🧧 Seasonal collection
Lunar New Year Recipes: Dumplings, Noodles and Banquet Dishes
In northern China the Spring Festival means a table of jiaozi folded by the whole family. In Korea, mandu go into the New Year's soup. Here are the dumplings, the long noodles and the banquet dishes, next to the American takeout versions they turned into.
🥟 Dumplings
Fold them together the night before; jiaozi are a fixture of the Spring Festival meal in northern China.
Jiaozi (Boiled Pork and Napa Cabbage Dumplings)
Hand-rolled wheat wrappers pleated around a silky filling of ground pork, blanched napa cabbage, Shaoxing wine and sesame oil, boiled in a big pot and served with black vinegar and soy sauce for dipping.
Kimchi Mandu (Korean King-Size Kimchi Dumplings)
Big homemade wrappers pleated around a juicy filling of seasoned ground beef, chopped kimchi, tofu, sweet potato glass noodles and garlic chives, steamed and served with a sharp soy, vinegar and chile dipping sauce.
Gyoza (Japanese Pan-Fried Pork and Cabbage Dumplings)
Thin store-bought wrappers pleated around pork, salted cabbage, shiitake, garlic and ginger, browned on one side, steamed under a lid and crisped with sesame oil, with a soy, rice vinegar and chili oil dip.
Peking Ravioli (Boston Pan-Fried Pork Dumplings)
Joyce Chen's chiao-tzu: homemade wrappers around pork and salted napa cabbage with soy, sherry and sesame oil, steamed and fried in concentric rings, flipped out golden side up and dipped in soy sauce and rice vinegar.
Crispy Lace Frozen Dumplings (Skillet Potstickers with a Golden Skirt)
A bag of frozen pork potstickers browned in a nonstick skillet, steamed under a thin flour-and-water slurry that fries into one lacy golden skirt, flipped onto a plate and served with soy sauce, sesame oil and chile flakes, in 25 minutes.
🍜 Long noodles and rice
Long noodles are often served for a long life.
Hong Kong-Style Chow Mein (Golden Pan-Fried Noodles with Chicken and Shrimp)
Thin egg noodles steamed, then pan-fried slowly into one cake that is golden and crisp on both sides, topped with chicken, shrimp, bok choy, mushrooms and carrot in a light oyster sauce gravy.
Yangzhou Fried Rice (Young Chow Fried Rice)
China's most famous fried rice: day-old rice stir-fried with egg, shrimp, ham, roast pork, onion and peas, seasoned with salt, a pinch of sugar and Shaoxing wine instead of soy sauce, and finished with crisp lettuce and scallions.
Chinese-American Pork Fried Rice
The takeout classic: jasmine rice darkened with soy and dark soy sauce, honey, sesame oil and Shaoxing wine, tossed with a full pound of red-edged char siu, onion, bean sprouts, scrambled egg and scallions.
🥢 The banquet table
Big, shareable dishes, from the originals to the takeout classics they became.
Lion's Head Meatballs
Big, soft pork meatballs, stirred into a sticky paste, fried to set, then braised in a savory sauce.
Tangerine Peel Chicken (Chenpi Chicken)
Sliced chicken breast stir-fried with dried red chiles, ginger and onion, then tossed with soaked dried tangerine peel, fresh tangerine peel and segments in a light sauce of orange juice, lager, soy and a little sugar, with no batter and no deep fryer.
Gu Lou Yuk (Cantonese Sweet and Sour Pork)
Bite-size pork shoulder marinated with soy and egg, dry-coated in flour and cornstarch and fried twice until crunchy, then tossed in a glossy ketchup, brown sugar and vinegar sauce with a few peppers, onion and pineapple.
Gong Bao Ji Ding (Sichuan Kung Pao Chicken)
Small cubes of marinated chicken stir-fried over high heat with dried red chiles and whole Sichuan pepper, garlic, ginger and scallion, glazed in a light sweet-sour sauce with black vinegar and finished with crisp roasted peanuts.
General Tso's Chicken, Peng Chang-kuei's Taipei Version (Hot and Sour, No Sugar)
Thin slices of skin-on chicken thigh in an egg-yolk and starch marinade, deep-fried crisp, then tossed with dried chiles, ginger and garlic in a hot and sour sauce of tomato paste, soy and rice vinegar, with no sugar at all.
Beef and Broccoli
Thin slices of velveted flank steak seared in a smoking-hot wok, tossed with blanched broccoli florets, garlic and ginger in a glossy brown sauce of chicken stock, oyster sauce, soy sauce and a little sugar.