Happy Chinese New Year!
This year I got inspired (and perhaps a little over ambitious) and decided to make a full on Chinese dinner for the new year (Feb 14th). The menu I decided on would consist of...
...beef and broccoli (served with rice of course) as the main dish...
...steamed pork dumplings...
...And pork buns (just like at Momofuku Bar Ssam, a yummy restaurant here in NYC).
With the menu decided, during the week I made my grocery list and started mapping out how I was going to get everything done (and hopefully have everything taste delicious). I made my Fresh Direct order (grocery delivery services for those who don't know) which came Friday night, and spent Saturday going to Ikea to purchase my $6 wok, and Whole Foods to buy the remaining items on the grocery list. After running the earlier errands, I got all the meat marinating and that night I also got all the vegetables like the cabbage, broccoli, scallions and cucumbers (which I also marinated overnight so they would be slightly pickled) chopped up and prepped. My mom would be so proud!
Sunday morning I woke up early to get the pork belly in the oven so it could get done and get chilling in the fridge before we left for church. Then it was off to church, where I happened to accidentally met my friend Jana's newest roommate (they live in DC) who was in the city visiting for the long weekend. Small world sometimes.
After church it was time to get busy making everything! I first started getting the dough made for the buns (since they had to spend 2 hours rising) and then got busy getting the pork filling made for the dumplings. Once the filling was ready Brittany helped me stuff the dumplings, while I also started getting the beef cooked. Once the dumplings were ready it was time to start steaming them and pretty much do everything else at the same time...getting the dough rolled out and shaped (and let them rise some more), cook the broccoli, get the pork belly warmed up, etc (thankfully Brittany was willing to cook the rice). With a little help from everyone (including friends whom had been invited over), the final buns were steamed, the rest of the food was ready and it was time to dig in.
But first here are a couple of pictures from the cooking process:
The buns as they waited to get steamed in the rice cooker...
...and the beef in broccoli all ready to go. Yummy!
As a comparison, here is the whole spread (dumplings not pictured).
For the most part everything turned out really delicious. The only thing that could have been better were the buns for the pork buns. But considering this was my first attempt, and the fact that I never make bread, they turned out decent enough.
Everyone seemed to really enjoy dinner and it was really great company! Thanks again Dave and Anna for coming over and bringing the drinks and dessert (cherry limeade and tasty brownie sundaes). I didn't get a pictured of Dave, but Anna and I had to get a picture together with our authentic Chinese attire on.
Hope everyone else had a good Chinese New Year, or Valentine's Day, or Arizona Statehood Day!
Oh by the way, here is a picture (next day) of all the dishes, since I previously didn't have a picture of the dumplings.
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