Kung Hei Fat Choi!
Happy Chinese New Year, It’s the Year of the Dragon!
So it’s the Chinese New Year, there’s lots of festivities and celebrations happening and already happened! In ancient China the dragon was associated with power, and today the sign is still regarded as an auspicious one, with links to success and happiness.
Reading the news on Chinese New Year this morning, I saw this article on Celebrating in Culinary Style this year. Some interesting facts and tips they gave were:
Animals are often served whole, with the head, tails and feet intact to represent togetherness and prosperity!
Cakes play an important role in the New Year celebrations, as sugar is believed to add sweetness to the year ahead. I want some of that!
Cakes are round in shapes, to signify family unity, and are served eight at a time (being a lucky number) on a round tray.
New Year’s Day is vegetarian, since it is bad luck to start the year by killing anything. So are we eating vegetarian today?
Dumplings — lots and lots of dumplings filled with a wide variety of ingredients, are devoured everywhere.
A roast of pork says you will be wealthy. Fish, whole, is popular because it offers abundance. And noodles will bring you long life!
Recipe
Yesterday I whipped up a super quick recipe in homage to Chinese New Year, Sesame Chicken, it was sticky, sweet, succulent and full of soy flavour and aniseed from the five spice.It’s great for a quick lunch or supper with some rice noodles..
Ingredients
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1 pkt chicken,breast or fillets, cut into small pieces
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1 tbl seasame seeds
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1 tbl soy sauce
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1 tsp honey
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1 tsp chinese five spice powder
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1 tsp rice wine vinegar
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1 pcs spring onion, chopped
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1 cup spinach
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1 tbl groundnut oil
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1 pcs garlic clove, chopped
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1 tsp black peppercorns
Instructions
Add groundnut oil to a wok or pan, add in your garlic, chinese five spice , peppercorns, stir for a minute to release the aromas
Then add your chicken pieces, give them a toss in the flavours
Add in your soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, honey, spring onions and give it a stir, let it cook for a couple of minutes, heep stirring every so often
Then add your sesame seeds and spinach give everything a quick toss
Check your chicken is cooked, then plate up, eat with noodles! Spinkle over more sesame seeds and serve hot!
