Gong Hai Fat Choi!
I know – my pronunciation is atrocious. Happy Lunar New Year nonetheless! As I stated a few days ago, I’ve always felt more hopeful in February than January, and after last year’s trek to Hong Kong I’m convinced that this tradition is a good one to pick up for my own.
I don’t get to cook very often in the house, but with Triskele Moon Studios’ big show starting tomorrow, I made the offer to whip up a bastardized stir fry for the holiday so L could take the time to finish a few more pieces of jewelry and pack things up for the event. She agreed, and so at 5 PM I arrived home ready to work. Luckily, L took some time to cube and sautee the chicken, which helped immensely.
I love the preparation of a good meal, and stir fry especially. There’s a wonderful cleanliness to it, despite the constant washing and drying of vegetable skins. It’s meditative and calming, the constant slice and chop settling into a rhythm that matches the music wafting through the kitchen. To the left you can see the basics: Carrots, onions, red pepper, green pepper, snow peas, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, ginger and garlic. The sauce is offscreen, easily made by combining soy sauce, red pepper flakes, ginger, garlic and scallions into a small measuring cup, then dissolving cornstarch or arrowroot powder into the sauce to thicken it up.
Since this was a quick and dirty surprise meal, we didn’t marinate the chicken. Instead, we sauteed it in toasted sesame oil and black pepper for a bit of western seasoning. This house can’t go wrong with garlic and pepper.
The actual stir-fry demands a wok, or at least a deep-sided pan. I had a wok in my bachelor days, but I’m guessing it was lost in one of the moves. Today we use something left behind by mom, which works very well but somehow doesn’t feel quite the same.
You must be careful not to lean over the pan directly, if you’re using chili oil or red pepper flakes. The capsium smoke will mess with your eyes to the point of real pain, and the whole point of this exercise is to feel good about what you’re doing – not to mess up your contact lenses.
Presentation has never really been my strong suit, which is another huge benefit to stir fry. Done properly, the vegetables never lose their vibrant colors, and if you choose carefully you wind up with a great combination of reds, greens, yellows and oranges on the plate. Of course, if you’re me, you also throw in enough crunchy chow mein noodles to make the entire thing the kind of beige consistency so beloved of Midwesterners throughout history.
I don’t use them often. It’s a celebration, though; so the diets can go hang. I have every intention of making this meal a good one. The soft noodles are below the stir-fry and crunchy noodles – you can stir-fry them after cooking them in the leftover oil and chili paste from the actual dish, which not only imparts a lot of flavor to the noodles but also makes cleanup a bit simpler by soaking up a good deal of the oil and picking up any delicious crunchy bits left behind when dishing out the stir fry proper.
After we ate, I sent L up to her studio to finish getting ready while I washed up and cleaned the kitchen. Once that was done, though, it was time to relax a bit by editing these photos, blogging about the meal, and mixing up a specialized drink for the holiday.
A Kowloon is named after an administrative district in Hong Kong. I don’t know how the drink got its name, but it’s a good choice for the Lunar New Year – sweets are de rigeur, and the oranges for good luck make this the ideal.
1 measure Kahluha
1 measure Cointreau (the actual recipe calls for Grand Marnier, but I find this works well)
3 measures orange juice.
Remember to stir it with a chopstick for the final reminder of an excellent day well spent.
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