Happy New Year of the Rabbit
Year of the Rabbit begins 22nd January 2023 and celebrations will ensue.
Like many festivals all over the world, such as Diwali, Eid and Easter, Chinese New Year is derived from the lunar calendar and is celebrated with food, family reunions and festivities.
The animals associated with the years are based upon the Chinese horoscope. All twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac have different symbols and it is thought that people’s character traits can be reflected in those born in a particular year.
So the personality traits for someone born in the Year of the Rabbit could be deemed to be quiet, elegant, kind and responsible. The characteristics of Very Tasty World’s founders could be reflected in their zodiac animals because VTW has a compassionate, generous and very diligent Pig associating with a sharp, smart, recondite cheeky Monkey.
Our visit to China during the latter part of the New Year celebrations, known as Spring Festival, some years ago can be found in the post Gong Xi Fa Cai or Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy New Year! It was a joyful time.
Food For the Festivities
Like many annual celebrations and gatherings this is the time for family and food with wide celebrations. Reunions and recipes join together in sociability and culinary joy.
Some of the more popular traditional dishes associated with lunar new year in China include a whole fish cooked with ginger, garlic and spring onion. Jiaozi – dumplings- represent coins which symbolise prosperity throughout the year. Long noodles suggest longevity and happiness and spring rolls signify wealth.
We have a recipe for baked whole fish cooked with ginger, garlic and spring onions using sea bass. The fish is always served whole as the head and tail represent the start and end of the year.
And it’s not all savoury. Sweet glutinous rice cakes suggest the possibility of moving up in the world and sweet rice balls which represent family harmony. Happy New Year!
- RECIPE: Vegan Wild Garlic Pesto
- Recipe: Venetian Pasta Sauce
- RECIPE: How to Make Costa Rica’s Gallo Pinto
- Recipe: Japanese Simmered Pork Belly – Buta no Kakuni
- RECIPE: How to Make Umeboshi
- Recipe: Shopska Salad
- RECIPE: Salmorejo
- RECIPE: Japanese Fried Chicken Karaage
- RECIPE: How To Make Wild Garlic Pesto
Noodle Review: Nissin Instant Noodle Miso
BRAND: Nissin Instant Noodle
FLAVOUR: Miso
TYPE: Normal
No. OF SACHETS: Two – Soupbase and Flavour Powder
WEIGHT: 100g
COUNTRY: Hong Kong
Strange. The packaging leads one to believe that this is Nissin Holland, complete with Noodleboy® and his Steaming Box®, but it’s a subtle ploy, a sleight of hand, for this is Nissin Hong Kong and what a Herculean task they have set themselves. First take the soup of a nation, pack it with a serious portion of noodles and expect it to work. There’s more. Instead of providing a miso paste, surely the logical thing to do, instead they offer a double powder combination. Madness surely? Well, yes and no.
The noodles are as good as ever, and they do not swamp the flavour, a real surprise. The flavour itself is definitely miso with a reasonable touch of a mildly fermented feel, but something is not quite right. There is a meaty undercurrent that feels incongruous and a vague scent of roast sesame that seems to have come from a different packet. Closer examination of the package reveals pork, chicken and beef, so not one for vegans as you may have initially thought. Top class tasty product that far exceeded expectations but irritatingly fell at the last fence. Write to your MP and demand a veggie version.
Noodle Review: Nissin Stir Noodle Jah Jiang
BRAND: Nissin Stir Noodle
FLAVOUR: Jah Jiang
TYPE: Normal
No. OF SACHETS:Two – Soupbase and Jah Jiang Sauce
WEIGHT: 100g
COUNTRY: Hong Kong
Nissan’s range of Japanese noodles that haven’t been made in Japan continues with this Hong Kong licensed product. It does differ from its European counterparts. Gone is the notably sozzled Nissinboy on the packet but instead we have a striking diagonal style and a more appetising noodle shot as part of the design – they are not afraid to show off their product. The adoption of 100g as the default portion size leads to a mighty bite of high quality noodles, there is some ruthless noodle manufacturing quality control at work.
Jah Jiang is a good robust and interesting flavour that is a personal favourite of mine – varied, exciting and exotic. What a disappointment then, that this one is so insipid; no crunchy garlic soup, no fried bean husks, no clinging stickiness of tangy goodness. The sauce is so…western, like glutinous cheap ketchup. A waste of quality noodles and an insult to a great flavour. Please don’t take this too negatively, they are more than edible and the noodles are great but it was just such a disappointment in the flavour department because of what it should have been and not what it was.
Temple of Heaven, Beijing
The Temple of Heaven, along with the Forbidden City, is a must-see attraction in Beijing. Both of these amazing building complexes were constructed in the 15th century by the Yongle Emperor, the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
The Temple of Heaven comprises a complex of beautiful buildings set inside a lovely and extensive park. Its purpose was for the Emperor to pray for good harvests.
Contents
The Circular Mound Altar was constructed in the 16th century in the time of the Ming Dynasty. Its purpose was for the Emperor to pray for favourable weather, particularly in times of drought. It has three circular terraces, each of which has four entrances with precisely nine steps. The number nine plays a significant part of the architectural design with many of the numbers of pillars and slates being multiples of nine. It is surrounded by gorgeous marble carvings. The design also allows sound to resonate throughout the construction creating an echo that amplifies a voice – useful for the Emperor to make certain that the gods would hear his prayers.
The Imperial Vault of Heaven is circular building, one storey tall.
From this, a walkway leads to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. Like the Imperial Vault, it is a gorgeous circular construction, and large too, at 36 m across and 38m high. As its name suggests, it was here that the Emperor prayed for good harvests. A wooden construction, apparently built without using nails. The decoration is marvellous – highly detailed and intricate. The detailed decoration contains images of mythical creatures and birds and radiates with a wonderful glow as the light of the setting sun casts its rays upon the building.
Tea Houses Outside the Temple of Heaven Beijing
There are a number of tea houses just outside the Temple of Heaven. They provide an opportunity to taste a variety of Chinese teas.
It was in one of these that we discovered blooming teas. These are neatly crafted hand-bundled into a small ball, a little smaller than a ping pong ball. They look rather nondescript folded up.
But pop them into some boiling water and they bloom into a flower whilst infusing the water to create tea. They are usually comprised of white tea or green tea leaves. Sometimes jasmine or similar flowers are used.
The flavour is mild but some have a touch of tannin.
Delicious and beautiful. You can buy these online. We also treated ourselves to a splendid glass teapot so that we could enjoy watching the flower bloom.
Couple of things worth noting. If you are on a tour you are likely be invited to purchase products in the inevitable shop that can be found alongside museums, factories, tourist attractions and tea shops. Our experience was that we weren’t pressured to buy anything. We also found that in some factory outlets prices were regulated by the government which meant that we didn’t have to haggle, much to our relief, because we’re rubbish at it. Although we did somehow come home bearing a vaccuum-packed silk duvet from one emporium because it was genuinely good value.
There are some scams whereby friendly people approach you and invite you to drink tea with them at a local tea house. It may be perfectly legitimate and genuine but there have been situations where you are taken to what appears to be a charming, authentic tea house and when the bill arrives it is considerably higher than you might expect for a pot of tea.
Temple of Heaven, Beijing
The Temple of Heaven, along with the Forbidden City, is a must-see attraction in Beijing. Both of these amazing building complexes were constructed in the 15th century by the Yongle Emperor, the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
The Temple of Heaven comprises a complex of beautiful buildings set inside a lovely and extensive park. Its purpose was for the Emperor to pray for good harvests.
The Circular Mound Altar was constructed in the 16th century in the time of the Ming Dynasty. Its purpose was for the Emperor to pray for favourable weather, particularly in times of drought. It has three circular terraces, each of which has four entrances with precisely nine steps. The number nine plays a significant part of the architectural design with many of the numbers of pillars and slates being multiples of nine. It is surrounded by gorgeous marble carvings. The design also allows sound to resonate throughout the construction creating an echo that amplifies a voice – useful for the Emperor to make certain that the gods would hear his prayers.
The Imperial Vault of Heaven is circular building, one storey tall.
From this, a walkway leads to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. Like the Imperial Vault, it is a gorgeous circular construction, and large too, at 36 m across and 38m high. As its name suggests, it was here that the Emperor prayed for good harvests. A wooden construction, apparently built without using nails. The decoration is marvellous – highly detailed and intricate. The detailed decoration contains images of mythical creatures and birds and radiates with a wonderful glow as the light of the setting sun casts its rays upon the building.
Tea Houses Outside the Temple of Heaven Beijing
There are a number of tea houses just outside the Temple of Heaven. They provide an opportunity to taste a variety of Chinese teas.
It was in one of these that we discovered blooming teas. These are neatly crafted hand-bundled into a small ball, a little smaller than a ping pong ball. They look rather nondescript folded up.
But pop them into some boiling water and they bloom into a flower whilst infusing the water to create tea. They are usually comprised of white tea or green tea leaves. Sometimes jasmine or similar flowers are used.
The flavour is mild but some have a touch of tannin.
Delicious and beautiful. You can buy these online. We also treated ourselves to a splendid glass teapot so that we could enjoy watching the flower bloom.
Couple of things worth noting. If you are on a tour you are likely be invited to purchase products in the inevitable shop that can be found alongside museums, factories, tourist attractions and tea shops. Our experience was that we weren’t pressured to buy anything. We also found that in some factory outlets prices were regulated by the government which meant that we didn’t have to haggle, much to our relief, because we’re rubbish at it. Although we did somehow come home bearing a vaccuum-packed silk duvet from one emporium because it was genuinely good value.
There are some scams whereby friendly people approach you and invite you to drink tea with them at a local tea house. It may be perfectly legitimate and genuine but there have been situations where you are taken to what appears to be a charming, authentic tea house and when the bill arrives it is considerably higher than you might expect for a pot of tea.
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Noodle Review: Sau Tao Shrimp-Eggs Noodle
BRAND: Sau Tao Brand
FLAVOUR: Shrimp-Eggs Noodle – Wonton Soup Flavour
TYPE: Normal (with shrimp egg)
No. OF SACHETS: Two – Soup base and sesame oil
WEIGHT: 85g
COUNTRY: China/Hong Kong
Sau Tao Brand Shrimp-Eggs Noodle (Wonton Soup Flavour) is a product that is as tasty as its name is unwieldy. Although not the most competitively priced noodle the extra money has been lavished in all the important areas – the noodles themselves are made with the titular shrimp-egg, which appear in the ingredients listing before the cheaper standard egg and result in extra bite. It doesn’t end there as the water used is apparently Alkali Water and the noodles themselves manufactured strictly using ‘Electrical drying, Fresh and clean,’ techniques for optimum consumer confidence and bags of flavour. Likewise, the soup base packs in plenty of prawn powder punch and even finds room for some dehydrated chives, a refreshing change from the occasional leek that one comes across. The oil is a sesame/vegetable blend that is not too overpowering, which means that the overall package offers a highly recommended gourmet noodle with a delicate aroma and a wonderful creamy stock.
Not for the novice as it can be easily under/overcooked but we wholeheartedly endorse this for the experienced noodler. Even the packaging is light and breezy, assured and modern with a gentle contrast between the featured blues and pinks.
Gong Xi Fa Cai or Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy New Year!
Lunar New Year is the most important date in the Chinese calendar. It is celebrated not only in China but many other South East Asian countries. Although it is usually known as Chinese New Year in Western countries it is more commonly known as Spring Festival at home. It’s a really busy time of year when people travel across the country to visit their families in their home towns and it’s worth noting that flights and trains are likely to be booked up and very crowded. But it’s a joyous time and everyone in the country views it as a cause for celebration. Displays featuring the animals of the zodiac can be found all over town.
It’s also a lovely time of year because spring blossoms are often coming into bloom, especially in the southern part of the country.
Food is an important part of Chinese New Year when families come together and enjoy the celebrations. We have spent new year with Chinese friends in the UK who served us a feast. Traditional dishes include a whole fish, this one cooked with ginger, garlic and spring onion. It’s important that the fish is served whole – head to tail represents the start and end of the year and it also represents plentiful food and good luck.
This fish dish is easy to cook and tastes delicious. There’s a recipe here. Catfish and carp are popular fish.
We also sat around the table and made jiaozi (dumplings). These represent old-style Chinese coins which symbolise prosperity throughout the year. It’s great fun to sit around a table together drinking beer and chatting as you fill the dumplings, which are later boiled, steamed and/or fried and then enjoyed at midnight. Sometimes a gold coin is put inside one of the dumplings for a lucky recipient. The dumplings can be filled using a variety of ingredients: minced pork and cabbage or chive (or cabbage and chive), chicken, mutton, prawns or fish are popular, as are vegetable fillings, such as mushrooms, cabbage, leek, spinach, and spring onions. Any of these ingredients can be combined. The dumplings are usually served with a dipping sauce. Soy sauce with vinegar and sesame oil is popular and gives a salt, sour, smoky flavour to accompany the dumplings. You can make it to taste but it’s worth noting that you only need a tiny amount of sesame oil – just a few drops – as it has an incredibly intense flavour. Some dipping sauces add a dash of chilli oil to provide heat.
Other traditional foods include noodles, which represent longevity (due to the length of the noodles) and happiness as well as spring rolls which represent wealth. Sweet dishes include glutinous rice cake which apparently ensure you can aim for a higher position in life/work (and hence the prospect of a better income) and sweet rice balls which represent family harmony. These, particularly, are eaten throughout spring festival.
Although the highlight of the celebrations revolve around the lunar new year, Spring Festival actually lasts for a fortnight. It begins on the new moon and ends 15 days later on the full moon. The last night is known as the Lantern Festival. Red lanterns can be seen everywhere towards the end of the celebrations. This can be a bit confusing as during the rest of the year red lanterns will often indicate that the establishment is a restaurant.
We were lucky enough to be in Xi’an on the last night of Spring Festival some years ago and went along to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda to join in the celebrations. We had never seen so many fireworks – they started at 6pm and went on till midnight – you could see fireworks in every direction you looked – and hear firecrackers. (In recent years, use of fireworks has been reduced or banned for environmental reasons.) The atmosphere was terrific – everyone was incredibly friendly on this happy occasion – and it was very much a family event.
Xi’an has a dancing fountain – it has the form of a T shape that is about 50m across and 100m long. It’s located on the north square of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Every night a variety of music that ranges from traditional Chinese to Western classical and Cantopop plays – and the fountain dances along, forming a colourful waterscape. All the water drains away immediately into a reservoir to be stored for the next show. The timing of the show varies depending on the season so, if you are visiting the area, it’s worth checking out the timetable so as to be sure to catch it.
2021 is the year of the Ox. According to legend the Ox is the second animal of the zodiac who was originally due to be the first to arrive at the Jade Emperor’s party. However, the sneaky rat had cadged a lift on the ox’s back, jumped off as they approached their final destination and arrived first.
RECIPE: Baked Sea Bass in Parchment
with Ginger, Garlic and Spring Onion
A whole fish baked with ginger, garlic and spring onion is one of the traditional dishes associated with lunar new year in many countries in South East Asia. The reason that the fish is served whole is because the head and tail represent the start and end of the year.
We have a recipe for baked sea bass in parchment. It uses typical ingredients in Chinese cookery – the aromatic flavours of ginger, garlic and spring onion. Some methods steam the fish, other oven-bake. This recipe is very simple
1 whole sea bass, scaled and gutted
5 cm ginger
5 spring onions
3 cloves of garlic
1 chilli for garnish
METHOD
Turn on the oven to 200C, 180C fan, or gas mark 6.
Slice the ginger (you don’t have to worry about peeling the ginger) and four of the spring onions into julienned strips, roughly chop the garlic. Open the cavity of the sea bass and stuff the ingredients inside.
Place the whole sea bass onto a sheet of baking parchment.
Bring the sides of the paper over the fish and make a loose fold. It doesn’t need to be tightly sealed – enough to let steam escape but not so loose that the lovely juices from the fish don’t get lost.
Bung into the oven and cook for 25 minutes.
When the sea bass is cooked, open up the paper parchment – the smell is amazing!
Then garnish with the remaining chopped spring onion and some finely sliced chilli. When celebrating Chinese Spring Festival at New Year, the fish is served whole to the table as a sharing dish.
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Noodle Review: Doll Sesame Oil and Vegetarian Diet
BRAND: Doll
FLAVOUR: Sesame Oil and Vegetarian Diet
TYPE: Normal
No. OF SACHETS: Three – Sesame oil, dried vegetables, soupbase
WEIGHT: 80g
COUNTRY: Hong Kong
It has its own insulated cook-in pot. It comes with a ‘complimentary fork’ (and indeed it was, it mentioned how healthy I was looking today, the plastic tongued little devil!). It’s got kitsch cool graphics around the side. It’s veggie. It cooks like a dream (one water trip – no fussing). All the dehydrated veg re-hydrate (masses of plus points there). It smells divine.
But wait. Let’s eat. Cracking stuff -there are wonderful coils of mock squid, there’s seaweed (and it tastes of it too – not just like crap spinach) and whole sesame seeds, there’s mushrooms and all sorts of stuff. Not spicy, just nicey. I’ll be honest and say I really wasn’t expecting much from this one but I can honestly say that this is a treat to make and eat – a little pricey and the plastic fork is strictly for emergencies but the flavour and choice of textures and tastes on offer make this a real winner.
Film Review: The God of Cookery (食神 1996)
Director: Stephen Chow Sing Chi (周星馳)
Country: Hong Kong
Cuisine: Chinese / Cantonese
Film Rating 6/10
Foodie Rating 5/10
The world of food is tough in more ways than one. The bourgeois rich insist on the distinctive, the unique and the best and are willing to pay for it, whilst the poor survive on what they can get. Then there is celebrity and publicity with competitions which ensure that skilled chefs become either rich or rejected largely because of trends and interpretations of the quality of the food, style, taste or even the performance of its chef. Self-declared God of Cookery (Stephen Chow) is extravagant, talented and very rich (partly the result of a dubious business empire which aggrandises his personality and food), able to detect the slightest of alterations in the quality of dishes created, savage in his criticisms (although accurate in detail) and a proficient user of culinary implements as he wields his chopper with remarkable ability. Martial arts meet culinary arts. Bull Tong (Vincent Kok) is his rival and a televised competition chaired by The Princess of Taste (Nancy Sit) leads to the vivacious cooking deity rejected to the streets where his need to make good food in a manner that satisfies his distinctive palate is put to the test. He comes across street-food maker Turkey (Karen Mok) who has surprising skills with her unique dishes (at a reasonable price) of pissing shrimp and beef balls. (You read that right!) With rival businesses, gangland trouble and a desire to return to the limelight with a restored reputation God of Cookery joins up with Turkey to make the ultimate in culinary perfection, the pissing beef ball.
The world of Stephen Chow Sing Chi (周星馳) is one that is filled with comedy (from slapstick, hilarious, offensive, inappropriate or just genius) but also physical prowess that mixes martial arts with comedy in a way that is distinctly different than the Buster Keaton style stunts of Jackie Chan. And so we have football in Shaolin Soccer (probably his best known film outside Hong Kong along with Kung-Fu Hustle) and also a lot of social commentary that addresses class and community in an often offensive manner which becomes funny when you understand the context and tone in which it is delivered. But here The God of Cookery does tackle social issues, media manipulation, business riches impeding the populace and criminal fraternities being comparable in their own way and yet – it’s a foodie film. With martial arts. Call it Kung-Food if you will. So here we have chopping and mincing as swift and accurate as you can imagine, ingredients juggled into place, eggs cracked open and whisked with speed and dexterity, meatballs filled with alarming accuracy. Oh, and deadly chopsticks as well as woks and cooking implements of all varieties that add to the mayhem. Sometimes the perpetrators of evil are served up as if they were cooked dishes themselves. The contrast between posh restaurants and street food are depicted in their clientele, their production and, of course, their means of depicting kung-food mayhem and gastronomic expertise. The similarities of the elite and the normal are shown to be different in how society reacts to them but in the world of The God of Cookery this is irrelevant as it focuses on the joy of great food, whatever the background of its creator. Just don’t forget to remove the excrement from the entrails dishes. Good advice there. May not be to everyone’s taste (unlike the pissing beef balls, of course) but still kung-food madness with socially underlined messaging that packs a punch – often between preparing ingredients.
Noodle Review: Samar Chilli Chicken
BRAND: Samar
FLAVOUR: Chilli Chicken
TYPE: Normal
No. OF SACHETS: One – Soup base
WEIGHT: 85g
COUNTRY: China
Plain but kaleidoscopic wrapping and the indication that this is ‘Delicious Chilli Chicken’ with the CorelDraw noodle bowls and the general ‘normalness’ of the whole packaging affair leads one to presume that this is an average product. Indeed this is not the world’s greatest noodle but it’s cheap, tasty and there is a nice ginger kick that is unexpected but welcome. Not just the chicken flavour with some chilli added, this really is a separate flavour – unfortunately it lacks the subtle depth of its heat-free chicken stablemate but don’t let that put you off a more than adequate snack.
