Gong Hei Fat Choy

Happy Chinese New Year!

H

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY NATALIE FINDLAY

GONG HEI FAT CHOY!

Translates to “Wishing you happiness and prosperity”. Unlike the Gregorian calendar one night, all-out, have-to-stay-up-tomidnight, ball-dropping New Year’s celebrations, Chinese New Year is enjoyed over many days, filled with celebrations as the old year exits and the new lunar year enters. As you can imagine, there are many dishes that are consumed over the days of Chinese New Year. Try your hand at celebrating Chinese New Year at home with these simple, flavour-packed dishes.

2 cups glutinous rice Water

1. Wash rice until the water runs clear. In a medium bowl, add rice and cover with cold water and soak for at least 2 hours. Rinse rice. 2. Using a double boiler over medium heat, add water to the base and cover with the perforated basket. Line the basket with cheese cloth to make sure the rice does not fall through. Add the rice and level out. 3. Cover and lower heat to simmer. Cook 15 minutes. 4. Turn over rice with a spatula and continue cooking another 5 minutes or until rice has softened to your liking.

Shumai

Makes approximately 40 (and it still won’t be enough because they are that good!)

250 g ground pork 150 g shrimp, peeled and deveined 1 Tbs cornstarch 1 Tbs (15 mL) soy sauce 50 g shiitake mushrooms, trimmed 1 Tbs ginger, grated 1½ Tbs scallion, finely sliced 1½ Tbs (22 mL) oyster sauce ½ tsp salt 1 Tbs (15 mL) sesame oil 40 egg or wonton wrappers 2 Tbs carrot, finely diced

Note: These don’t have to be perfect to taste amazing. It does take a few attempts to get the hang of it. But don’t worry, they are worth it.

1. Rinse off the pork and pat dry. 2. Chop shrimp into small pieces so it blends easily with the pork. 3. Add all ingredients, except for the wrappers and the carrot into a medium sized bowl. Using a fork, mash everything together thoroughly. You want to make sure all ingredients are incorporated evenly. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight. 4. With your non-dominant hand, make a circle connecting your thumb to the rest of your fingers. Place the round wrapper on top of the circle. Using the handle end of a teaspoon, scoop up a bit of the filling and start spreading on the wrapper. Notice that the wrapper will push down into the hole between your thumb and the rest of your fingers. There you can form the round shape of the shumai as you keep adding more filling. Continue packing wrappers until all the filling is gone.

5. Add a ¼ tsp of finely diced carrots to top the shumai. 6. In a double boiler with a perforated steamer insert - line with parchment paper (so the shumai do not stick). Add shumai, making sure not to overcrowd the steamer. Steam 8 - 10 minutes. Remove from steamer and serve on its own or with the following dipping sauce.

Note: Most wrappers you can find are square. In order to get the round shape for shumai trim the square wrappers using a small juice glass as a guide. I recommend trying one to check for sizing before cutting all the wrappers..

Yu Choy with Oyster Sauce

6 full stalks yu choy (or other Chinese greens) 3 Tbs (45 mL) oyster sauce 1 clove garlic, grated

1. In a large, high-sided sauté pan, fill 1/3 with water. Bring to a boil and blanche the greens for 30 seconds to a minute. Remove and pat dry. 2. Discard water, reserving a few tablespoons to thin the sauce if necessary. 3. In a small pot over medium low heat add the oyster sauce and garlic. Thin with reserved water to desired consistency and pour over top of the greens. ¼ cup (60 mL) soy sauce 1 tsp (5 mL) rice vinegar 1 tsp sugar 2 cloves garlic 1 Tbs (15 mL) sesame oil ½ tsp (2 mL) garlic chili sauce (or desired heat)

Combine all ingredients together.

Char Sui

Sserves 4

800 g pork butt 2 Tbs (30 mL) soy sauce 2 Tbs (30 mL) Chinese cooking wine 3 Tbs (45 mL) hoisin sauce 2 Tbs (30 mL) oyster sauce 2 tsp sugar ½ Tbs (7 mL) molasses 3 cloves garlic, grated 1½ tsp Chinese five spice powder 1 tsp salt ½ tsp pepper 2 Tbs (30 mL) honey

1. Rinse and dry the meat and cut in half lengthwise. 2. In a medium bowl combine the rest of the ingredients except the honey to make the marinade. Split the marinade in two. In a resealable bag, add half of the marinade plus the pieces of pork. Seal the bag and massage the marinade into the pork. Refrigerate 8 hours or overnight. 3. In a small pot, add the other half of the marinade plus the honey, and bring to a gentle boil stirring to make sure the glaze doesn’t burn. Cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool and refrigerate until you are cooking the pork. 4. Preheat the oven to 450º F. 5. Line a baking sheet with foil for easier clean up. Place a wire rack on top of the baking sheet. Remove the pork and glaze from the fridge. Place the pieces of pork on the wire rack in the middle of the oven and cook for 10 minutes. 6. Remove and baste with the glaze. Continue to do this every 10 minutes, turning the pork and glazing. The pork is cooked when a thermometer reaches an internal temperature of 145º F.

Natalie is a freelance writer, photographer and pastry chef. A graduate of Cordon Bleu’s pastry program, she manages her own business too to create custom-made cakes.