Culture Note: Chinese lantern festival (/Yuan Xiao festival) and the festival food

元宵节

                                 image source:http://bbs.chinataiwan.org/thread-52-1-1.html

Today is the last day of Chinese new year celebration, if you haven’t wished ‘happy new year’ yet, do it now. After today, we are in 2012 everyday's life. :))

Today is 15th of January in Chinese calendar. We call it ‘Yuan xiao jie’ as in ‘rice ball festival’, or another name ‘lantern festival’. So needless to say, there are two main celebrations, one is to eat rice balls, another one is to see the lantern exhibitions.

It is said that this festival started over 2000 years ago on the first full moon day in the new year. (In Chinese calendar, on the 15th and 16th each month, the moon is the fullest.) But custom of lightening up the lanterns started later, with the introduction of Buddhism in China --- every 15th of January lightening up the lanterns for the Buddhas. People also took this time to express their wishes.

Since Tang dynasty, lightening up the lanterns became more and more popular, and it eventually became an important ‘carnival’ in China --- all the streets were lightened up by lanterns, and people would go out to see (or we say ‘to appreciate’ the lanterns). Since then, not only the designs of the lanterns had more varieties, but also, people started putting some riddles or a line of poem on the lanterns, so others could try to get the answer or complete the poem. And along with the lanterns, there were also some performances as well.

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Chinese Culture note: today is ‘Xiao Nian’ (little new year) !

             Image source:http://photo.xinzhou.org/2009/0118/picture_1161_5.html   Image source:http://tieba.baidu.com/p/1376530070



As I said yesterday, today all the Chinese new year celebrations are starting!!

In Chinese, today is called ‘Xiao Nian’, which literally means ‘little new year’. It should probably be called ‘pre-new year’ instead. Xiao Nian normally happens 7 days before Chinese new year day; however, different regions, and even different social classes in the past celebrated Xiao Nian on different days (for example, the emperors and royals would have it a day earlier than ordinary people). In northeast China, it is always on 23rd Dec in Chinese calendar. And our celebration may be a bit different to the other regions.

From this day onwards, traditionally people started preparing goods for the new year celebration -- although, nowadays, people normally start preparations much earlier. The preparation commonly includes stocking food, buying new clothes for new year, and home decoration, for example, hanging the couplets on both side of the door, sticking some festival paper cut figures on the door and windows, hanging the red lanterns in and outside the house.

However, the main point of the celebration on this day is still about food. :)) --- Yes, to have enough food and wealthy life for the coming new year.

It is said that in Xia dynasty times (over 4000 years ago), there was a fairy, called ‘Zao wang ye’, who was is in charge of the ‘cooker’ (at least, that is what we say) of every household -- more like ‘to make sure people have enough food to eat. And on this day, ‘Zao wang ye’ goes to the ‘above’, and reports to the Jade emperor how people behave, therefore what kind of fortune they should have for the new year.

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103. A special egg recipe: cooking egg with beef soup

Chinese egg and beef soup

Happy new year!!!


O, I am so sorry for not posting often recently, it seems I have been enjoying too much the paellas that my mother-in-law makes, and in my head it is all about the delicious Spanish food right now, I totally forgot about cooking Chinese. But if you have ever tried my suegra’s food, I am sure you will forgive me. :))) Ha… My mother-in-law said this is a perfect time for me to rest my mind, no need to think what to cook next, and what to buy… So I have been just eating and sleeping… and sunbathing in the sunny Spain. :))

Ok, coming back to cooking Chinese food -- with new year festival’s spirit. This dish is an egg recipe, in Chinese it is called ‘Shao jidan’. Shao is a method of cooking, like ‘Shao’ beef, --- slowly cooking, and ‘jidan’ means eggs. But this dish is quite special, as it is one of the landmark dishes of my ethnic group -- Hui. Talking about this dish, I guess I have to start with cooking beef first. :)

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Chongyang festival: the flower cake (Chinese steamed cake recipe)

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Chinese steamed cake

重阳花糕

If I were to use Chinese words to describe my state when I was making this cake I would say that  "there is no bottom in my heart". Ha… it means I was in a bit of a panic mood and was feeling unsure about this recipe, since this was my first time ever making it, and also the first time using rice flour.

As I mentioned in my latest post, eating flower cake ( a kind of Chinese rice flour cake) is a very popular thing to do during Chongyang festival.  There are, however, important differences between North and South China, and also among different provinces in China.

The one I have made is definitely a Northern version; my beloved auntie used to make it, but I never learned, so I had to make an ‘emergency’ call to my parents. :))

This kind of Chinese cake is almost completely different to Western cakes, from the ingredients to the method of cooking. It is supposed to be lighter, since there is no cream or butter or even oil, and no vast amounts of sugar either. And another major difference is that this Chinese flower rice cake is steamed, not baked in the oven, so it can be translated as ‘Chinese steamed cake’.

It is fairly easy to make -- just rice flour paste with red bean filling. There are some places in China where this cake would be made without any fillings at all. Jujube dates are used for decoration and hence this cake is also called ‘jujube date flower cake’. (See picture below)

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Chinese Moon Cake with red bean fillings

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Chinese moon cake

Making moon cake at home

Making moon cake at home? - I never thought I would even dare to try one day. Back home, people would give moon cake as gifts to each other, so they are 'everywhere', or if I like particular fillings, then there are too many choices!. Don’t even mention that I am a terrible lousy baker. :)

I guess living abroad made me more into 'baking culture'. I started learning to bake bread, simple cakes, tiramisu… - No,no, don’t get me wrong, I am still a very lousy baker, but I am so lucky to have a lovely husband and neighbour friends who ate whatever I made,no matter how ugly it is, and kept on telling me how good and how tasty it is. :))) For example, I tried to learn how to make moon cake, and it didn’t turn up as it should look like. Ha… But I am still here shamelessly talking about how to make moon cake. :))))

I decided to make moon cake myself because it is not easy to find the Northern-style moon cakes. (As those that can be found in UK supermarkets are mostly Cantonese-style, which I am not used to.)

The traditional northern moon cakes are with red beans, mung beans, strawberries, jujubes, or mixed nuts fillings (there are hundreds of different fillings). Northern moon cakes are sweet, but far less sweet than … for example, English carrot cake.

To make moon cake, apart from the necessary ingredients, you also need ‘moon cake mold’, which unfortunately I don’t have, so the final outcome is far less appealing to the eye than the moon cakes sold in the shops. Taste is not too bad though.

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Chinese culture and food - Eid celebration and Youxiang

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Eid Celebrations in China

Millions of people in the world have been celebrating Eid these last few days. Eid in China is actually happening today, and Chinese people belonging to nine or ten ethnic groups are celebrating it. Happiness and bliss is for everyone, so happy Eid everyone!

For many of us, the celebration of Eid is rather a traditional custom of our ethnic group (the Hui). For me, Eid celebrations represent a sweet memory of family gathering, and a moment of praying for my beloved grandparents and auntie.

My family used to all gather together (over 40 people, a big gathering:) ) the night before Eid to prepare food, especially the very traditional Eid food “You Xiang”.

The day after, we used to join a big crowd in the celebration area - it was my favorite time, because there you can see people mainly from minority groups gather together (for example, Hui or Weiwu’er) - I remember when I was little, I used to think they were all from abroad somewhere, because they looked so different to normal Han Chinese people. After praying for my grandparents and auntie, we would finish with a big meal feast.

- All the sweet memory - now, I am miles, miles away…...

Chinese You Xiang

The food, the most symbolic food for this occasion is called Youxiang. (In English, it literally means ‘oil fragrance’.) It is fairly easy to make - It is just raised flour made into a round shape, and oil fried. - Sounds simple, no? But I remember my aunties and uncles used to discuss endlessly about details and made lots of preparations before preparing them. They would be able to tell you depending on how many people you need to prepare for, so how much flour and oil is needed, etc. For keeping on with tradition, I made some as well, however - not very sucessful - so I can never say it is easy or simple anymore. :)

However, Youxiang culture is never just simple. For example, before making You Xiang, the cooks (and those who are going to be near the cooker) need to “wash” themselves first, and then a particular kind of incense needs to be lighted up throughout the whole preparation and cooking process.
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Then YouXiang needs to be packed as a pair in a bag for giving to friends, relatives or other people who share the same custom. You can give to people more than one pack, but the number of Youxiang always needs to be even. And when eating Youxiang, it needs to be torn or chopped into small pieces first, (normally around 4 pieces), it can never be eaten as a whole, which can be seen as a sign of very bad manner.

Youxiang is not only made for Eid, but also for many important occasions in my ethnic group, for example, for ‘memorial services’.

The recipe: Chinese You Xiang for Eid Celebration

Coming to how to make them - different regions in China have different ways Here I can only tell how my parents normally made them - briefly, as I did not make it very well this time.:(

Ingredients:

Oil, plain flour, yeast (or soda, or other raising agent that you are familiar with), salt

Cooking:

1) Raising up the flour, and add in some salt. (Traditionally, many people use both yeast, alkaline water and salt to balance the PH level for the dough).

2) Divide the dough into smaller portions.

3) Roll the smaller dough into a round flat sheet, round 15cm diameter, 0.5cm thickness.

4) In a wok, pour in oil. (At least around 15cm deep), and turn on the fire (medium to low). When the oil is very hot, place the flat sheet into the oil. The sheet is supposed by ‘inflated’ in the middle.

5)Until both sides turn into ‘brawn’ colour, remove it from the oil.

I made relatively smaller ones, but unfortunately, I made them too salty, could not give it out to friends anymore. A lesson learned. :(

You xiang can be frozen. When warming them up, you can use the microwave, but again, very briefly, otherwise, they could get too hard. There is a better way of warming them up -- namely by placing on top of rice - when you make rice, the water is just absorbed, or warm up rice, place Youxiang on top of rice. Then you can get soft and warm Youxiang.

They can be eaten as snack, or part of stable food with soup or congee.

29. Zongzi for Chinese DuanWu festival

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Chinese zongzi

Happy Duanwu Festival!! 

端午节快乐！！

－－－包粽子

Chinese Zongzi

Have you got the ‘five coloured thread’ already? -- Juat for the good luck, maybe? :))

Continue from yesterday -- making Zongzi today --- to feel the involvement of the festival.

I have to say -- it is really not easy to make it, and sometimes I feel thankful that I am actually far away from China, so I am forced to learn on my own, otherwise with my dad by my side, and millions ‘Zongzi’ being sold in the market, I would never be able to learn.

I have just showed my ‘Zongzi’ to my dad through webcam, he was super pleased --- I bet it is never as beautiful as he made, but being able to make it makes him proud -- he said that there are two things he learnt from my grandparents, one is making Chinese buttons another one is making ‘Zongzi’. He has been worried if these skills will be lost in the family (among me and my bro) -- now, he smiled -- there you go -- me with my (clumsy) hands and impatience. :))

Starting from scratch to make ‘Zongzi’ is not easy, but fun. I kept feeling it is a family thing, I remember when my parents were preparing the rice and leaves in the kitchen, they sounded serious, as if something important happening in the family. :))

The recipe: Chinese Zongzi for the Dragon Boat festival

This is Northeast recipe of 'Zongzi, the filling is very different to the Southern version)

Ingredients

Glutinous rice (It is very sticky rice after cooked. The stickiness is different from Northeast rice, the latter one would get broken grain and ‘melt’ with each other, where, glutinous rice is sticky together by a whole grain ‘glue’ to each other’. you can get it in any Chinese supermarket, it cannot be replaced by other types of rice in this recipe. )

Reed leaves or lotus leaves (I bought bamboo leaves in the Chinese supermarket, it is not as wide as some of ideal reed leaves or lotus leaves, but still good to use).

Iris lactea leaves (It is used for tightening after wrapping. Itself can be used for medical purpose, and wrapping zongzi could give Zongzi a more aromatic taste. Unfortunately  I could not find any in the shops, so I simply use thread instead).

Dried Jujube (in Chinese it is called ‘red date’.)

Sugar (when serving)

Preparation

1)Soaking the glutinous rice in water for a day (24 hrs)

2)Boil the

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Culture Note: Chinese DuanWu festival !!

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端午节

Oh, sorry I have to skip the weekend recipe today, and talk about this Chinese festival, which will be celebrated in China tomorrow --- Duanwu festival, one of the important festivals in China.

The Chinese Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu)

It is said that Duanwu festival originated over two thousands years ago. Although there are many versions of stories explaining the possible origin of the festival, the most popular one is the death of great patriotic poet ‘Qu yuan’ in 278 BC.

The legend is that he strongly opposed the idea (by the king of Chu) of allying with the emerging power - another kingdom ‘Qin’. After being demeaned and exiled, he wanted to awake the public and the king by committing suicide (jumping into the river), on 5th May in Chinese lunar calendar.

Local people were shocked and saddened by his patriotism, and started making reed leaves wrapped rice（Zongzi in Chinese) and throwing them into the river to feed the fish, hoping that this could help preventing his body from being eaten by fish. Quyuan would forever be remembered for his poems and patriotic gesture.


Hence, Duanwu festival was established on 5th May in Chinese lunar calendar in memory of Quyuan, and making and having rice wrapped by reed leaves became a main part of the festival.

Since Chinese calendar is different from Western calendar, the date of Duanwu festival changes every year, but it

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Children’s day in China

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Happy Children’s day everyone! We all have a playful ‘Child’ inside at heart, no? 

Just forget about all the headaches in grown-up’s world, at least for a few minutes, and go back to the time we used to play childhood games in the yard with little friends ---  we are happy, carefree.

Sometimes, for a split second, I could almost feel the summer morning breeze softly blowing on my face when I was a little kid playing at the front yard, after just waved goodbye to my parents, they left for work, and hoping my little friends would see me and turn up to play with me…...

In China, Children’s day is a big day, ‘festival’ atmosphere is all over the places -- the banners of ‘happy Children Day’ waving everywhere, on the street, the entrance of the schools, the steps of the shopping centre (--they want to cash in :))) ….. All the schools would have their own celebration program, either go for a day trip, or transfer the classroom into a ‘celebrating scene’… and most of the mothers who have kids under 12 years could get half of day off to be with their children and celebrate. And on the evening TV programs, all the channels are showing the celebrations.

Suddenly, it seems that the whole world is filled with children, they are in charge. Their colourful clothes like jumping dots in the abstract canvas ornament the streets. 

At that moment, we just could not stop admiring the youth of lives, and at the same time, wondering where all those times have gone.

In Chinese, there is a saying, "children is the future, they are like the raising sun at 8am  or 9am in the morning”. (Hence, we always joke that we are the sun at lunch time.:)) I remember when we were little, every time hearing this sentence, we would straight up our back and take a deep breath --- we had a big mission in this life. ha…

Coming back to food, I have been thinking if we had anything special on this day … no, not really, just played outside, had less homework. My dad would cook something nice, and there was one dish he made I would remember forever: a zoo on a plate. Yes, it is.

He fried spinach leaves and laid on a big plate as grass, and made couple of ‘pandas’ by using potato. and used red beans as pandas’ eyes and ears… That dish had been left on the table untouched for a long time during the dinner -- nobody wanted to destroy the scene.

I miss that childhood, miss on this day, the teacher would take us to the lake side or big city garden, all we could hear was our loud noise, but we laughed a lot in the bright sun, and looked up, it was the blue blue sky, even a few cloud became so beautiful -- there was no pollution, no worries…

Have a lovely Children day!