Chinese Dishes to Make Your Dragon Dance

Hi everyone and welcome to the blog. This week’s is dedicated to the Chinese New Year, which is celebrated on February 3rd 2011. This year it is the Chinese year of the Rabbit. Chinese New Year or the Chinese Lunar New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. Despite its winter occurrence, in China it is known as "Spring Festival," the literal translation of the Chinese name, owing to the difference between Western and traditional Chinese methods for computing the seasons. The festival begins on the first day of the first month in the traditional Chinese calendar and ends with Lantern Festival which is on the 15th day. Chinese New Year's Eve, a day where Chinese families gather for their annual reunion dinner, is known as Chú Xī or "Eve of the Passing Year."
Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festivity in the Chinese Lunar Calendar. The origin of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. Ancient Chinese New Year is a reflection on how the people behaved and what they believed in the most. Chinese New Year is celebrated in countries and territories with significant Chinese populations, such as Mainland China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, and also in Chinatowns elsewhere. Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the new year celebrations of its geographic neighbours, as well as cultures with whom the Chinese have had extensive interaction. These include Koreans, Tibetans and Bhutanese, Mongolians, Vietnamese, and the Japanese before 1873.
In countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States, although Chinese New Year is not an official holiday, many ethnic Chinese hold large celebrations and Australia Post, Canada Post, and the US Postal Service issue New Year's themed stamps. Within China, regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese new year vary widely. People will pour out their money to buy presents, decoration, material, food, and clothing. It is also the tradition that every family thoroughly cleans the house to sweep away any ill-fortune in hopes to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red colour paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of "happiness", "wealth", and "longevity". On the Eve of Chinese New Year, supper is a feast with families. Food will include such items as pigs, ducks, chicken and sweet delicacies. The family will end the night with firecrackers. Early the next morning, children will greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year, and receive money in red paper envelopes. The Chinese New Year tradition is a great way to reconcile; forgetting all grudges, and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone.
So this week’s recipes have a strong Chinese theme, they are Ginger Garlic Beef with Sesame Greens, Stir-Fried Greens with Sweet Chilli Ham, Singapore Sling and Virgin Mary. The spice of the week is Szechuan pepper.

My first recipe is Ginger Garlic Beef with Sesame Greens, recipe courtesy of Olive Magazine March 2011.

This recipe serves 2, takes approx 5mins to prepareapprox.15mins to cook.

Sunflower Oil
1 x Large Sirloin Steak, trimmed of fat, thinly sliced
A Thumb-sized Piece of Ginger, finely grated
1 x Garlic Clove, crushed
4 x Spring Onions, sliced
1 tbsp x Soy Sauce
2 x Pak Choi, quartered
50g x Mangetout
1 tsp x Sesame Oil

Heat 1 tbsp of sunflower oil in a non-stick wok. Add the beef and brown. Add the ginger, garlic and spring onions and cook for 2mins, then add the soy. Steam the pak choi and mangetout until tender then toss with the sesame oil. Serve with the beef.

My next recipe is cocktail to toast the evening’s celebrations, Singapore Sling, recipe by Dana, courtesy ofwww.barnonedrinks.com.
Although the Chinese are not know for their cocktails, I thought I’d include this Chinese themed cocktail to enjoy. The Singapore Sling was created by Ngiam Tong Boon a bartender at the Long Bar in Singapore’s Raffles Hotel before 1915. The current recipe served in the hotel is a heavily modified version of the original, and reportedly changed sometime in the 1970s by Boon’s nephew.

This recipe serves 1, takes mins to prepare.

4 oz. (130ml) x Club Soda
2 oz. (60ml) x Sweet and Sour Mix
1 oz. (30ml) x Gin
1/2 oz. (15ml) x Grenadine
A Few Dashes of Cherry Brandy

Mix all the ingredients (except cherry brandy) and pour into a collins glass or a tall tumbler. Top off with a dash of cherry brandy.

Spice of the week – Szechuan pepper
Sichuan pepper (or Szechuan pepper) is the outer pod of the tiny fruit of a number of species in the genus Zanthoxylum (most commonly Z. piperitum, Z. simulans, and Z. schinifolium), widely grown and consumed in Asia as a spice. Despite the name, it is not related to black pepper or to chilli peppers. It is widely used in the cuisine of Sichuan, China, from which it takes its name, as well as Tibetan, Bhutanese, Nepalese, Japanese, Konkani, and Batak Toba cuisines, among others.
Sichuan pepper is known in Chinese as huājiāo (literally "flower pepper"). A lesser-used name is shānjiāo (literally "mountain pepper". In America, it is possible to come across names such as "Szechwan pepper," "Chinese pepper," "Japanese pepper," "aniseed pepper," "Spice pepper," "Chinese prickly-ash," "Fagara," "sansho," "Nepal pepper," "Indonesian lemon pepper," and others, sometimes referring to specific species within this group, since this plant is not well known enough in the West to have an established name. Some brands also use the English description "Dehydrated Prickly Ash" since Sichuan pepper, and Japanese sansho, are from related plants that are sometimes called prickly ash because of their thorns. From 1968 to 2005, the United States Food and Drug Administration banned the importation of Sichuan peppercorns because they were found to be capable of carrying citrus canker (as the tree is in the same family, Rutaceae, as the genus Citrus). This bacterial disease, which is very difficult to control, could potentially harm the foliage and fruit of citrus crops in the U.S. It was never an issue of harm in human consumption. The import ban was only loosely enforced until 2002. In 2005, the USDA and FDA lifted the ban, provided the peppercorns are heated to around 70C (160F) to kill the canker bacteria before import.
Sichuan pepper has a unique aroma and flavour that is not hot or pungent like black or white pepper, or chilli peppers. Instead, it has slight lemony overtones and creates a tingly numbness in the mouth that sets the stage for hot spices. According to Harold McGee in On Food and Cooking, second edition, p429 they are not simply pungent; "they produce a strange tingling, buzzing, numbing sensation that is something like the effect of carbonated drinks or of a mild electrical current (touching the terminals of a nine-volt battery to the tongue). It appears to act on several different kinds of nerve endings at once to induce sensitivity to touch and cold in nerves that are ordinarily non-sensitive. So theoretically may cause a kind of general neurological confusion."
Recipes often suggest lightly toasting the tiny seedpods, then crushing them before adding them to food. Only the husks are used; the shiny black seeds are discarded or ignored as they have a very gritty sand-like texture. It is generally added at the last moment. Star anise and ginger are often used with it prominently in spicy Sichuan cuisine.
Sichuan pepper is also available as an oil, in this form it is best used in stir-fry noodle dishes without hot spices. The preferred recipe includes ginger oil and brown sugar cooked with a base of noodles and vegetables then rice vinegar and Sichuan pepper oil are added after cooking.
Sichuan pepper is one of the few spices important for Nepali (Gurkha), Tibetan and Bhutanese cookery of the Himalayas, because few spices can be grown there. One Himalayan specialty is the momo, a dumpling stuffed with vegetables, cottage cheese or minced yak meat, beef or pork and flavoured with Sichuan pepper, garlic, ginger and onion. The noodles are steamed and served dry, together with a fiery sauce. It is believed that it can sanitize meat that may not be so fresh, although in reality it may only mask foul flavours. The foul smell masking property of Sichuan pepper made it popular in offal dishes. Sichuan peppercorns are one of the traditional ingredients in the Chinese spice mixture five-spice powder and also shichimi togarashi, a Japanese seven-flavour seasoning.
Sichuan pepper is native to Szechwan province. Sichuan pepper is also grown in North America, the American ash is known as “tooth ache tree”, because the powdered bark was used as toothache remedy to heal wounds. The bark and berries are used as blood purifier and digestive. It is a useful herbal medicine. It is considered to have many health benefits and disease curing effects. It is believed to stimulate blood circulation, improve metabolism, promote digestion, and increase appetite. The content of antioxidants and capsicum are beneficial in preventing cardiovascular disease and cancers. Capsicum reduces blood viscosity and blood vessel hardening. It is also an anti-inflammatory agent and a pain killer.

My next recipe is Stir-Fried Greens with Sweet Chilli Ham, recipe courtesy of Olive Magazine March 2011.

This recipe serves 2, takes 5mins to prepare and takes approx.10mins to cook .

3 tsp x Sunflower or Groundnut Oil

Spring Kale (A Large Bunch of Kale, a large bunch or bag)

1/2 x Bunch of Spring Onion, shredded

3-4 x Thick Slices of Ham, leftovers or ready cooked, cut into pieces

2 x Garlic Cloves, thinly sliced

3 tbsp x Sweet Chilli Sauce

1 tbsp x Soy Sauce

1 tbsp x Rice Vinegar or Cider Vinegar

Steamed Jasmine Rice, to serve

Heat 2 tsp of oil in a wok, and add the greens and spring onions and a splash of water. Stir-fry until just wilted, then tip onto a plate. Heat 1 tsp more of oil in the wok and add the ham and garlic, and fry for 1min. Then add the sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce and vinegar and toss together until the ham is covered in a sticky sauce. Adjust the flavour with more vinegar or sweet chilli if you like. Add back the greens and toss briefly. Serve with the steamed Jasmine rice.

My last recipe is a non-alcoholic cocktail for those who prefer a lighter tipple to salute the new year, Virgin Mary, recipe courtesy of www.barnonedrinks.com.
This is the non-alcoholic version of a Bloody Mary, a popular cocktail made with tomato juice, vodka, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco and other seasonings. It was created in 1921 by Pete Petiot, bartender at Harry's New York Bar in Paris. The Bloody Mary came to the United States in 1933, when Petiot joined the St. Regis Hotel as head barman of its King Cole Bar. It's said that the name "Bloody Mary" alluded to Mary Tudor, Queen of England and Ireland, for her bloody persecution of Protestants. Today, you'll find Bloody Marys made with everything from rum to gin to tequila. Make it without liquor, and you have a Virgin Mary, also called a Contrary Mary.

This recipe serves 1, takes mins to prepare.

4 oz. (130ml) x Tomato Juice
2 drops x Tabasco Sauce
1/2 tsp x Worcestershire Sauce
A Few Dashes of Lemon Juice
Pepper, to taste
Salt, to taste

Stir with ice in a large wine glass. Garnish with a wedge of lime.

gong hey fat choy, kong xi fa chai

If you have enjoyed my blog, or have tried out the recipes I have included and wish to comment, please feel free to comment using the comment button or by visiting my guestbook, all comments and suggestions will be gratefully received.

Hope you enjoy!!..... ChefGarfy =D