Symbols of prosperity and good luck for the new year
On February 3, 2011, Chinese and other Asians welcome the Year of the Rabbit, 4709 on the lunar calendar. During the next couple of weeks, families and friends will get together to share good wishes and good food.
A popular and easy to celebrate the new year is with a hotpot dinner. Gather guests around a pot of bubbling broth and cook thinly sliced meats, seafood, tofu, and vegetables. As the thin pieces cook, lift them out and dip in a choice of Jade sauces. When everyone has had their fill, add noodles to the remaining broth, then ladle soup and noodles into small bowls to finish the meal.
It’s an easy meal because guests do the cooking. You provide the ingredients. Or for a potluck version assign each guest a raw ingredient to bring. Arrange ingredients around the pot of hot broth. Place the pot on a small portable burner or use an electric wok for frying pan. For each guest, provide chopsticks and small wire baskets or strainer to fish out the savory morsels and a small bowl and plate. This meal works best when all guest can easily reach the hotpot. With more than four to six guests, set up another pot.
Check Asian supermarkets and Asian cookware stores for portable tabletop burners, hot pots, and small wire mesh basket or strainer. Or improvise with equipment you own.
The dried bean thread noodles look a bit like stiff fishing line and can be found in the Asian section of many supermarkets. If not available, cook eight ounces dried Asian wheat or egg noodles until tender and rinse well with water.
Cook small bites of vegetables and meat, then dip in JADE sauces to eat
JADE Chinese Hot Pot
Feel free to vary vegetable and meat choices to your taste. Large Asian supermarkets often sell paper-thin slices of raw meat, ready to cook. Look for them in the meat case or freezer. You can prep the meat and vegetables up to one day ahead, cover and chill.
For each guest, set a small bowl (such as Chinese rice or soup bowl) on a salad plate. Place chopsticks, a soup spoon and small wire basket or strainer alongside (or use a communal large slotted spoon or a long pair of cooking chopsticks or tongs.)
Makes 4 to 6 servings.
6 ounces dried bean thread noodles
6 to 8 ounces beef flank steak
6 to 8 ounces boned and skinned chicken breast
6 to 8 ounces peeled and deveined shrimp (31 to 40 per lb.)
1 pound firm tofu, drained and cut in 3/4-inch cubes
4 cups spinach leaves, rinsed
3 cups thinly sliced napa cabbage or white cabbage
3 cups sliced baby bok choy
6 ounches snow peas or sugar snap peas, strings removed
12 to 16 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems removed
Cilantro leaves and thinly sliced green onions
JADE Sichuan Peanut Sauce, JADE Mekong Ginger Sauce, JADE Sesame Soy Marinade, or JADE Toasted Sesame Sauce (one or several)
3 1/2 to 5 quarts chicken broth
1. Place the dried bean thread noodles in a large bowl and cover with hot water. When soft, 5 to 10 minutes, drain well. Slice the beef and chicken across the grain, as thinly as possible, then cut in strips about 1 by 3 inches.
2. Attractively arrange the noodles, beef, chicken, shrimp, tofu, spinach, cabbage, bok choy, snow peas, and mushrooms on separate small plates. Or present an assortment of ingredients on several larger plates. Garnish plates with cilantro and green onions. Pour the JADE sauces in small bowls.
3. Fill a 5- to 8-quart pan about 2/3 full with broth and bring to a boil over high heat. Set pan of hot broth over a small tabletop portable burner or pour into an electric wok or frying pan set on high heat. In a small pan, bring remaining broth to a boil over high heat, cover and remove from heat.
4. To eat, invite guests to add a few pieces of foods to boiling broth using wire baskets or chopsticks. Most foods cook almost instantly. Lift out and place in bowl. (If you don’t have wire baskets or strainer, use chopsticks to drop food in broth, then remove with a communal slotted spoon, tongs, of cooking chopsticks.) Season cooked foods with JADE sauces to taste. Continue adding food to broth. Add more hot broth as needed. When everyone is almost full, add bean thread noodles to remaining broth. When noodles are tender, ladle soup and noodles into each guest’s bowl.
