Happy Chap Goh Mei or 元宵节快乐！

Happy Chap Goh Mei or 元宵节快乐！  Chap Goh Mei (literary translates to 15 nights) marks the last day of Chinese New Year celebration.  I served Mala steamboat for an early Chap Goh Mei celebration.  I used packet mala paste and because of the spiciness of this soup base, no dipping sauce is required.

I found a smart way to reduce washing dishes!  That is to put all the ingredients into these two containers!!  If I put all the ingredients into individual bowls or plates, imagine how many dishes I have to wash.  Since we have been eating lots of seafood and meat during the Chinese New Year, I wanted something light with more fresh mushrooms, fish and vegetarian based ingredients.  Fish fillets, DoDo fish balls, fried fish rolls, pork balls, baby corns, scallion.

Romaine lettuce heart, nai pak, oyster mushrooms, beech mushrooms, fried tofu sticks.

Taro Tapioca Shreds Sweet Soup

I had a taro sago sweet soup as dessert recently at an authentic Chinese restaurant up in Denver with some friends.  I enjoyed it as I loved taro!  Always loved the taro in buburchacha, a popular Malaysian dessert when growing up and until now I still loved it.  I also loved the "or nee", smashed taro cooked in sugar and oil.  Taro is also high in dietary fiber, low in fat, high in vitamin E and rich in potassium and magnesium.

Since I don't have sago at home, I used dried tapioca shreds instead.  You can use either one or both.  This is a lovely dessert but quite fattening because of the high amount of coconut milk used.  Would be nice as an occasional treat!  And one of that occasion would be during Chinese New Year!

I am sharing this dessert with Aspiring Bakers #15: Auspicious Dishes for CNY hosted by Wen's Delight.  Go check out the roundup on Feb 7th.  :-)

Dragon Yu Sheng/Yee Sang (龙年鱼生)

My dragon yu sheng for the dragon year.  I saw some dragon inspired yu sheng and those pictures really inspired me to create this dragon yu sheng.  Yu Sheng or 鱼生 literally translate to raw fish.  It is a raw fish salad that Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore enjoy throughout the 15th days of the Chinese New Year.  I omitted the raw fish because my family don't eat raw fish.  The salad in itself was so delicious that it was worth the day of slicing those vegetable.  My version was quite simple as I omitted the fried colorful taro strips and some other things.  I also got the fried crunchy wonton from my friend's restaurant which they happily gave it to me (which cut down my labor of making this).  It was so good and I wonder why we only eat it during Chinese New Year?  Why don't I have the urge to make it some other times, just like the CNY cookies and nian gao?  How strange we are right?  Anyone of you make yu sheng other than during CNY?

Click here for the full recipe.  This salad is very versatile, you can add whatever extra you desired.

I am also sharing this dish with Aspiring Bakers #15: Auspicious Dishes for CNY hosted by Wen's Delight.  The deadline for submission has been extended to Feb 6th, the last day of CNY.  So go see the roundup on the 7th!  :-)

Pan-Fried Stuffed Lotus Roots

Eating lotus root is auspicious for Chinese as we believed that eating it during Chinese New Year will foster the grow of your new venture or business.  When I saw this dish on Chinese T.V. cooking show, I thought that it would be perfect for Chinese New Year.  And then I saw a similar dish at a Taiwanese cooking show, was it asking me to make it?  Haha...  Anyway, it looked delicious and I couldn't wait to try it myself.  Sharing here is my version.  I served it with a sauce so that the stuffed lotus root remain crispy.  A bit time consuming to make this but the result is well worth the effort.

Today is also 人日.  The 7th day of Chinese New Year and also everyone birthday.  祝大家人日快乐!! This day people normally celebrate it with longevity noodle, tang yuen (glutinous balls), yee sang (raw fish salad) and another great feast!

 
Crispy stuffed lotus root drizzled with scallion garlic soy sauce.  Click next for the step-by-step pictures guide.

I am also sharing this recipe with Aspiring Bakers #15: Auspicious Dishes for CNY hosted by Wen's Delight.  The deadline for submission has been extended to Feb 6th, the last day of CNY.  So go see the roundup on the 7th!  :-)

Frozen Tofu with Shiitake and Dried Lily Buds

Dried lily buds (金針菜) is also called golden needle vegetable but don't confuse it with dried golden needle mushroom (dried enoki mushroom) as they look almost similar.  Usually found in Asian supermarket where they sell dried woodear and mushroom.  Once open, I would keep it in a Ziploc bag and in the refrigerator.  When you want to use it, you need to soften it in the water first.  I often see dried lily buds in auspicious Chinese dishes because it symbolizes wealth for the Chinese when celebrating Chinese Lunar New Year.  Shiitake mushroom symbolizes longevity + opportunity and yellow color tofu symbolizes wealth and happiness (like dried beancurd stick and fried tofu puff).  Since frozen tofu is yellow in color and yellow means gold in Chinese, it should symbolizes wealth and happiness.  Whereas the fresh white tofu is not included as it is unlucky for new year as the color white means death and misfortune. You can braise your tofu in a sauce to change the color or pan-fried the tofu until golden before stir-frying to change your luck if you are superstitious like me.

This would make a great vegetarian Chinese New Year dish too!   The frozen tofu cubes and mushrooms soaked up all the flavor of the sauce and made this dish such a plus!  Imagine biting into the spongy and juicy cubed tofu and flavorful mushrooms!!

I am sharing this recipe with Aspiring Bakers #15: Auspicious Dishes for CNY hosted by Wen's Delight.  Go check out the roundup on Feb 1st.  I know I will!  :-)

Korean Mungbean Flatcake (Nokdu Buchimgae)

While flipping through a Korean cookbook, one pancake or flatcake dish stood up to me.  Because it used ground mung bean paste as a batter and it really intriguing me.  I never seen it in Malaysian cooking and it spiked my curiosity.  Furthermore, this recipe appeared again and again in several different cookbooks.  They are all different but one thing for sure is the ground mung bean paste.  Hence, I set to work with my own version with what I have at home and replaced the kimchi with spicy radish.   Instead of raw beef or pork, I used leftover fried chicken breast which I took off the skin and cut off the fried part.  Since everything were cooked, I just pan-fried until the flatcake became crispy and the middle no longer soft, you can press with your finger or spatula.

It can be called Jun or Buchimgae and you can make it all vegetarian by omitting the poultry or meat.  It will be as delicious!  Korean served this dish to welcome the new year too.  With this post, I want to wish all Korean a happy lunar new year!

Verdict:  I loved it!!  All seem to be married well together, the crispy bite on the outside and the soft and fluffy inside and the slightly nutty taste from the ground mung bean, what can I say but I will certainly make this again!  Since I seasoned the batter (oh well the Chinese in me, got to season everything!), it's good even without the sauce but tastes even better with the sauce. 

Crispy on the outside, soft and slightly nutty inside, so good!