Chinese New Year recipes offer taste of tradition

Creating a feast was something of a challenge. Food was scarce in the 1980s and everyone had booklets they would use to purchase their monthly allotment of rice, cooking oil, meat and some fish. Schroeder would be sent to the market to stand in line for the fish they would have for dinner.

To augment what they could purchase, the family kept four or five chickens in the backyard. It was Schroeder’s job to feed the chickens a mix of discarded vegetables and grains.

Most of the year the family enjoyed the eggs, and Schroeder’s mother would kill a chicken for special occasions. The chicken would be served complete with head and feet, because having the whole chicken signified family togetherness.

The family would visit the flower market and select flowers, stems of pussy willows and potted kumquat trees to decorate their home, all chosen to bring good luck. On New Year’s Eve, Schroeder along with her mother, father and brother would sit down to their feast already anticipating leftovers.

Having enough to eat for two or three days was important to ensure continuing prosperity.

Sweets might not be a part of the dinner, but they were certainly a part of the celebration. “For the three days of New Year’s we would go to visit friends and everyone would bring sweets that they made only once a year. I remember balls of sweet rice with popcorn in the center made only by people in the countryside. These were so precious because we only ate them once a year,” she said.

Schroeder and her mother would make sweet dumplings filled with chopped peanuts, sugar and sesame seeds. She remembers neighbors bragging about how many of these dumplings they had made for New Year’s.

These days the family is likely to spend its New Year’s Eve celebrating in Atlanta’s Chinatown Mall with other Chinese-American families. They will burn incense and paper money for the ancestors and participate in a potluck dinner with friends. “It’s hard to keep up the traditions here in America,” Schroeder said, and her husband added they hear the same from many Chinese families.

But preparing the dishes for this story offered an opportunity for daughter Reesa to help her mother and grandmother prepare sweet dumplings and pot stickers and learn some of those skills that are best passed down from generation to generation.

Bill Schroeder said later that writing down these recipes and remembering old times in China had been fun for the family and renewed their commitment to spend more time teaching their daughter about her mother’s traditions.

The kitchen table is a wonderful place to connect to our past.

Recipes:

Cooking someone else’s traditional cuisine often requires some detailed explanation. After all, many traditional recipes are never written down, just passed along from one cook to another with a good bit of hands-on instruction. Don’t be put off by the length of these recipes; they’re meant to take the place of learning at someone’s kitchen table.

Baiqieji (Hundred Cuts Chicken)

Hands on: 15 minutes

Total time: 45 minutes

Serves: 6

“Hundred cuts” does not need to be taken literally. The idea is to cut the chicken and its bones into pieces just large enough to be put in the mouth. “A chopped piece of chicken with bone intact is dipped in the ginger condiment and skillfully eaten, removing the meat from the bone in the mouth then sucking the marrow out of the bone,” Bill Schroeder said. This dish would traditionally be served with rice. You can adapt this recipe by poaching 2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cutting them into bite-size pieces and serving with the ginger condiment. Delicious.

Salt

1 (3- to 4-pound) whole chicken

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh ginger

1/2 cup sliced green onions (about 5)

In a large, deep saucepan, bring heavily salted water to a boil. Add chicken, being sure it is entirely submerged. When water returns to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cover pot. Simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 40 minutes. To check for doneness, poke a chopstick into the thickest part of the thigh. When the juices are clear, the chicken is done.

While chicken is cooking, prepare a bath of ice water which will be used to cool the chicken rapidly and firm up the meat.

In a small skillet, heat oil until very hot. Add ginger and stir until fragrant. Remove from heat, add green onions and a pinch of salt and set aside.

Once the chicken is done, remove it to the ice water bath. Save the chicken stock for another use. After 3 minutes, remove the chicken from the ice water and place on a cutting board. Have presentation platter ready. Using a heavy knife or cleaver, remove the backbone and discard. Cut the remainder of the chicken, except the wings, into bite-size pieces. Arrange pieces on the platter to re-create the shape of the chicken. Serve with ginger condiment.

Per serving: 250 calories (percent of calories from fat, 59), 23 grams protein, 2 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 16 grams fat (2 grams saturated), 69 milligrams cholesterol, 88 milligrams sodium.

Shuijiao and Jiaozi (Boiled and Fried Pot Sticker Dumplings)

Hands on: 1 hour

Total time: 1 hour

Makes: 48 dumplings

This recipe has been passed down through generations of Shi Yi Schroeder’s family and was used in the Schroeders’ PanAsia Bistro in Roswell. Forming the dumplings takes time, which makes this a great family or party activity. Prepare a bowl of filling, gather family and friends and set everyone to work stuffing and crimping. If you can’t make the pretty crimping, that’s fine. Just be sure the dumplings are well-sealed so they won’t burst apart in the cooking. Shanghai-style dumpling wrappers are thicker than the won ton and gyoza wrappers found in the produce department at grocery stores. You can generally buy them frozen at markets selling Asian groceries. If you can find only the thinner wrappers, skip the boiling step and follow the directions for pan frying the dumplings instead. The thinner wrapper will not hold up when boiled.

2 pounds ground pork

11/2 cups finely chopped napa cabbage (about 6 ounces)

8 green onions, finely chopped

21/2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

1 tablespoon Shaoxing cooking wine or sherry

2 teaspoons canola oil, additional oil for cooking pot stickers

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 (16-ounce) package Shanghai-style dumpling wrappers

Optional: cilantro, chopped hot peppers, hot sauce

For the dipping sauce:

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup white vinegar

1/3 cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

To prepare the filling: In a large bowl, combine pork, cabbage, green onions, soy sauce, garlic, sesame oil, cooking wine, canola oil and salt. Mix well.

Prepare a small bowl of water. Remove the wrappers from the package and place them in an open plastic bag. You can remove 1 wrapper at a time while preventing the others from drying out.

To make the dumplings: Lay 1 wrapper on a work surface. Dip your fingers in a bowl of water and dampen the entire edge of the wrapper. Add 2 tablespoons filling to the center of the wrapper. If you’re right-handed, put the dumpling in your left hand and gently fold the wrapper almost in half. Gently make a small fold on the right side of the wrapper and then pinch the sides of the dumpling together. Continue folding and pinching until the filling is enclosed. Be sure the dumpling is well-sealed. Set aside. Continue with the remaining wrappers and filling. Using less filling will make the dumplings easier to seal, but more filling makes for a more delicious dumpling. If you have trouble with the folding and pinching, skip that step and just be sure the edges are well-sealed.

To cook the dumplings: Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Have a quart of cold water at the stove. Using a slotted spoon, gently lower 4 dumplings at a time into the boiling water. Hold them above the bottom of the pan for 5 seconds, then let them go. This will keep them from sticking to the bottom. Add more dumplings until the surface is full, but not crowded.

When the water returns to a boil, add just enough cold water to stop the boiling. Allow the water to return to a boil and add cold water again to stop the boiling. Repeat one more time and then remove 1 dumpling. Cut in half. If the filling is no longer pink, the dumplings are cooked through. Use a slotted spoon to lift dumplings from the water. Allow them to drain back into the pot. Arrange cooked dumplings on a platter for serving. Continue until all dumplings are cooked.

To make pot stickers: Heat 1 tablespoon canola oil in a large skillet. Arrange boiled dumplings in skillet and cook until brown, about 4 minutes. Do not crowd skillet. Remove browned pot stickers to platter for serving.

If desired, sprinkle dumplings with chopped cilantro, chopped hot peppers or hot sauce.

To make the dipping sauce: In a small bowl, combine water, vinegar, soy sauce and sugar. Stir until sugar has dissolved and serve.

Per dumpling: 85 calories (percent of calories from fat, 49), 4 grams protein, 6 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 5 grams fat (2 grams saturated), 14 milligrams cholesterol, 255 milligrams sodium.

Youjiao (New Year’s Sweet Dumplings)

Hands on: 1 hour

Total time: 1 hour

Makes: 48 dumplings

Traditionally, these dumplings are fried. I also tested the recipe by baking the dumplings in a 350-degree oven for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. This also works well. The dumplings will keep for 2 weeks, but you’ll find that the peanut and sesame seed filling becomes addictive and the dumplings won’t be around that long.

5/8 cup finely chopped, roasted, salted peanuts

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3/8 cup black sesame seeds

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup lard or vegetable shortening

1 egg

1/2 cup water, or as needed

Canola oil, for frying

To make the filling: In a small bowl, combine peanuts, sugar and sesame seeds. Mix well and set aside.

To make the dough: In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour and lard or shortening. Pulse briefly until fat is cut into small pieces. Add egg and pulse briefly. Slowly add half the water and pulse mixture until dough just begins to form but is not sticky. Add more water if needed. Remove dough from food processor and knead lightly for 1 minute.

To make the dumplings: Divide dough into 4 pieces. Gently roll each piece until 1/8-inch thick, then fold into quarters and roll out again. Fold and roll twice more. Use a 3-inch cutter to make dumpling rounds. Spoon 1 tablespoon filling into the center of each round and fold dumpling in half. Pinch all around the edge securely. If desired, make decorative crimps around the edge. Make sure the edges are well-sealed. Continue with the remainder of the dough and filling, including rerolling the scraps.

You can also use a pasta maker to roll out the sheets of dough.

To fry the dumplings: In a large saucepan, heat 2 inches of oil to 350 degrees. Using a slotted spoon, carefully place each dumpling in the hot oil. Do not crowd the pot. Fry until lightly golden, about 3 minutes, turning as needed to cook evenly. You will need to do this in batches. Remove fried dumplings and drain on paper towels. Repeat until all dumplings are fried. Allow to cool. Store in an airtight container.

Per dumpling: 132 calories (percent of calories from fat, 52), 3 grams protein, 13 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 8 grams fat (2 grams saturated), 9 milligrams cholesterol, 34 milligrams sodium.