Wok Star Eleanor Hoh

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Eleanor Hoh

Chinese New Year – simple home dinner is best!

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The best way to celebrate Chinese New Year is a simple dinner at home with your family. You don’t have to get stressed with a big production.

Earlier in the day, I had given a Wok Star cooking class to celebrate Year of the Tiger, so I didn’t feel like going to a crowded, noisy restaurant that evening or pay the high prices usually jacked up on these occasions.

A red tablecloth is important because it signifies good luck. My friend, Irene had given me some beautiful napkins with “chopsticks”, so appropriate for the occasion, thanks.
My brother-in-law is Italian, so he picked out a Chamarre Shiraz Merlot which went very well with everything.
I noticed my sister had snuck a duck leg on her plate!

I had bought a whole roast duck (everyone’s favorite), already carved and just needed crisping up under the grill.
It was so much fun to cook with my sister, reminded me of our childhood, cooking, laughing with our mom and two other sisters.

I also fried up a plain veggie dish of Chinese broccoli and bok choy.
A dish of plump shrimp with a spicy, zesty brown bean sauce, asparagus and carrots. This is a dish I actually made in class earlier so I had all the fixings already so no big deal. Everything was ready in about half an hour!
This was my plate with the duck leg, yummy.
For dessert, a few Chinese cakes like almond cookies, coconut tart and melon pastry. My sister brought some Vosges chocolates. They have the most amazing and strange combinations but so good, it perks up your taste buds.

We even went to the Wynwood/Design District Art Walk after dinner. I’m not sure how I managed it as I’d already been on my feet for about 6 hours! We walked probably 2 miles, popping into all the galleries was fun, many had Valentine themed art and gifts.

My brother-in-law bought me a lovely bangle from Ecoist.
It was made out of recycled sweetie wrappers, so cheerful.

What a lovely way to celebrate Year of the Tiger and Valentine’s Day!
Love to hear how you spent your Chinese New Year?
More Chinese New Year Celebrations:
Celebrate Chinese New Year with the Wok Star – 2010:
Year of Ox – 2009:
Year of Rat – 2008:

Celebrate Year of Tiger with the Wok Star! (Updated)

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Red signifies good luck and prosperity and I just like red, so lots of it!
That’s a lovely, round lacquer box for crystallized snacks.

Dragon dance


KUNG HEI FAT CHOY!

Year of the Tiger falls on the same day as Valentine’s Day this year! So, there are many, many events around Miami. I have 4 events scheduled (see below), so I won’t have time to cook for my friends or organize a gathering this year. But here are some dishes I made from previous Chinese New Year celebrations. I actually did manage to cook a cozy, simple dinner for my sister and husband and will post in a separate blog: Chinese New Year – simple home dinner is best!

Visit your Asian market and get red packets and decorative stuff to put all around your house.

Sesame Noodles served room temperature
and Roast Chicken from the Asian market (easy).

Cucumber Pickle and Char Siu,
best savored with ice cold Tiger Beer and Fiji Water


Chinese desserts: coconut tarts, melon pastries,
almond cookies, crystallized snacks, tangerines

Well, I already broke my no.2 resolution which was to call 3 Wok Stars a week! No. 1 resolution was to “open my umbrella” and be more “open” to new ways of doing the same thing. So, now I’m going to add no.3 resolution which is to CHANGE the way I do things. I read this quote on Twitter and it was an “AHA” moment. It was something like: To succeed, focus on CHANGE not RESULTS. CHANGE is good. I love to stir things up, so this year I’m going to be full of CHANGES.

For Tiger folks, here’s one to help Tigers get together and stay together. I can’t vouch for the accuracy or anything but fun to scan through.

So many wonderful Asian food bloggers have produced some amazing posts for Chinese New Year, do visit them:

Bee of Rasa Malaysia is one of my favorites, it is beautiful and has a Chinese New Year series from a variety of guests.

Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen does an incredible job with step by step photos. If you’ve still not bought her book, there’s a 40% discount on her Steamy Kitchen Cookbook if you hurry. She gave me a nice mention in her book, thanks Jaden!

Andrea Nguyen, recently had her book published, Asian Dumplings. Her Viet Kitchen blog is full of Vietnamese foods and stories. Here’s her Year of Tiger traits, horoscope etc.

Diane Kuan, an accomplished writer and cooking teacher listed the Chinese New Year Foods – Top 10 picks.

Jen Lee was a research lab scientist so she loves to experiment. Here are her Chinese New Year Recipes.

Paula Nino of Mango and Lime listed a number of Chinese New Year events around Miami.

2 Wok Star Classes – Healthy and absolutely yummy
A perfect combination of socializing, entertaining and learning

Ready for CHANGE? Try my NO-RECIPE approach for weeknight dinners. Using a few fresh ingredients and seasonings is all you need for weeknight dinners, all cooked in a cast iron wok.

$55 per person

4 dishes savored with Gancia Prosecco and Fiji Water

door prizes from sponsors

handouts with Asian markets and brands of ingredients

2 woks and gas stoves going

reservations and prepayment required

click for menu, more details and gift certificates

1. Saturday, February 13: 12pm-3pm

upscale Italian kitchen design by Antonio Citterio

3140 Ponce de Leon Blvd., Coral Gables FL 33134

Scenes from last Saturday’s class. Chinese New Year setup at Arclinea.
Thanks to Arclinea for hosting me, always fun there!

photo credit: Christine Najac

SouthFloridaFoodandWineBlog.com


Vegetable platter ready for stir fry, eaten with

Soy sauce chicken and Char Siu from the Asian market.

Thanks Christine for sharing your wonderful photos and making it a “live” twitter event.

photo credit: Christine Najac

I demonstrate how to “cut” vegetables Asian style.

photo credit: Christine Najac

A selection of Chinese cakes: coconut tart, bite size almond cookies and melon pastry.

“Graduation” photo by Christine Najac

Here are my photos from the class at Arclinea, enjoy!

2. Wednesday, February 24: 7-10pm


custom Italian kitchens and baths

Brickell Financial District

53 SW11th Street, Miami, FL 33130

Tall orchid arrangement made a dramatic presence in the beautiful Italian kitchen showroom, so welcoming and cheerful. Thanks to Pedini Miami for hosting me and all the work you put in to make this happen. I was also honored that David, the GM came fro Sarasota to experience this event. Plenty of drinks especially Gancia Prosecco and Fiji Water to go with my Rainbow Lettuce Wrap appetizer while everyone got to know each other.


Two cast iron woks and 2 portable gas stoves setup ready for Wok Stars and the big sizzle!

Soy chicken and Char Siu are usually warmed in the microwave but I was so excited about scoring this new venue, I forgot to ask if they had a microwave oven! I solved this quickly by having Hayli (my assistant who keeps me sane and a Johnson & Wales culinary graduate, see her in Wok Star tee below.) to warm chicken in the rice cooker and I warmed up the Char Siu in the 2 woks, worked out perfectly! It’s actually how I like to warm up roast meats from the Asian market at home, so much tastier. Another great use of my cast iron wok.

“Graduation” photo by Angie Chen, see more photos.

Angie is studying to be an art director at The Miami Ad School and kindly took photos at the class.

Here are my photos on Flickr. Lots of you enjoying Rainbow Lettuce Wrap Appetizer, thanks for coming.

Thanks to Plum TV, Megan Harris for promoting this class on 5 best things to do this week!

If you’re interested to take my Wok Star cooking class with me, all the photos will give you a good idea of how I run my class.

2 WOK STAR APPEARANCES:

I’ll choose from a selection of fresh veggies and protein to show quick, easy, one-dish dinners cooked in my cast iron wok.

1. Sunday, Feb.14: 2pm

FREE with festival admission ($10)

Coconut Grove Art Festival

Culinary Pavilion

South Bayshore Drive, Coconut Grove, FL 33133

The Culinary Presentations get better every year, this year, they even had cameras to shoot closeups projected on big monitors! Thanks to Coconut Grove Art Festival for inviting me back the 3rd year! Thanks to many who signed up for my newsletter/cooking classes (hope to see you soon.)

Check out other demonstrations! Chef Douglas Rodriguez is right after me. My buddy, Chef Hugh Sinclair is on at 4pm with his delicious Caribbean dishes. Thank heavens my sister came to help me out, I used my oil to fry an egg for breakfast and didn’t put it back in my caddy! I got my sis to run to the Creperie booth to get some oil. BTW, next time you go to this festival, get the Skirt steak with spinach, mushrooms and cheese, it was very good, tender big chunks of beef. I was recommending to everyone.

2. Saturday, Feb.20: 1-4pm

FREE DEMO in Produce Dept.

Whole Foods Market – Pinecrest

11701 S. Dixie Hwy, S.Miami, FL 33156

Join me in the Produce Department where I’ll be showing how to make healthy, easy, one-dish, weeknight dinners. Using my NO-RECIPE technique and Wok Star Kit to “mix and match” a variety of fresh veggies with grass fed beef and shrimp. My Squirt, Squeeze, Shake of a few seasonings is all you need for a simple and yummy, sizzling stir fry meal that even picky kids will eat! I’ll post about what I learned from this demo soon! That’s why interacting with a live audience is so important, I learn what problems people are having with their wok cooking or “what’s for dinner?” syndrome.

P.S. Just got a nice email to say they “loved having” me there and invited me back in May, yay, will keep you posted.

You might also enjoy more Chinese New Year Celebrations:

Chinese New Year – simple home dinner is best

Year of Ox – 2009:

Year of Rat – 2008:

Repurposing ingredients

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Here’s how you can repurpose ingredients e.g. char siu marinade can be just as great on salmon! Or repurpose dinner leftovers for lunch. I’ll also share my experiments for quick, weeknight dinners (often cooked in my cast iron wok!)

I can’t resist taking photos of every meal I eat, so do check back frequently.

Most weeknights, I practice what I preach:

Use what’s in my fridge and put a simple meal together.

Jan. 25 Lunch: Tempeh marinaded with San-J tamari and Huy Fong chili sauce grilled and put on top of field greens. I often pickle tomatoes, chayote and onions so they don’t spoil. I’ll add them to my salad and top with salad dressing like Le Sandwicherie’s delicious Vinaigrette. Also had toast with fried egg for extra protein.

Jan.25 Dinner: Grilled Salmon slathered with leftover Char Siu marinade. Just because it’s usually used on pork, it doesn’t mean you can’t use it on fish like salmon. The marinade had honey, tamari, 5 spice powder and chili garlic sauce giving it a nice, crispy texture and keeping it very moist inside.

I stir fried Shanghai bok choy, snow peas, red bell peppers, scallions, cilantro. Also added leftover stir fried baby portobello mushrooms with dash of tamari, lime juice on top of the best fettucine (tasted like fresh, meaty and chewy, yummy!) I will provide brand when I next visit Wholefoods, definitely worth a try if you like pasta.

Jan.28 Lunch: I repurposed leftover Cuban bread from my breakfast when I attended the Entrepreneur Magazine’s Growth Conference 2.0. (I didn’t realize they were providing breakfast.) If you own your own business, this online and magazine is a ‘must read’, very inspiring entrepreneurs. I hope to be featured in this magazine when I’m ready. I’m a subscriber and keep all the issues for useful resources and reference. I’ll be posting about this conference soon – all the speakers provided tons of information you can apply instantly.

I grilled the bread and topped with bacon and crumbled goat cheese. I always have a crunchy salad, used up pickled tomatoes, chayote and onions with more Le Sandwicherie’s vinaigrette and topped with more tempeh.

Jan.28 Dinner: I defrosted a slab of Costco’s flap beef steak marinaded with lime juice, tamari and chili garlic sauce. This is a lovely cut for wok stir frys, very tender and delicious. I’ll grill this and have with the last bit of field greens and huge beefsteak tomatoes and sweet onions from Laurenzo’s Market. Photo later tonight.

Well, this is what being a Wok Star is all about! I changed my mind about serving salad because my husband likes hot food for dinner, he’s so Asian. See what I mean about using the same ingredients(tomatoes and onions) to make marinara sauce instead and wholewheat penne. Many would be horrified cooking marinara sauce in their cast iron wok because it’s acidic. It does dry it out a bit but you just have to wash out with hot water and oil it a bit with paper towel. The minute you start cooking in it, your patina will build up immediately, so not to panic.

I had to turn a baking tray upside down so the flap steak and pineapple had closer contact to the heat in the grill! You need high heat to give your steak a good sear.

I added the juice from the grilled pineapple and steak into the marinara sauce and heated up again, you can see the change of color in the sauce.

Flap steak with penne, marinara sauce and grilled pineapple.

Jan.29 Lunch: Quinoa salad with field greens, tomatoes, Redlands big head onion, goat cheese with Le Sandwicherie’s vinaigrette. I made lunch for Johnson & Wales culinary graduate
who’s assisting me.

Omelet with tamari and squirt of canola oil makes it fluffy and soft.
Choice of Lingham’s chili sauce or salsa verde or both!

Forgot to add crumbled bacon from yesterday. Also had leftover tempeh if I wanted. If you always have a variety of proteins and veggies in your fridge, you’ll have options to make something with them.

Chicken Soup and burnt garlic bread, oops

Feb.4: This dinner is the best example of “repurposing ingredients” i.e. using ingredients in a different way. I had defrosted skinned, deboned chicken thighs and planned on making soup to clear my head cold. I found potatoes, carrots, kale and scallions in my fridge, so that was the basis of my soup. I wanted to bulk it up a little, so I rehydrated some dried Chinese mushrooms. Once I started with the Asian ingredients, I decided to add more “dried” ingredients, so rehydrated Goji berries, lilly stems and fungi.

That’s the brilliance of having dried veggies always in stock – great as backup. I think my mom would cringe at the idea of mixing potatoes in this mostly Asian soup. But, I think that’s the beauty of being a creative cook plus also “repurposing ingredients”. Do whatever you want that makes you happy. I can hear Top Chef judges saying things like, ‘there’s a disconnect with your ingredients”. Phooey, I don’t care, they worked for me and that’s what matters.

I love this square spoon from CB2 (Crate and Barrel) but have to say it’s a bit awkward drinking soup with it. I’m sure they were not for drinking but I just wanted to try it. I got 2 for a friend’s birthday recently and he was so “tickled” when he opened his present. He loves sushi, so I’m interested to see how he’ll use them. I’ll be posting that soon.

Last minute, I decided to make my version of garlic bread. I didn’t want to melt butter with garlic, so I just diced the garlic and sprinkled on top. I love my Russell Dexter Chinese Chef Knife, it’s just the perfect feel and weight for all the chopping I do. I even use the base of the wood handle to thwack my ginger chunks for making soups (not necessary to peel or slice) and see how I transport my diced garlic to my bread?

Wow, grilling is so FAST, I was adding in kale to the soup and next thing I know, garlic smells were drifting up and poof my poor garlic bread got burnt but still good. My husband loves this kind of dinner.

Love to hear any strange East meets West ingredients you’ve used in one dish…