Year of the Snake: Lucky Dumpling Party Tips

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January 29, 2013Year of the Snake: Lucky Dumpling Party Tips

When it comes to Chinese astrological signs, I suck. While Iknow my own – I straddle the curious monkey and preening rooster who cooks well,I don’t take it all that seriously. Some people are dialing it in for theupcoming Year of the Black (or Water) Snake, which starts on February 10. Bysome accounts, it will be one of instability and extremities but will generateoverall peace and prosperity. I feel like that is my life in the main.  

Through web searches, I found out that snakes are sexy, lucky, and wise, albeit inclined to a certainmeasure of laziness. Famous snakes include Pablo Picasso, Audrey Hepburn,Jackie Onassi, and Brooke Shields. Snakes gets along well with roosters, oxes, horses,sheep, and dogs. If you’re a rat, tiger, rabbit, or dragon, you’ll be an okayfriend of a snake. Monkeys and snakes tend to create too much drama. I’m kinda coveredduring 2013, I suppose.

This stuff is lots of yin-yang, good and bad,lighthearted fun. I read Chinese astrological signs like I read my dailyhoroscopes. Their ambiguity offers constant life lessons. If they were spot on,I’d head to Vegas during my “four-star” days.

That said, it’s always good to start a new yearwith a positive outlook. I make my plans for Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year)around the 3 C’s: cleaning, cooking, and celebrating. Since I am usually notwith my family, I invite close friends over for a feast. More often than not,there are dumplings on the menu. I occasionally make an entire menu of dumplingsand invite friends over to help out.

If you want to throw a “Lucky Dumpling Party,” hereare some pointers:

When to have the party? Any time starting the weekend of February 10! You have the entire month to celebrate!

WhichAsian dumplings to serve? What you enjoy making and eating. If you want tofocus on lucky ones, check out thesedumplings.

Have kids at the party? Get them working with making wontons. Or, let them color Year of the Snake pages for decor. I like this simple one as well as this crazier version with Chinese characters; the links take you to a downloable .pdf from a UK site. 

Howmany dumplings on your menu? It depends on the number ofpeople you have and your kitchen capacity. Make 2, 3 or 5 – skip the number 4because it’s a bad luck number. Consider these factors in making up your menu:

Varyyour cooking methods. Boil, pan-fry, bake, steam and/or deep-fry tooffer a diverse menu and use your stove efficiently. Read recipes carefully tosee what you can make in advance and reheat. Make a dumpling but cookit 2 ways. Depending on the numberof guests you have, make a single or double batch of the pork and napa cabbage dumplings (Asian Dumplings, page 31). They are the classic Chinese New Yeardumpling. Poach/boil half of them, pan-fry the other half into pot-stickers.It's great to compare and contrast the textural differences that you get fromthe two cooking methods. There are vegetarian dumpling recipes in the book that’llwork that way too. Or, try the roasted kabocha and vegetable dumpling recipe Irecently wroteabout. Don’t forget gluten-freedumplings, if your guests are sensitive. Know your steamer traylimits. Don’t overcrowd your steamer trays by making too much and cooking themup all at once. To save time and minimize stress, make 1 or 2 steamed dumplings,not 3. You’ve smartly selected dumplings that can be steamed off in advance andthen gently resteamed to refresh. If you’re deep-frying,use a thermometer. Deep-fried Asiandumplings are spectacularly good, showy morsels. The Cantonese classics are thespring roll and taro puff. The former is easier than the latter. If you’restarting out, make spring rolls. Work up to the puff and do practice run first.Use a thermometer so you stay on your game. When you’re deft in deep-fryingdumplings, make both. Don’t forget dippingsauces! Make them in advance and set them out at the table. 

Lucky dumpling pot luck: If your friends are game, have themmake dumplings and bring them to your house! Or, have each person or couple bein charge of prepping a dumpling (dough, filling, and dipping sauce). They cometo your place and everyone makes dumplings, cooks and eat. More tips for anAsian dumpling potluck are here.

Lunar New Year decor: I love the tacky, gold stuff thatmarks this holiday. Head to Cost Plus or a Chinese or Vietnamese market. You’llsee red envelopes, lanterns, all kinds of crazy paper decorations. A partystore may be a good source too. I recycle my decor, putting them out aroundnow. 

Finally,havefun. Thingscan go awry but everyone will have a good time. Guests will be deeply grateful for your generous hospitality. They’llfeel super lucky.

If you have the Asian Dumplings cookbook, mine it for recipes and ideas.Also do a search and/or check the recipe indices for VietWorld Kitchen, AsianDumpling Tips and Asian Tofu,depending on your interest. A short list:

LuckyAsian Dumplings for New Year – pick your dumplings!Howto throw a dumpling party (and not work hard)Giantfried jiaozi meat dumpling recipe RoastedKabocha and Vegetable Dumpling recipeCrunchyshrimp balls (aka Chef’s Special Balls)Chinese Daikon Radish Cakes (Luo Bo Gao)Sugar Egg Puffs (Bai Tang Sha Weng)Watermelon Radish and Cucumber SaladChilled Cucumber with GarlicSilver Pin Noodles with Chicken, Bean Sprouts, and ScallionPork belly buns Japanese style or Chairman Mao style 

Feel free to share Asian dumpling ideas and tipsfor entertaining.

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When it comes to Chinese astrological signs, I suck. While Iknow my own – I straddle the curious monkey and preening rooster who cooks well,I don’t take it all that seriously. Some people are dialing it in for theupcoming Year of the Black (or Water) Snake, which starts on February 10. Bysome accounts, it will be one of instability and extremities but will generateoverall peace and prosperity. I feel like that is my life in the main.  

Through web searches, I found out that snakes are sexy, lucky, and wise, albeit inclined to a certainmeasure of laziness. Famous snakes include Pablo Picasso, Audrey Hepburn,Jackie Onassi, and Brooke Shields. Snakes gets along well with roosters, oxes, horses,sheep, and dogs. If you’re a rat, tiger, rabbit, or dragon, you’ll be an okayfriend of a snake. Monkeys and snakes tend to create too much drama. I’m kinda coveredduring 2013, I suppose.

This stuff is lots of yin-yang, good and bad,lighthearted fun. I read Chinese astrological signs like I read my dailyhoroscopes. Their ambiguity offers constant life lessons. If they were spot on,I’d head to Vegas during my “four-star” days.

That said, it’s always good to start a new yearwith a positive outlook. I make my plans for Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year)around the 3 C’s: cleaning, cooking, and celebrating. Since I am usually notwith my family, I invite close friends over for a feast. More often than not,there are dumplings on the menu. I occasionally make an entire menu of dumplingsand invite friends over to help out.

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Lucky Chinese New Year Dumplings

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January 16, 2012Lucky Chinese New Year Dumplings

When Lunar New Year comes around, I like to pile on the Asian symbols of good luck – especially when it comes to food. Traditional Vietnamese Tet foods have certain cultural symbols. Foods like banh chung sticky rice cakes wrapped in banana leaves echo the modesty and resourcefulness of Vietnamese cooks. There are just a handful of ingredients that go into that sensational preparation.

Whereas Viet Tet foods are humble, Chinese New Year foods are loaded with promises of fortune. Next week when we celebrate Lunar New Year on January 23 and 24, I’m planning a menu of Vietnamese Tet foods and Chinese New Year dumplings. I haven’t narrowed down which ones to make but here are some candidates:

Jiaozi dumplings – I love these hearty dumplings (a sample is pictured above) this time of the year. They are little bundles of joy. Their shape resemble gold ingots so eating lots of them during Chinese New Year is suppose to invite good fortune. The term jiaozi (“gee-OW zeh”) generically applies to a broad category of dumplings in the Chinese repertoire.

It’s a northern Chinese tradition for families to gather and made a ton of jiaozi dumplings. Some people roll out the dough into individual skins while others fill and cook the dumplings. The hot dumplings get tumbled in a mess of soy sauce, vinegar and chile oil for a great warming snack. The filling can be meaty or vegetarian. I suppose you could even make gluten-free dumplings too!

Poached dumplings (think ravioli) are most traditional but heck, it’s the Year of the Dragon and you’re free to go crazy. Panfry the dumplings into pot stickers or deep-fry them into crisp pockets of joy. Or steam them. You could even make Tibetan momos or Japanese pot stickers as riffs. The first chapter of Asian Dumplings offers a whole host of options. You could even make a filling on the fly.

Fried spring roll – The lovely crisp rolls are suppose to symbolize gold bars. Why not eat some “gold” for Lunar New Year? The Chinese call their new year the Spring Festival so a spring roll is extra appropriate! Choose from a Cantonese char siu pork and vegetable filling or even try a Filipino lumpia if you prefer a Southeast Asian twist. Earlier this year, I made an oyster spring roll that’s lovely.

Sesame seed balls – Oh my...you have likely eaten these deep-fried balls filled with sweetened bean paste. When they’re fresh from the fryer, they are delightful. Cantonese jin deui are a favorite for Chinese New Year that began in the Tang Dynasty.

I read on a Hong Kong website that the Chinese say: “Stacks of jin deui will bring in stacks of gold and silver.” The golden color of the fried balls symbolize wealth and the round shape means that your prosperity will roll on forever. I know it sounds hokey but that’s part of the charm of the holiday. Frying the balls is a hoot because the dough expands as you press them against the side of the pan (see Asian Dumplings, page 201, for a recipe). 

Wontons – This is likely the easiest of dumplings to make for Chinese New Year. Good wontons skins are commercially available in many places. You could shape the wontons to resemble a little gold ingot by aiming for the Nurse’s cap look. A wintry favorite of mine are vegetable and pork wontons, which I poach and then serve with chile oil. Or, fry some crab rangoon up as a cocktail snack.

Stuffed buns – Have a bao fest and impress  your guests with various fillings and cooking techniques. That’s what Andrew Janjigian, an editor with Cook’s Illustrated, told me he’s planning for this coming weekend.

You can’t go wrong with dumplings for New Year’s. Good homemade Asian dumplings are gems. Treat yourself, family and friends to the simple splendor of a tasty dumpling. You’d load up on prosperity.

Related posts and recipes: (many of these are on  Asian Dumpling Tips)

Strategic Asian Dumpling Menu Planning How to Teach Children to Cook? Make Wontons How to Have a Dumpling Party (and not work hard) Asian Dumplings Potluck TipsChicken and Shiitake Mushroom BaoChinese Daikon Radish Cakes (Luo Bo Gao)Vegetarian Daikon Radish Cakes a la Slanted DoorVegetarian Hue Rice DumplingSugar Egg Puffs (Bai Tang Sha Weng)Watermelon Radish and Cucumber SaladChilled Cucumber with GarlicSilver Pin Noodles with Chicken, Bean Sprouts, and Scallion

Check the VWK Recipe Index for more ideas.

 

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Let's hope they bring us all some good luck in year of the dragon ......

Posted by:Mzungu |January 17, 2012 at 02:19 PM

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