Lunar New Year
Spring Rolls
By Michael Tong
Spinach with Bamboo Shoots
By Michael Tong
Peanut Sesame Noodles
The secret to this Chinese favorite is not to let the noodles sit in the sauce very long — toss them together a few seconds before serving.
Fragrant Crispy Duck
This is a big-deal dish. But the numerous steps, all easy, transform the duck into a wonder of subtle spiciness. We had this dish in Xi'an, where five-spice powder in the rub and the dipping salt were lovely touches.
Pot Stickers
I discovered Pot Stickers at about the same time I was introduced to Scallion Cakes. Pan-fried on only one side, the dough for these dumplings is at once crisp and chewy. When I was about eleven years old, I could sometimes devour a dozen of these fried dumplings at one sitting. It was such a sweet pleasure to eat as much as you wanted and still be a skinny child. Filled with pork, cabbage, and a rich broth, every bite was heavenly.
The secret of these pot stickers is to reduce the Homemade Chicken Broth until it is concentrated enough to jell when refrigerated. The broth should then be roughly chopped and stirred into the filling mixture right before the dumplings are formed. The Pot Stickers are pan-fried only on one side a few minutes until golden. A little water is added, the lid is placed on the pan, and then, as the dumplings steam-cook, the broth melts. To eat, place a pot sticker in a deep spoon (traditionally, a Chinese porcelain spoon) and sprinkle with a few ginger shreds and a little red rice vinegar. Gently bite into the dumpling and the delicious broth that has now melded with the flavors of the pork filling will burst forth.
By Grace Young
Steamed Pork and Jícama Dumplings
Though these dumplings are traditionally cooked in stacked Asian bamboo or metal steamers, you can also use a pasta pot with a deep perforated colander-steamer insert. If your pot has a second shallow colander-steamer insert, you can steam 2 batches at once. The dumplings should be served warm, so reheat them in batches as platters need replenishing.
Wuxi Spareribs
Wuxi, just two hours outside of Shanghai and often referred to as Little Shanghai, is a bustling city known for its silk. It was once called Youxi, meaning "has tin," but the tin reserves were depleted during the Han dynasty, and so Wuxi, which translates as "without tin," became its new name. These spareribs are one of the city's signature dishes.
By Wang Haibo
Crisp-Skinned Duck with Mock Mandarin Pancakes
This dish is similar to classic Peking duck in the way that it is eaten: Slices of breast meat, crisp skin, scallion, and hoisin sauce are rolled inside pancakes. In a traditional rendition the meat from the duck legs would be stir-fried with vegetables, but here the duck legs are served whole.
Be sure to allow three days for this duck to dry in the refrigerator.
Chinese Chicken Noodle Soup with Spinach and Garlic Chives
In Chinese culture, noodles symbolize longevity and are often served at New Year celebrations and traditionally left very long.
Chinese Barbecued Spareribs
By Dorothy Lee
Chinese Fried Rice Deluxe
The secret of making fried rice lies in the use of cold, cooked rice. Freshly cooked rice will only produce a sticky mess.
By Dorothy Lee
Steamed Red Snapper with Ginger, Chiles, and Sesame Oil
Steaming, a method often used by Asian cooks, works well with delicately flavored red snapper, since the aromatics (ginger, scallion, chile) are easily absorbed by the fish.
Szechuan Noodles with Peanut Sauce
This chilled noodle salad from Zygot Bookworks & Cafe is loaded with crisp vegetables.
Wuxi Pork with Wine Sauce
Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 4 hr
In China, northern China in particular, pork belly — fresh (unsmoked) bacon with skin and bones — is cooked just like the rest of the pig. Chef Susur Lee simmers it, then steams it until its fall-off-the-bone-tender. Pork belly is available at Chinese meat markets and some butcher shops.
By Susur Lee
Long Bean Salad
Pae Thee Thoke
Chinese long beans, also known as yard-long beans, really are long — about 18 inches.
Spicy Sichuan-Style Shrimp
Preparation time: 25 minutes Cooking time: 5 minutes
Sichuan cooking is popular throughout China, and in recent years, adventurous Chinese restaurant diners have discovered how delicious it can be. This is one of the best known dishes from that area.
By Ken Hom
New Year's Cake (Neen Gow)
Neen Gow, New Year's Cake, is the most important cake eaten on New Year's — the main ingredient, glutinous rice flour, is a symbol of cohesiveness. The egg-dipped, pan-fried slices have a mellow sweetness and are slightly chewy from glutinous rice flour. Mama remembers watching her grandmother's servants scraping the slab brown candy, peen tong, for this cake, which is the traditional technique. Brown candy is a kind of sugar that is sold by the slab in 1-pound packages and is also available loose in bins in some Chinese markets. The slabs are about 5 inches long, 1 1/4 inches wide, and a scant 1/2 inch thick. The scraping of the sugar is extremely labor-intensive, so some cooks dissolve the slabs of sugar in water, which is less authentic but much easier to prepare. Be sure to use glutinous rice flour here, not regular rice flour!
See the introduction to Turnip Cake for how to serve and store this New Year's Cake.
By Grace Young
Chinese Smoked Chicken
By Sharri Chambers