Dumplings
Gung hay fat choy: Happy New Year! We have entered
the year 4701 on the Chinese lunar calendar: The Year of the Green Monkey. To
usher it in with the best of luck for health, prosperity and good fortune, we
had dumplings for dinner last
night.
Traditionally, Jiaozi (dumplings)
are an important feature of the Chinese New Years meal. Their shape is
reminiscent of ancient Chinese gold or silver ingots, so eating them on the eve
is supposed to signify wealth in the coming year. The thing about it is, the
word Jiaozi literally means “sleep together and have sons,” which,
correct me if I’m wrong, is no longer a great way to get rich. It may be
time to consider updating this tradition. (What is the Chinese word for
diversified portfolio? Anyone?
Anyone?)
Our friends don’t need
much of an excuse to celebrate, and Chinese New Years is a terrific holiday to
glom on to. Jon and Juliette came over with wine and beer. It was a good thing
they came too, not only because of the booze, but because I had no clue how much
work (and how many hands) were needed to make this dinner.
I decided to make two varieties of
dumplings - pork and shrimp. I also wanted to make lo mein, as eating noodles
on New Years is reputed to reward long life. I’m not sure what symbolism
says about the copious amounts of fat indicated in the recipe so I cut that
right out of there. What I left in were some thin noodles, marinated chicken
and veggies, all stir-fried in a hot wok.
There are a few notable challenges here
for the home cook:
1. Ingredients: mostly I
had them on hand, but I did make a specific run for wrappers, noodles, oyster
sauce and water chestnuts (which ended up being forgotten anyway).
2. Tools: I was limited in that I did not
have any good steaming apparatus, which meant that these dumplings were of the
pot sticker variety rather than the ever so delicate steamed variety. One
really needs two large covered fry pans. Also, one should really be using a
wide, six burner gas range. My very average stove seemed desperately cramped
and inadequate.
3. Preparation: Most of the
work in each of these dishes is prep. The cooking part comes quickly and right
at the end, so everything has to be timed, ready, and convenient. In that same
vein, there is a lot of overlap in the ingredients, so you really need separate
portions of things prepared for each recipe (three little ramekins of finely
chopped ginger, two bowls of cabbage, shredded to different sizes, two bowls of
chopped scallions, one with the white and one without... you get the
picture).
4. Space: Kitchenettes are strongly
advised against!!! Also, large sinks are favorable, as are volunteer dish
washers.
Once the ginger, garlic,
scallions, red peppers, cabbage, sprouts, peapods, water chestnuts, shrimp and
pork are washed, chopped and readied; once the cabbage is sweated and squeezed
dry; once eggs have been separated and measured by spoon; once the shrimp
mixture and the pork mixture have been mixed; once approximately 50 little
dumpling wrappers have been stuffed, sealed and pleated; once the noodles have
been blanched and rinsed under cold water; and once the dipping sauce has been
prepared and left to rest, you can start
cooking.
The lo mein went first, because
I figured it could wait a while after it was done. I stir fried the chicken,
took it out and reserved the juices, stir fried the veggies, took them out and
reserved their juices, stir fried the blanched noodles, then threw everything
back in with some soy sauce and chicken stock and let it cook (sticking
miserably to the bottom) for ten minutes.
Done.
Meanwhile, I got two big pans going
with some vegetable oil, and in small batches gently placed the dumplings in,
let them cook for 6 minutes (or much less since the first batch burned after 3),
threw in a half a cup of water, put the lid on and let them steam for ten
minutes making sure they didn’t run out of water too soon. Slid them onto
a plate and served. Done.
Did I mention
how grateful I was for Juliette’s help? I was exceedingly
grateful.
Then we ate, and though I felt
like I had just been fried and steamed myself, it was delicious and we had a
truly delightful time. The shrimp dumplings I found a bit bland – perhaps
the water chestnuts would have helped them, but alas, they were forgotten. The
pork ones were terrific – a recipe I found in “Blue Ginger.”
As is so often the case with dumplings, the highlight for me was the dipping
sauce, a mixture of soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, ginger and scallions.
I could drink the stuff. We had a few glasses of wine and at the end, passed
around fortunes. Mine was, “Nothing in this world can be accomplished
without passion.” How true! Especially not
dumpling-making.
So, what can we expect
from the Year of the Green Monkey? Though each animal sign rolls around every
12 years, the specific element (green) plus animal combination only occurs once
every 60 years. The Green Monkey, “Jia Shen,” represents
transformation, creativity, flexibility and tolerance. 1944's Green Monkey
brought a climactic year of WWII. This year is predicted to be a time of
development, idealism and youthful innocence - a prime time to embark on a new
enterprise. And if all goes according to legend, for us it will be a year of
great riches and long life. (Especially if the riches are commensurate with the
number of dumplings consumed.) Keep your fingers crossed that they did the
trick.
Posted: Fri - January 23, 2004 at 03:04 PM