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Recipe: chinese turnip pastries

A small pulse of winter weather delivered some snow to our local hill last week. Three inches does not a powder day make, but we had a lovely time nonetheless because the air was completely calm. Our typically scoured high peaks were all sporting beautiful blankets of snow that morning. Snowflakes floated through the air, glistening in the sun. I love me a sun shower, but sun snow is one of the best things ever.

the view from my favorite run at eldora (muleshoe)

sun snow!

Trent mentioned that he was taking his 3-year old to the local hill for her first ski day this past weekend and asked if we were planning to go. Jeremy and I are what you would call spoiled brats. We don’t go to ski resorts on weekends unless there is a foot of fresh powder. But… I thought it would be nice to offer our moral support and it’s been a while since I’ve brought my camera (as opposed to my iphone) with me to the slopes. We rode the magic carpet (I’ve never ridden the magic carpet with skis before), we skied the bunny hill, and we shouted encouragement to little Paloma. It’s a lot for a little one to take in – all of the commotion, this strange form of travel (skis), people yard-saling it left and right, potty breaks, snacks, and trying to learn to ski on top of all that. She did so well! I have to say that Trent gets major points for being so patient, caring for his little girl in this new-to-her environment while teaching her the fundamentals of skiing, and ensuring she has fun.

trent teaching pizza (wedge) while paloma goes straight to french fries (parallel)

proud dad watches as she takes off on her own

skiing is FUN!

Watching my friends interact with and teach their children is fascinating. It simultaneously impresses and terrifies me. Impresses, because my friends are amazing parents with infinite patience and dedication. Terrifies, because I don’t know what to do with kids outside the realm of “fun auntie”. They cry and I immediately surrender. And because it’s so much work, it makes me realize all the more how wonderful my parents and grandma were to me in my youth.

As Chinese New Year approaches, I’ve been thinking a lot about Grandma. I sure do miss her and all of the little special things about our visits together. She had a friend who made these delectable savory turnip pastries, and whenever I came to see Grandma in California, she’d have bought several of these pastries for me. My aunt and I tried to analyze and reverse engineer how to make them on one visit and Grandma waved her hand at us and said, “It’s quite complicated.” But after making the egg custard tarts, I decided to give the savory turnip pastries a go.

start with chinese sausages

salt, daikon radish, chinese sausage, sesame oil, pepper

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Chinese New Year (or the Lunar New Year) is a week away! It will be the Year of the Horse, which is special because my sister was born in the Year of the Horse and would have been 48 this year. I’m busy cleaning the house, prepping special foods, and doing those things that are supposed to bring luck in the new year. Maybe you are a traditionalist or perhaps the lunar new year doesn’t have any significance to you, but you want to make a celebratory meal or throw a Chinese-themed party. Either way, I’ve got a recipe round up for you!

traditional dishes

These are the dishes I make year after year. They symbolize luck, fortune, health, happiness, promotion.

Cellophane noodle soup: It’s a big pot of goodies – sort of a catchall for lucky things. The cellophane noodles (bean thread noodles or glass noodles) represent long life – so for goodness’ sake, DON’T CUT THE NOODLES. Meatballs and fish balls are round, which the Chinese like and their meaning is reunion.

Chinese dumplings and potstickers: Theoretically you are supposed to make dumplings (boiled or steamed), but I always make potstickers because I’m a crunch-junkie. My mom always told us that eating dumplings meant more money in the new year because they are shaped like gold ingots. Then I found out later that dumplings also symbolize having sons. I’m sticking with the money story.

Chinese egg dumplings: The Chinese have a thing for dumplings, because they are like purses, and purses hold money. These egg dumplings typically go in the cellophane noodle soup, but they are wonderful eaten on their own too.

Lucky ten ingredient vegetables: Lucky lucky lucky! Ten is a lucky number. Don’t make this with nine or eleven ingredients – you’ll screw up the new year! Also, don’t use hollow vegetables (green onions, water spinach – these are hollow and bad luck). Tofu is okay, but no meat is allowed in the dish.

Stir-fried rice cakes: These rice cakes are sticky, chewy disks of rice flour. The name of the rice cake, nian gao, sounds like “higher year”. Eating the rice cakes is good luck for a promotion or toward greater prosperity.

Stir-fried soybean sprouts: These are my favorite and plentiful in most Asian markets this time of year (because everyone wants luck!). Eating soybean sprouts (or bean sprouts in general) ensures a good start to the new year.

appetizers

There’s something you should know about tofu. It’s a big deal. Fu is “luck” in Chinese. So tofu is pretty popular in the new year festivities because everyone wants lots of luck. The thing is, you shouldn’t eat white tofu because white is bad – it’s the color of mourning/death. That’s bad luck. But don’t fret, there are a bazillion ways to eat tofu: fried, dried, marinated, sheets, pressed.

Bean curd rolls: You can find bean curd sheets or tofu skin in Asian grocery stores. They are either dried or frozen. This tofu skin roll is filled with savory pork and vegetables, and then braised til soft. I order it at dim sum all the time.

Chinese tea eggs: Eggs represent fertility, but I just love the subtle flavor of the tea infusion as well as the delicate crackle pattern on the peeled egg.

Fried shrimp wontons: Terrific nibbles with the added bonus that shrimp symbolize happiness and good fortune.

Pickled Chinese cabbage: Served cold, this sweet, salty, sour, spicy, crunchy pickled cabbage wakes your mouth up in the best way possible. I could snack on a bowl of this all by myself. Cabbage means money, prosperity.

Scallion pancakes: One of the best savory snacks, ever. I’m not sure if it has any symbolism, but it’s delicious!

Shrimp toast: More shrimp goodness (happiness and fortune).

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Recipe: chinese stir-fried tofu

In my last post, I talked a little about how we have windstorms on steroids in Nederland. We typically don’t worry until the National Weather Service starts predicting gusts over 70 mph. Two years ago, we experienced gusts as high as 100 mph. That storm ripped a lot of large trees out of the ground and topped several mature conifers – just SNAPPED them off like twigs. We watched the front of our house flex in the storm until the power went out and then went to bed, hoping for the best. The house survived and we gained some confidence in the 110 mph wind build requirement in our town. The sun was out Friday afternoon and I raised the blinds in our great room to let Kaweah bask in the sun (still a favorite activity of hers).

oh shit

Our house has a tall profile, faces southwest, and takes the full brunt of the prevailing winds. We knew something like this could happen, because the previous owners (now our friends) told us they had a window crack during a storm. We were expecting it for years, but let our guard down recently. And it would have been fine, except for wind forecasts of gusts up to 95 mph over the weekend. Images of a window blowing in and snow swirling in our house ran through my mind. I cancelled our dinner date and stress ate barbecue potato chips. Then our super awesome wonderful neighbor popped over and slapped a grid of duct tape over the window and said we should be fine, but to keep the blind down just in case. I uncancelled dinner with nary a minute to spare and we met our very understanding friends at Dae Gee.

chris is psyched for korean bbq, ellen sports a perplexed look between gushings over kimchi

she’s pointing at the kimchi

Dinner with good friends is a great way to forget about other things on your mind. Sure, the window loomed large, but the biggest thing on my mind of late is Kaweah. We came home from Crested Butte mainly to see her vet. He removed (yanked) her bad toenail off. You could tell she didn’t like it, but she was so good with the shot and the yanking and the blood. All she wanted was a treat and Doc Newton made sure to give her a lot of treat love. He told us her toe was a little swollen and that he hoped his prescription of antibiotics would bring that swelling down. But if it didn’t come down, it could be cancer. He raised his eyebrows while handing Kaweah another treat and said, “Normally we would amputate the toe, but she’s not a candidate for surgery at her age.” Understood.

To be honest, even if she has cancer, I wonder if other things won’t bring her down first. While the infected paw has healed and she is able to walk around on it without problems, her hind legs are another story. We watch her closely when she meanders about the house and her rear right leg doesn’t seem to know where it’s supposed to go, doesn’t even know where the floor is. The rear left leg has been swinging wide, catching on furniture, door jams, anything. She falls several times a day, but not the catastrophic spills of her youth. Kaweah doesn’t have the strength to struggle, so she softly slides into a reclining position without injury and looks confused until one of us helps her up or carries her to her bed. But Kaweah is always surprising us and I know she has a few more left in her. I just dread the day when she runs out of surprises. I’ve been crying a lot.

she likes having her schnoz scratched

My folks called this weekend and I had a nice, albeit brief, chat with them. Mom told me the most important thing is to make sure Kaweah is happy and comfortable. Of course. I know this, but somehow it made me feel better to hear it from her. I think when I’m really sad about something, there is no one else whose voice and words can bring me comfort like Mom. Same goes for her cooking. That evening, I set about preparing this terrific tofu dish that she makes for us when they are in town. Jeremy and I both love it.

fried tofu, bamboo shoots, shitake mushrooms, soy sauce, corn starch, pork, vegetable oil, shao xing cooking wine, napa cabbage, ginger, green onions

refrigerated winter bamboo shoots

This is really a stir-fried fried tofu with vegetables and pork. You can fry the tofu yourself or do as I did and purchase fresh fried tofu from the Asian grocery store. Make sure it is fresh and not slimy! Some Asian grocers are really bad about expired products, so check those dates or inspect the product closely if no dates are listed. And I happened upon refrigerated winter bamboo shoots, which have a better flavor and firmer texture compared to canned bamboo shoots. If you can get your hands on fresh bamboo shoots, that is EVEN BETTER. Don’t worry if you can’t find any of those, canned works too. I recommend trying to get whole ones, but sliced is also fine.

slice the fried tofu

slice the bamboo shoots

sliced shitakes

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