Tradition with a twist

They will be showing that this month at their Decatur restaurant, Makan, when they host a Lunar New Year dinner Feb. 18.

Both were born in China, but Yu’s family is from Taiwan and Lo’s from southern China. Yu lived in Milwaukee, and Lo lived in Philadelphia. Their family and community traditions were somewhat different. But they remember many similarities, too.

“We would always go to Chinatown once a week,” Lo says. “And then for Chinese New Year, we went even more. We had old-school Chinese banquet halls, and Chinese decorations were very accessible to us.”

“It was a little different in Milwaukee,” Yu says. “On Chinese New Year’s Eve, we would have a family dinner together. The grandparents would come and we would roll dumplings and cook a meal together. Usually, on New Year’s Day, we would drive to Chicago and celebrate there and do the banquet.”

Like New Year traditions in the U.S., there are many superstitions connected with Chinese New Year, especially concerning foods you should eat for good luck.

For example, noodles symbolize long life. Dumplings are thought to look like ancient Chinese gold nuggets and represent wealth. The Chinese word for fish, Yu, sounds like the word for abundance, and fish is eaten during New Year celebrations for that reason.

“I would say the southern Chinese are way more superstitious than any other Chinese,” Lo says. “A lot of the stuff around symbolism is mostly southern. They are very keen on synonyms and the words meaning things.”

When we asked Yu to come up with a Chinese New Year menu that American home cooks could make, he went back to many of the things his family enjoyed, including pork dumplings, whole steamed fish, and noodles with braised lamb.

But because he often cooks with seasonal and local ingredients at Makan, he came up with a few twists, including using roasted beets in place of traditional long beans in a vegetable dish with black bean sauce.

As far as the menu for the eight-course Lunar New Year dinner he’s planning at Makan, Yu says he’s excited both to honor and to break with tradition.

“I’m writing a menu that’s not quite traditional,” Yu says. “It’s a little out there, I guess. I look at it as a Chinese-American way of cooking. We’re going to do courses that are more modern with dishes that are more composed and use a wider array of ingredients. It will be fun.”

Recipes

These recipes from chef George Yu of Makan celebrate the traditions of Chinese Lunar New Year. Find Chinese ingredients such as dumpling wrappers and xiao xing wine at Chinese and specialty markets.

Pork Dumplings

Dumplings are a traditional food for Chinese New Year, especially in northern China. In the past, they were thought to look like Chinese gold nuggets. In modern times, they symbolize wealth and fortune.

For the dumplings

10 ounces ground pork

2 tablespoons water

2 egg whites

3 tablespoons tapioca starch

3 tablespoons oyster sauce

½ teaspoon sesame oil

1 cup turnips, peeled and finely minced

½ cup green onions, minced

¼ cup chives, minced

¼ cup ginger, finely minced

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons sugar

32 round dumpling wrappers

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

For the dipping sauce

¼ cup soy sauce

¼ cup unseasoned rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon garlic, minced

1 tablespoon scallions, minced

½ tablespoon ginger, peeled and finely minced

½ teaspoon sesame oil

½ teaspoon chili oil (to taste)

In a medium bowl combine ground pork with 2 tablespoons of water. Beat 2 tablespoons water into the pork. It should be a very airy and wet consistency. Add egg whites,tapioca starch, oyster sauce, sesame oil, turnips, green onions, chives, ginger, kosher salt, sugar and mix well by hand. Lay several dumpling wrappers on your work surface. Place 1 tablespoon of filling in the middle of each wrapper: Using your finger, moisten the edge of the dumpling wrapper with water to seal the filling inside. To seal the dumplings, simply fold and bring the bottom edge to meet the top and press the center closed, then pinch the rest of the edges together, pushing any extra air out of the dumplings.

You can either steam, boil or pan fry the dumplings. To steam, line a steamer basket with parchment paper and steam for 10-12 minutes. Or, they can be boiled in a pot of boiling water 8-10 minutes. To pan fry, heat a nonstick pan over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon oil, arrange as many dumplings as possible without having them touch. Cook until the bottoms are brown (2-3 minutes). Pour in 1 cup of water, cover and cook until the dumplings are tender and the meat is cooked through, 5-6 minutes.

To make the dipping sauce, combine the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sugar, garlic, scallions, ginger, sesame oil and chili oil and mix well, making sure sugar is dissolved.

Makes: 32 dumplings

Per dumpling: 128 calories (percent of calories from fat, 20), 5 grams protein, 20 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 3 grams fat (1 gram saturated), 9 milligrams cholesterol, 264 milligrams sodium.

Dipping Sauce: Per 1 tablespoon dipping sauce: 25 calories (percent of calories from fat, 27), 1 gram protein, 3 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 1 gram fat (no saturated fat), no cholesterol, 515 milligrams sodium.

Whole Steamed Fish

Fish is one of the most important dishes for a traditional Chinese New Year’s dinner because the Chinese word for it, Yu, sounds like the word for abundance.

2-3 pounds whole flaky white fish, like branzino, black bass or snapper, cleaned

½ cup xiao xing wine

1 teaspoon sesame oil

½ cup light soy sauce

1 pinch of white pepper

2 ounces ginger peeled and julienned

2 ounces scallions, julienned

4 sprigs cilantro tops, chopped

In a medium bowl, mix xiao xing wine, sesame oil, soy sauce and white pepper. Stuff the fish with half of the ginger and scallions. Place the fish in a steam-proof bowl, colander or steamer basket and top with remaining ginger and scallions and the xiao xing wine mixture. Place over a pot of boiling water, cover and steam for 12 to 15 minutes or until fork tender.

To serve, transfer the fish to a platter with accumulated juices and garnish with chopped cilantro.

Serves: 4

Per serving: 332 calories (percent of calories from fat, 15), 50 grams protein, 15 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber, 5 grams fat (1 gram saturated), 83 milligrams cholesterol, 933 milligrams sodium.

Noodles With Braised Lamb

Noodles are a symbol of longevity in Chinese culture, so it is considered very unlucky to cut up a strand. This recipe combines two northern Chinese favorites, noodles and braised lamb.

2 tablespoons oil

2 pounds lamb meat, preferably bone-in such as shank

3/8 cup ginger, peeled and minced

2 large onions, peeled and minced

5 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon cumin

1 tablespoon star anise

1 tablespoon gogi berries

1 tablespoon dried licorice

2 cups xiao xing wine

3 large cubes rock sugar

4 cups chicken stock

8 ounces dry medium Chinese wheat noodles.

½ cup scallions, julienned

Preheat oven to 375

In a large cast iron pot; heat the oil and sear lamb on all sides until brown and set aside. Sweat the onions and ginger. Add the soy sauce, cumin, star anise, gogi berries, and dried licorice and stir to combine. Deglaze the pan with xiao xing wine. Add rock sugar, chicken stock and lamb back into the pot. Transfer to the oven and cook for 2-3 hours or until fork tender. Remove from the oven, pull meat off the bone and set aside. Put the pot back on the stove and reduce liquid by half and return meat to the pot.

To serve

Cook the noodles according to the package instructions. Separate into 4 portions and put on plates. Top with meat and sauce and finish with scallions.

Serves: 4

Per serving: 749 calories (percent of calories from fat, 41), 57 grams protein, 61 grams carbohydrates, 7 grams fiber, 35 grams fat (12 grams saturated), 122 milligrams cholesterol, 1,462 milligrams sodium.

Beets in Black Bean Sauce

Buddhism is a large part of Chinese culture, so the Buddhist practice of cleansing yourself with vegetables is commonly observed during Chinese New Year. Traditionally, long beans, which symbolized longevity, would be used in this recipe. But you can substitute any hearty winter vegetable, such as sweet potato, butternut squash, or cauliflower.

Preheat oven to 350.

1 1/2 pounds beets

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 teaspoons garlic, cut into thick slivers

2 teaspoons ginger, julienned

2 tablespoons vegetable stock

1 tablespoon Chinese black bean sauce

½ teaspoon soy sauce

½ teaspoon Chinese rice wine vinegar

½ teaspoon sugar

Wrap beets in foil and set on a cookie sheet. Roast beets for 1 hour until tender. Unwrap foil from beets and peel off skin. Cut the beets into half-inch squares and set aside. Heat a large wok or pan; add vegetable oil until hot, then add garlic and ginger. Sauté until aromatic. Add vegetable stock and beets and sauté for a few minutes. Add black bean sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and sugar and cook until sauce thickens and coats the beets well.

Serves: 4

Per serving: 84 calories (percent of calories from fat, 42), 2 grams protein, 10 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams fiber, 4 grams fat (trace saturated fat), no cholesterol, 147 milligrams sodium.