Feed the Dragon in 2012!
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Photos by Mary Kate Tate
It’s the beginning of Chinese New Year! My family is speaks Cantonese, so we say “Gong Hay Fat Choy” as “Happy New Year” – we’ll be celebrating all week long with loads of yummy Chinese foods, red envelopes stuffed with money for the kids and lots of video conference calls with family in Hong Kong, Kansas and in Nevada.
I’ve asked my friend Mary Kate Tate to write a post about Chinese New Year in China – she and her brother, Nate Tate, spent a year in China and wrote a cookbook called Feeding the Dragon. I hope you enjoy their story and the recipe for Mango Pudding!
Jaden
Feed the Dragon in 2012!
by Mary Kate Tate, author of Feeding the Dragon
Happy New Year (xin nian quai le)! Monday marks the start of Chinese New Year, a date based on Chinese tradition and the lunar calendar. Each year represents a different animal in the Chinese zodiac and 2012 is the Year of the Dragon! The dragon is the only mythical animal in the zodiac and it’s supposedly a lucky and powerful year that will bring about life-changing opportunities for us all. Starting Monday night and continuing for the next 15 days, more than a billion people in Asia and around the world will be celebrating the coming of the dragon. In Beijing, Temple Fairs will dazzle visitors with candied apples, dragon dances, martial arts, and acrobatics. From Shanghai to Singapore, families will gather and feast on dumplings and spring rolls. In Hong Kong, an epic horse race will take place and thousands of people will gather at the harbor to watch Hong Kong’s breathtaking skyline explode in a wild spectacle of pyrotechnics.
I grew up in the states perfectly oblivious to this remarkable holiday. (What a wasted opportunity to party and set off fireworks!) It wasn’t until I spent my first Chinese New Year in China that I understood what all the fuss is about. I was working at a consulting agency at the time in Beijing. My coworker Yuki invited my brother Nate (he was also living in Beijing at the time) and me to stay with her family for the New Year’s Eve celebration. Nate and I packed our bags for a few nights stay and arrived at Yuki’s house without a clue what to expect. We were greeted by cousins, brothers, sisters, moms and dads, and grandparents. For some of them it would be their only visit home with their family until the next New Year. I handed Yuki’s dad a basket of tangerines as a thank you for inviting us. The word for “tangerine” in Chinese sounds like the word for “luck” and they’re good to eat if you want to be lucky in the new year. Also, it’s good to leave the leaves on the fruit because it represents longevity.
That night we all sat around a table loaded down with stir-fried bok choy, roast duck, honey-glazed lotus root, grapes, strawberries, boiled pig’s feet (not my fave), spicy eggplant, garlic stir-fried snow peas, and steamed rice wrapped in bamboo leaves, just to name a few. I stuffed myself until I felt like I would explode and then Nate and I were ushered into the kitchen to help make Chinese dumplings (jiaozi). Eating dumplings at midnight is New Year’s Eve tradition. One dumpling in the bunch is sealed with a gold coin inside. Bite into that one and you’re going to have luck for the entire year.
When the clock ticked over at midnight, we ate our dumplings and headed out to the apartment complex courtyard for the beginning of the fireworks celebration. Nothing could have prepared me for this. Setting off fireworks is supposed to scare off evil spirits for the New Year and people set them off one after the other for days. The fireworks you can buy in China are industrial strength (the kind set off at Disney World or over the Brooklyn Bridge in New York). People set them off so close to buildings that sometimes the buildings catch fire which actually happened to one of the buildings next to us. The 10th floor of the building caught fire and it managed to burn a pretty big hole in the building before the police came and put it out. I’ve seen aerial photos of Beijing during the fireworks and it looks like the city is under siege!
Nate and I have adopted the Chinese New Year as if it were a holiday we grew up with. It’s a celebration of family, sharing the wealth of the previous year, and the hope for the coming year. It’s a great excuse for being thankful and renewing your New Year’s resolutions if you’ve slipped up since January 1st. Here’s a recipe for Mango Pudding, an easy to make Chinese dessert that I love serve for Chinese New Year. It’s creamy, velvety goodness loaded with chunks of fresh mango and topped with fresh strawberry slices. Mangoes can symbolize gold and good fortune so here’s hoping to a happy and prosperous year of the dragon!
Mango Pudding
Servings: 4 Prep Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 15 mins
Ingredients:
PUDDING
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon unflavored powdered gelatin
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups fresh ripe mango puree (about 3 cups diced fresh mangoes blended in a blender)
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 cup diced fresh mango
WHIPPED CREAM
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup sliced strawberries
4 sprigs mint, for garnish
1. To make the pudding, bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the sugar and powdered gelatin and whisk until completely dissolved. Remove from the heat.
2. Combine the coconut milk, cream, sugar mixture, and salt in a large bowl. Gently whisk in the mango puree and lime juice until smooth. Toss in the diced mango and mix well.
3. Slowly pour the pudding into 4 martini glasses or water goblets, filling them to the rim. Chill the puddings in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or until set.
4. To make the whipped cream, whisk the cream and sugar in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. (This can be prepared up to 4 hours ahead of time.)
5. Top each pudding with the whipped cream, strawberries, and a sprig of fresh mint. Serve chilled.
