Wok Star Eleanor Hoh

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Chinese New Year

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:

How to Make Perfect Fried Rice!

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Forces have aligned to make this an auspicious year for accomplishing resolutions! Here’s greeting the Year of the Ox with Kung Hei Fat Choy, which means good luck, prosperity and longevity. The Year of the Ox, begins Monday, January 26, 2009 and signifies a time to sweep away old habits and start anew. What better way than to jumpstart the process with a healthy, easy and delicious Pineapple Fried Rice using my simple stir fry technique.
Some of my fondest childhood memories of growing up in Hong Kong include the rituals, ceremonies and foods during Chinese New Year’s two week celebrations. Many traditional dishes are served because they symbolize good luck like uncut noodles represent long life, dumplings represent good luck packaged inside, and fried rice signifies prosperity. In Asia, fried rice is either an elegant banquet dish or a homestyle staple which uses leftovers. Fried rice is an all-time favorite Chinese dish in America and the most requested dish I get asked in my Wok Star Cooking Class. Even picky eaters and kids love it because it’s a one-dish wok meal combining tasty flavors, different textures and rainbow colors.
I realize it takes more than willpower to fulfill resolutions so to help make it happen, I’ve also got a video for Pineapple Fried Rice (a joint video project with Del Monte Fresh).  In this video, you’ll discover the simple secrets to achieving perfect fried rice. The most common complaints I hear are, “sticky” rice and “soupy” veggies, so it’s important to use the right wok and technique to guarantee success. And that’s why I put together a Wok Star Kit to demystify the art of stir frying with all the essentials to help you succeed.
Here’s the recipe but remember…
Create your own variations by substituting ingredients. That’s what being a Wok Star is all about!
What you’ll need
3/4 lb ham, cubed
4 cups day old, white rice, break up lumps
1 cup pineapple, cubed, save juice for sauce
1 red bell pepper, cubed
3/4 cup frozen peas
2 scallions, thin rounds
3 eggs with dash of San-J tamari
2 cloves garlic, peeled and diced
2 slices fresh ginger, diced
2 1/2 tbsp. canola oil for frying
Sauce:
2-3 tbsp. San-J tamari
2 tsp. medium drinking sherry
dash of white pepper
Juice from pineapple
Directions:
Gather all prepped ingredients (including eggs and sauce) around wok. Here’s order for stir frying :
First, fry vegetables…Heat wok till you see a wisp of smoke (for cast iron woks only.) Add 1 tbsp. of oil, then add half of the diced garlic and ginger. Add vegetables and pineapple, stir fry quickly. Add scallions at the very end so they don’t overcook. Remove ingredients and put them on a serving platter.
Next, fry eggs…Heat wok till hot, add 1/2 tbsp. oil, add the eggs and scramble, keeping the eggs soft (use low heat so they don’t overcook). Set aside with veggies. If wok has eggs stuck to it, wash out and dry.
Then fry rice and ham…Heat wok till hot, add 1 tbsp. oil, add garlic and ginger, then add rice and ham. Warm thoroughly. Add vegetables, then sauce, and combine thoroughly by stir frying. Last, add eggs and break up as you mix but don’t overcook them. They should remain soft and fluffy.
Pineapple is what makes this Fried Rice so special and sweet. Enjoy!…
This new year, instead of being a spectator watching chefs cook on television or being a passive diner, my mantra is ANYONE can be a Wok Star and make healthy, tasty, sizzling, wok creations right in your own home! Wok Stars agree my Kit is the solution to achieving their resolutions for longevity, prosperity and good luck.
You can find out more about Year of the Ox, predictions and horoscopes, celebrities and compatibility.
For a lot more about Chinese New Year traditions on what to eat, wear and how to decorate your home.
You can also subscribe in right sidebar to my FREE newsletter focusing on meal ideas, resources, tips and techniques and where to eat good Asian food and beyond.
Kung Hei Fat Choy!