Twitter Facebook RSS

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Happy Chinese New Year!

| | 0 comments



Happy Chinese New Year friends!

I wish you all happiness, continual success in your career and may all your wishes come true! That's the best I can do in terms of translating from chinese to english.

It's been such a chaotic week here in Toronto. Besides all the Chinese New Year festive stuff, there was a huge snowstorm that lasted for two days. We were snowed in and traffic was such a pain. But that didn't stop me from preparing for the new year with food.

Today I am going to share with you some symbolic dishes that a Chinese New Year dinner must have.

Some common dishes served:

Chicken
Serving a whole chicken during dinner time symbolizes togetherness and good marriage.

Lobster
Steamed lobster is one of my favourite dishes Chinese New Year. This popular dish symbolizes happiness. In Cantonese it is pronounced "Long Ha." The "Ha" translates to "ha, ha" which is expressed when one is happy.

Noodles
Noodles are served as long as possible and should not be cut. Why? Because noodles symbolize longevity.

Duck
Duck symbolizes fidelity in Chinese culture, so don't be surprised when you see a delicious duck at a wedding.

Fruits
A common fruit that Chinese families give to one another is tangerine and orange. How you pronounce orange and tangerine in Chinese sounds like luck and wealth.

Red
Red, red and more red. The colour red plays a big part during Chinese New Year. It symbolizes luck and happiness.




Of course, I am going to share my favourite dish with you guys. I'm always a big fan of lobster and whenever we have big dinners, I always suggest lobster as a dish.

To prepare the "Funny Longevity" Lobster dish,

Heres what you need:
5lb lobster (roughly chopped)
pepper for seasoning
garlic finely diced
A gulp of olive oil
green onions for garnish
Vermicelli soaked in water until soft

Arrange the vermicelli on a plate in a nest like fashion.

Place the roughly chopped lobster on top of the vermicelli.

Season the lobster with pepper, garlic pieces and olive oil.

Steam the lobster on high for 15 minutes until it turns red. The lobster should have natural juices overflowing. This will cook the vermicelli and add flavour to it.

Serve right away!

Of course, Chinese New Year doesn't stop there. I still need to visit my other relives and wish them a good year. This is just a small taste of what Chinese New Year feels like but I will try my best to update as much as possible and educate you. 

Keep in touch! 

0 comments:

Post a Comment