is a way to describe a brimming pot layered with premium seafood e.g. abalone, scallop, fish maw and meat e.g. roast pork. In short, a dish loaded with luxurious ingredients and delicacies to symbolize abundance and prosperity.
A menu mainstay in many Cantonese/Chinese restaurants during Lunar New Year, many home cooks now also make their own version at home.
Inspired by this concept, we made our own budget home version of "Pen Cai" with Chinese deli take-out leftovers (e.g. braised pork ribs, deep-fried-then-braised yuba/tofu sheets, fried prawns/shrimps).
Though not truly premium and luxurious, our home edition does not pale in flavors (and deliciousness). More importantly, it is very easy to prepare (compared to restaurant-style Pen Cai which might take an hour , minimum) and enjoyed by everyone at home.
Alternatively, this Abalone Scallops Veggie Hotpot Soup also makes the cut for Chinese New Year celebration.
Lunar New Year kept simple by enjoying home-prepped veggies and soup with store-bought dumplings.
Lucky (Huat) Veggies - a variety of eight veggies for health and luck.
Eight, 8 regarded as the luckiest number in Chinese culture. In Mandarin, eight is pronounced as 'Ba' sounds like 'Fa', a word which means make a fortune, symbolic of prosperity.
Garlic: In Mandarin, garlic 蒜 sounds alike "count" 算 . Instead of focusing on just counting money, we should count all our blessings.
Happy Lunar New Year of the Dog!
Today marks the first day of the Chinese New Year, and here's wishing everyone Good Heath and Happiness.
We start the year strong and healthy with this Prosperity Salad which has been adapted and modified to suit our family preferences. Raw fish (生鱼 Sheng Yu ) - which is why Prosperity Salad is also known as Yu Sheng in Mandarin. Fish 鱼 and abundance 余 also both sound alike in Mandarin, thus the tradition of having Yu Sheng is often interpreted as abundance, good fortune and prosperity in the new year.
First and foremost, one of the most symbolic ingredient - raw fish has been omitted from the salad as we do not consume raw fish at home. That said, it also means this salad is vegetarian.
No fish, but the colors galore and vegetables aplenty in this salad marks abundance in the best way (examples of ingredients and its symbolism here). Besides, with or without fish, it is the same act of using chopsticks to toss and lift the salad up high that symbolizes the shoring in of better luck and lifting of our high spirits and vigor in the new year. In other words, the higher you toss, the better luck you have.
In this salad adaption, I have also brought in long strands of noodles (means long-life noodles) which symbolizes longevity and good health.
During Lunar New Year, many Chinese families believe in shoring up good luck with food that symbolizes good health and prosperity.
With good health and happiness in mind, this easy and healthy vegetarian stir-fry is perfect for the Lunar New Year. We have broccoli, asparagus, bell peppers, beech mushrooms, and tofu all in a pot, symbolizing togetherness.
Quite different from the popular vegetarian dish Chap Chai(Braised Vegetables Combo) that often makes its appearance during Lunar New Year, this vegetable combo wins on the crisp fresh bites of vegetables and light-tasting flavors, unlike the soft meld-down texture and deep-layered flavors of a braised dish.
Each ingredient and its symbolism, in my own interpretation:
Mushrooms 鸿禧菇 = 鸿运当头 (Good luck)
Asparagus 芦笋（顺）= 事事顺利 (Smooth-sailing)
Broccoli 西兰花 = 花开富贵 (Prosperity)
Celery 芹(情)菜 = 心情愉快 (Positive mood, good health)
Orange bell peppers 橘（吉）色灯笼椒 = 大吉大利 (Auspicious)
Garlic/leek 蒜(算）头 = 有的算$ (Fortune)
Tofu 豆腐（福）=有福 (Good health, happiness)
Waving bye bye to the Pig and greeting a big hello to the Rat. 7th Feb 2008 marks the first day in the Chinese Lunar Calender - first day of Chinese New Year. Oh well, Mickey Mouse gets extremely popular as a Chinese New Year "mascot" this year (you see a lot of Mickey Mouse red packets/ang pows this year, don't you?) because it is the year of the Rat (Earth Rat, to be more specific) based on the Chinese Animal Zodiac of 12 animals. But one is a mouse and the other is a rat??? I don't know. Similar enough, maybe? Haha... Rat usually starts the cycle, and ends with the Pig. What zodiac animal are you ? :P Now...FOOoo..ooD- we can't go without that when celebrating Chinese New Year. The official "feasting" typically starts on the last day of the old year (Chinese New Year Eve) and families usually have one or two (sometimes even more) signature dishes (must-have) on the dinner table during the eve of Chinese New Year (a.k.a Reunion Dinner). Festive dishes that symbolize good luck, prosperity, abundance and peace. Fish -typically steamed, is one of them. The significance of eating fish relates quite traditionally to a Chinese saying 年年有鱼 (pronounced nian nian you yu) symbolizing 年年有余 (also pronounced nian nian you yu) , whereby the last character 鱼 (pronounced yu, literally meaning - fish) and the character 余 sound exactly alike - pronounced as yu but meaning in abundance. Sometimes, families will even have the fish unfinished(that's on purpose, with intent!) on the plate so that it really symbolizes leftovers and in abundance (of all the good things). Confused? Still confused? Just convince yourself that eating fish is considered auspicious in the New Year. Lucky food. Here's wishing you good abundance of good wishes, good luck, good tidings, good health, good everything for the following years :) In recent years, for the "cooks" at home to go easy, many families gradually turn to steamboat/hotpot for help. It's easy because you just need to get ready the ingredients and everyone in the family will gather round the table and enjoy dinner as one big complete family - meaning togetherness and unity. Families also have reunion dinner dine-outs more often than before. Well, they just want to spare an exhausting day for the "cooks" at home. Hmmm...somebody's got to do all the cooking at home and if it's cooking for the Chinese New Year, it's just gonna be TIRING. And this is the time, when you head over to restaurants, you see restaurants run mad shifts like the factory floor. Sometimes 5-7pm (one round), 7-9pm(another round)...is there something from 9-11pm (that makes it three rounds) ? I don't know but I believe there is. Restaurants even run noon shifts to cater for lunch crowd and lunch reunion. Any breakfast reunions ? :P Also is the time to see restaurants get creative and festive in their Chinese New Year dishes. For example, you will see and read Chinese names in dishes such as: 八宝盒 -Eight Treasures - usually assortment of seafood and vegetables in a beancurd 风舞九天,大展鸿图 -Phoenix Dance - usually braised sharks fin with crab roe 金玉满堂 -Gold Everywhere - usually some egg-fried rice dish with shrimp, and crabmeat 年年高升 -typically a festive goodie nian gao 年糕 , meaning "Promotion every year" 富贵有余 -a fish dish; 鱼 and 余 both pronounced yu ; with the latter meaning "abundance/ excess" 一 路发财 - a dish that often contains black moss vegetable/发菜; 菜 and 财 pronounced cai and latter means "money or rich" Even with a dish like this - Stir fry asparagus with scallops and ginkgo - can only be made good if you name it 代代平安 -Peace and Harmony for Generations as scallops -带子 --> 代 and 带 are pronounced the same, as dai. There are also plenty of Chinese New Year snacks and goodies cookies that you can enjoy. My favorite is Bak Kwa -Dried Meat. There is also another CNY goodie (cake) - Kuih lapis (layer cake) that is popular. This is a rich kuih consisting of thin alternating layers made of butter, eggs and sugar, piled on top of each other. Each layer is laid down and baked separately, making the creation of a kueh lapis an extremely laborious and time-consuming process. There are so many Chinese New Year traditions - some which are decades generations long (passed down from ancestors) and some that evolved purely due to convenience and modern age. Share some of your must-do Chinese New Year practices or must-eat Chinese New Year food, with me.
My favorite(s) happened to be Bak Kwa and Sugee Cookies. When I was back in S'pore, I had my bak kwa fix (sorry *oink oink*, though it's your year, you are too delicious when BBQ-ed and charcoal-ed over the grill that I had to eat you). No "branded" bak kwa (such as Bee Cheng Hiang, and Lim Chee Guan) this year. My mum bought some unknown brand (think it's known, just that I've forgotten the name...uh-oh!) and it was surprisingly quite tasty and of the right texture.
Tag: chinese new year, pork slices, cookies
