Wishing you all a healthy and prosperous new year of the dragon! My dad was a dragon and he would have been 84 years old this year.
When we were little, I remember we would receive red packets from our elders. Usually they would be filled with two dollar bills because they were red. And we all know red means prosperity and good luck. Nowadays, my kids get $50s or $100s in their red packets! Fifty dollar bills are red and hundreds are kind of gold, I guess. Oh to be a kid today!
Traditionally families will gather on Chinese New Year’s Eve to celebrate. When I need to
prepare multiple dishes, I find it incredibly helpful to create a plan or schedule leading up to dinner so that you can work more efficiently and it won’t feel so daunting.
I will also choose menu items that make use of the different kitchen tools so that I am not waiting around. It’s kind of like creating a Thanksgiving dinner menu. I wouldn’t choose multiple dishes that require the oven if it’s going to be occupied by the turkey all day.
I like to choose a few meat dishes, dumplings and a special rice or noodle dish, plus I will also make some simple Chinese greens by blanching them for a minute for my vegetable dish.
Here is a sample schedule to follow for the four dishes in this year’s Chinese New Year video:
Crispy Pork Belly
Hainanese Chicken
Spicy Chili Wontons
Stir Fried Sticky Rice
Preparing to eat at 6pm.
| Time | Instructions |
| 1-2 days before | Prepare pork belly |
| Make wontons and freeze until ready to use | |
| Night before | Soak glutinous rice |
| 1:00pm | Soak dried shrimp, scallops and mushrooms |
| 1:30pm | Blanch Chinese sausages and preserved pork belly |
| 2:00pm | Chop all the ingredients for sticky rice |
| 2:30pm | Make green onion and ginger condiment for chicken |
| 2:45pm | Make chili sauce for wontons |
| 3:00pm | Prepare chicken |
| 3:30pm | Cook Hainan chicken on stovetop |
| 4:30pm | Put pork belly in air fryer |
| 4:45pm | Cut up chicken |
| 5:15pm | Cut up pork belly |
| 5:30pm | Make sticky rice in wok |
| 5:45pm | Cook wontons on stovetop |
| 5:55pm | Use same pot of water from wontons to cook Chinese vegetables |
Excellent show!
Happy New Year! I accidentally found your show and think it’s great! Very simple and brought good memories as well as help me get out of my “food funk” that was falling into. Thank you so much and hope you continue bringing us more of your good recipes!