Fish Maw Soup (鱼肚汤)

I don't know why but during the Chinese New Year, I always want to cook a pot of fish maw soup or bamboo fungus soup (竹笙).  I added bean curd sticks, shrimps, mushrooms and eggs into the soup.  I did not thicken the soup with starches but tried it with beaten eggs instead.

Is there any benefits of eating fish maw?  I did a search and it said fish maw is an excellent source of collagen.  Just like what the Chinese believe the collagen of chicken feet and pig trotter would give you a beautiful skin.  It is said to help with blood circulation and improve your skin.  Do you know any other benefits besides what I had mentioned?

Easy Guacamole

When avocado is on sales, I like to buy some to make guacamole, milk shake, or add in salad.  Guacamole is very easy to make and I would prefer to make it myself rather than buy it at the store.  I think it is very versatile as you can also add red or color bell pepper, jelepeno (for a spicy kick), roasted garlic and white onion.  Basically just whatever to your fancy or just keep it plain.  It makes a great appetizer or party snack!

I served my guacamole with Sprout's multi-grain tortilla chips, loved that chips!  It is a great way to add shallot, cilantro and tomato for my girls as usually they are kind of picky with those.

Deep-Fried Nian Gao with Seaweed and Sweet Potatoes

Nian Gao/ sticky rice cake (年糕), a must have for every Chinese New Year (CNY) because of its' symbolic meanings.  Eating nian gao is said to bring you good luck in the new year.  Also "nian nian gao sheng",  年年高升 means whether in your career, money wise or studies or whatever you do, you will get better each and every year.  Eating something sticky also means your family will stick together.  The above nian gao is made with my Super Easy Steamed Nian Gao recipe that I devised for people who want to make homemade nian gao the easy way.

I fell in love with deep-fried spring roll nian gao 2-3 years ago.  This year I tried it with a piece of seaweed and the seaweed imparted an extra fragrant to the fried nian gao with sweet potatoes.  This is super crispy and irresistible!  Try it with your leftover nian gao from the CNY and enjoy this delicious snack!!

Orange Marmalade

You all know how much I adored the mandarin/ clementine marmalade, but for some reasons the cuties clementines were not on sales at this time of the year unlike previous years.  What is on sales is the California navel oranges, so this year my house is fulled of navel oranges instead of clementines. 

This marmalade had everything in it including the juice, pulp and zest so it looked more like apple sauce.  The color was off as I burnt some at the bottom of my pot.  It would be brighter orange in color instead of this darker color as I didn't even know I burnt the bottom, so when I stir the marmalade, the burnt bit got mixed in resulted in darker color (hence, I put a warning at method below) .  Anyway, I managed to savage about 3.5 bottles before throwing away the burnt part.

It's hard to ask a woman not to multitasking right?  I was multitasking at that time and thus the result.

Chicken Lor Bak (Chicken Bean Curd Rolls)

Most of the lor baks (meat bean curd rolls) we are familiar with are the ones made with ground pork or ground pork plus shrimps.  But there are also lor baks that were made with pork strips or chicken strips.  To me, anything that was wrapped in the bean curd sheet and deep-fried was delicious as long as the seasonings were right on.  You have to be generous with the salt and yet not to make it too salty.  If you found yourself under salt it, just serve it with a chili dipping sauce.  However, if you over salt this, the only thing you can do is to eat it with lots of rice.

* I am also submitting this post to Chinese New Year Delights 2013 hosted by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover and Aspiring Bakers #28: Chicken Feast (February 2013) hosted by SSB of Small Small Baker.

Vegetarian Delights

Mixed vegetables symbolizes family harmony for the Chinese New Year celebration.  So, this dish is often served during the CNY.  I have no idea since when that I have also started cooking the vegetarian delights during the CNY.  I used to add bean paste into this dish but this year I omitted it.  I think I prefer it without the bean paste and strangely I didn't hear any complaint from my daughters.  Even, the picky eater Evy didn't complaint of the mushroom and weird looking stuff in this dish and finished everything I gave her on her plate of rice.  Yeah that was strange as she would always be the first to complain.  Not many American born Chinese little girls can stomach this dish okay, so I am really proud of her and Edda.