Bring in the New Year, Chinese style

Bring in the New Year, Chinese style

Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, marks the beginning of the new year in the Chinese calendar. It is the longest and most colourful Chinese festival, lasting fifteen days in total (16 February to 2 March 2018) with most people having at least one week’s holiday. It’s a time when children travel home to spend time with their parents, when dragons, firecrackers and festivities fight off the mythical monster ‘Nian’ who liked to eat children and livestock.

Many items are auspicious, including the colour red and even food prepared and eaten, including such dishes as noodles, fish, spring rolls and dumplings.

Why not use the opportunity to take a hands-on workshop to master the art of the dumpling?

It’s one of about forty different cooking classes conducted by Icon Cookery School in The Kitchens, Robina. With a classically-trained chef, you’ll learn how to create a variety of dumplings, such as gyoza, wontons and moneybags, including their fillings and accompanying sauces. Dumplings freeze so well that you can make a batch and serve them later.

How impressive it would be to invite friends over and present your own dumplings, all made by hand!

Here’s a recipe from Icon to start you off: Steamed Siu Mai (open top dumplings with pork and prawn).

Steamed Shu Mai Dumplings

Ingredients

100g minced pork

2 tsp salt

1 ½ tsp sugar

1 tbs light soy sauce

100g prawn meat

4 shitake mushrooms, diced

3 spring onions, shredded

1 egg

1 tsp sesame oil

Pepper, to taste

1 ½ tbs cornflour

12 wonton wrappers

Method

  1. Put the mince pork in a large bowl. Add salt, sugar, soy sauce to the minced pork. Mix until meat become sticky. Can use food processor.
  2. Then add in minced prawn, spring onion, mushroom, egg, sesame oil, some pepper and cornflour. Mix thoroughly until the mixture is sticky.
  3. Fill each wonton pastry with some of the mixture and form into siu mai.
  4. Place greaseproof paper at the bottom of a bamboo steamer and steam over a pot of boiling water until cooked.

Contact Icon Cookery School about classes on Ph: 1300 426 626

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NOTE: This article was published in The Sun on 20 February 2018.

      
Robina Town Centre, Robina QLD, Australia