Chinese New Year

I hardly know where to begin.  I usually do Mardi Gras, but since the Chinese New Year came at the same time, I thought I'd attempt a Chinese menu.  This is the year of the snake, but not a chance I was going to prepare a snake in any meal.  I did some research and learned some interesting things. Did you know it's bad luck to break crockery to begin a New Year?  All dead houseplants should be replaced with fresh live ones? My favorite is to settle all debts and start the New Year with a clean slate...good luck with that! When it comes to food and cooking the New Years' meal some foods are symbols for the year. When cooking  noodles, don't cut them and you will have a long life. Serving Chinese Tea Eggs on New Years' indicates a year of wealth, but my favorite is prepare a whole fish in order to have more than enough of everything in the coming year! Works for me and so this is what is on Marilyn's Table in celebration of Chinese New Year:

Ginger Ale Cocktail
Dan-Dan Noodles
Chinese Tea Eggs
Baby Bok Choy with Shitake Mushrooms
Braised Sea Bass in Chili Bean Sauce

This was a very labor intensive meal; lots of chopping and slicing. The cocktail is made with a ginger simple syrup, club soda, orange and lime juice and rum over ice.  Quite refreshing but I wish I had purchased a regular size bottle of rum instead of the single serving one.  The ginger simple syrup took the longest to make.  Simmer sugar and water together and add lots of sliced fresh ginger and simmer for about 20 minutes.  Strain and refrigerate.  The aroma of simmering ginger filled the house.

Next came the Chinese Tea Eggs.  Eggs are simmered in boiling water for only 3 minutes.  Leaving the water in the pan, spoon out the eggs and run under cold water until they can be held.  With the back of a spoon, gently crack the eggs and return to the pot of water along with, soy sauce, star anise, black tea (in bags), stick cinnamon, peppercorns, sugar and strips of orange peel.  Simmer for another 40 minutes and set aside to cool for at least 5 hours, turning the eggs occasionally so all the cracks are exposed to the broth. When they are cool, peel and (surprise) the egg white has a lovely brown pattern.  The white takes on just a bit of the flavor of the simmering liquid.

The Dan-Dan Noodles are more of a soup than a noodle dish. Toasted sesame seeds are blended with sesame oil a bit of sugar and salt to form a powder. This is sprinkled over the finished dish before serving. Diced dill pickles, garlic, ginger, scallions, salt and sugar are stir fried in a wok. A mixture of vegetable broth and soy sauce is added. In a small skillet brown ground pork with vegetable oil and add soy sauce at the end.  Add to the mixture in the wok along with the whole noodles. I used soba, because they are my favorite. Add more broth if needed as noodles cook. Stir in some chopped baby bok choy and simmer until just wilted. Serve in a bowl and drizzle with a bit of sesame oil and the sesame seed powder.

I guess you would call the next dish a salad?  Baby bok choy has the tough stems removed and lightly steam the leaves. Set them aside.  Slice shitake mushroom caps (not the stems, they are tough and thrown away) and saute in oil with chopped garlic, and ginger.  Add a bit of  vegetable broth, soy sauce, and chili sauce. Spoon over the bok choy leaves and garnish with sliced scallions. Serve with one of the eggs.

The main event is the fish. The sea bass was sprinkled with salt and allowed to sit for about 15 minutes.  Wipe the fish dry.  In a wok heat oil until very hot.  Add whole fish (watch out for splattering).  Spoon the hot oil over the fish being sure the whole fish is golden.  Remove to a platter and discard the oil in the pan.  add a bit more of oil and stir in chili bean paste and stir.  Add minced ginger and garlic.  Then add some chicken broth and bring to a boil.  Return the fish to the pan.  Turn the pan and spoon the broth over the fish until it is cooked through. Stir in some sliced scallions and turn off the heat.  Serve the fish on an oval dish and spoon the broth over the top.  Another drizzle of the sesame oil and it's ready to serve.

As I said at the beginning this was a very labor intensive meal, but on the whole I thought it was worth the effort.....once!  Some of the dishes I will prepare again, just not anytime soon. The drink was good.  The tea eggs were fun to make, but not something I will likely do again. I prefer plain old deviled eggs. The noodle dish was excellent  and reheated very well for lunches this week. I will make the bok choy salad again and the fish? It was good, but too tedious.  I will oven roast the sea bass next time.

If I am to believe the superstition that goes with the food, I will have a long life since the noodles where whole, I will be wealthy because of the tea eggs and I will have more than enough of everything I need for preparing the fish.  We shall see. Just don't bring any snakes into the mix.

Have a great week and next week will be much simpler.