Cooking fro Lunar New Year
- Thread starter capital
- Start date
No I am not Chinese, but my husband and his family are. That is the problem, I know there are certain food to cook, but I don't know what they are and my husband is not particularily helpful with this. I need help to set a menu, and recipes if possible, but even if I have the names of dishes, I can look for the recipes myself. This is the first time I will be cooking for my husbands family at new year and I would like to make a good impression.
Capital,
You might want to finesse the whole issue and take them out for dinner. Lots of restaurants have CNY Banquet menus that are sure to please and it will likely save you a lot of work and anxiety.
However, if you do want to cook:
1) Check to see if your husband's family has a tradition of going vegetarian for the first day or the first 3 days of CNY. Some families do and others do not. This will undoubtably influence the menu.
Here's one person's menu on a blog
http://www.eatingchina.com/blog/NY-dinner.htm
Lo Ba Gou - turnip cake - in our family we make it, but others do not
* trad because you can eat it w/out using a knife to cut
*trad because it can be made ahead of time and just steamed or fried - CNY should be a relaxing day
Jiaozi
* Some families have a family jiaozi wrapping session late night on CNY eve, but I think that's more of a northern thing - not so much Cantonese.
A dish that has faat choi (the mossy stuff that looks like hair) - But I've heard that it's a somewhat endangered species.... But my m-i-l makes it.
Big whole steamed fish (yu = prosperity)
Neen Gou - (In Mandarin, Nian Gao) New Year's cake - often made w/ rice floure and dried fruits
http://www.chiff.com/recipe/pages/10125.htm
Mixed veggies (Often called Buddha's delight)
http://chinesefood.about.com/od/chinesenewyear/r/buddhasdelight.htm
I have found this book very useful. It's written by a Chinese-American woman and is full of recipes and information.
http://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-Chinese-Kitchen-Classic-Celebration/dp/0684847396
Make sure you do not end up w/ 7 dishes (unlucky - it's the number of dishes served at a funeral).
My husband is HK Chinese and since we're a big family, we tend to have the "reuinion dinner" at a restaurant and have semi-potluck for the dinner on the first day - everyone brings dishes.
You might want to finesse the whole issue and take them out for dinner. Lots of restaurants have CNY Banquet menus that are sure to please and it will likely save you a lot of work and anxiety.
However, if you do want to cook:
1) Check to see if your husband's family has a tradition of going vegetarian for the first day or the first 3 days of CNY. Some families do and others do not. This will undoubtably influence the menu.
Here's one person's menu on a blog
http://www.eatingchina.com/blog/NY-dinner.htm
Lo Ba Gou - turnip cake - in our family we make it, but others do not
* trad because you can eat it w/out using a knife to cut
*trad because it can be made ahead of time and just steamed or fried - CNY should be a relaxing day
Jiaozi
* Some families have a family jiaozi wrapping session late night on CNY eve, but I think that's more of a northern thing - not so much Cantonese.
A dish that has faat choi (the mossy stuff that looks like hair) - But I've heard that it's a somewhat endangered species.... But my m-i-l makes it.
Big whole steamed fish (yu = prosperity)
Neen Gou - (In Mandarin, Nian Gao) New Year's cake - often made w/ rice floure and dried fruits
http://www.chiff.com/recipe/pages/10125.htm
Mixed veggies (Often called Buddha's delight)
http://chinesefood.about.com/od/chinesenewyear/r/buddhasdelight.htm
I have found this book very useful. It's written by a Chinese-American woman and is full of recipes and information.
http://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-Chinese-Kitchen-Classic-Celebration/dp/0684847396
Make sure you do not end up w/ 7 dishes (unlucky - it's the number of dishes served at a funeral).
My husband is HK Chinese and since we're a big family, we tend to have the "reuinion dinner" at a restaurant and have semi-potluck for the dinner on the first day - everyone brings dishes.
Hi Capitol,
I assume that you are hosting the New Year dinner for the family(before the new year when the whole family gather together) and they are Southern Chinese. Traditional Chines tends to have different food on different days of the CNY.
There are the dishes you HAVE to have:
1. Steam whole chicken
2. Steam whole fish
3. Roast pork (the one with the crispy skin)
4. Buddha's Delight
5. Soup ( since we tends to have better food for CNY, I normally cooked "shark fins soup")
6. Prawn (means happy) - Prawn Ketchup (its red in color too)
For items 1 and 3, you could just get it from the stores.e.g. Canteen, cafe deCarol or Yung Kee
The following dishes are my favor (easy to cook) and you can actully make your own choice:
7. Homestyle grill side ribs
8. Braised pork belly with Lotus root and mushroom
9. Beef flank in curry sauce
10.Chinese marrow with dried scallop
As loupou said, we now tends to go out for gathering instead of cooking at home. I really think you should consider. Just to let you know traditional Chinese believe if there any bad things happen at the NY dinner the following year will be bad luck.
But if you still decide to go ahead, PM me, I could send you the detail receipe and may be able to assist you further.
I assume that you are hosting the New Year dinner for the family(before the new year when the whole family gather together) and they are Southern Chinese. Traditional Chines tends to have different food on different days of the CNY.
There are the dishes you HAVE to have:
1. Steam whole chicken
2. Steam whole fish
3. Roast pork (the one with the crispy skin)
4. Buddha's Delight
5. Soup ( since we tends to have better food for CNY, I normally cooked "shark fins soup")
6. Prawn (means happy) - Prawn Ketchup (its red in color too)
For items 1 and 3, you could just get it from the stores.e.g. Canteen, cafe deCarol or Yung Kee
The following dishes are my favor (easy to cook) and you can actully make your own choice:
7. Homestyle grill side ribs
8. Braised pork belly with Lotus root and mushroom
9. Beef flank in curry sauce
10.Chinese marrow with dried scallop
As loupou said, we now tends to go out for gathering instead of cooking at home. I really think you should consider. Just to let you know traditional Chinese believe if there any bad things happen at the NY dinner the following year will be bad luck.
But if you still decide to go ahead, PM me, I could send you the detail receipe and may be able to assist you further.
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Thakyou so much for your replies, this is very helpful!! I want to try out some new dishes now on my husband, so hopefully they will be second nature by New Years'. I won't be cooking the mail meal at new years, but at some time during the new year I will host a meal, so this is very very helpful to me. I plan to buy that book as well.
