I thought I would have a quiet Chinese New Year this year but NO, I was wrong. This past 1+ week had been wonderfully busy for me….lots of cooking, food, fun and friends. We ended the last day of Chinese New Year (Chap Goh Mei) with a most fun Ladies Pot Luck Steamboat Lunch. We ladies sure know how to enjoy life when our husbands go to work….*big grin*. We never fail to tell our hardworking husbands what we had and how much we enjoy our lunches….*bigger grin*. I’m not too sure about others but I can see my husband’s face always turns green with jealousy…haha. But honestly, I think all the fun and food that we had make us happier wives…..*big smiles*.
Ooops…interruption here! As I was typing away, my girl came with a lovely plate of fried rice vermicelli for my lunch. That’s so sweet of her…..*smiles*. You can see from the picture how much vegetables she put on my plate. She sure knows my likes! Well, she is quite like me. Both of us love tender stem broccoli, omelette with tomatoes and rocket leaves and rice vermicelli. I must say her presentation is always better than mine. It’s not too salty and it’s colourful, light and healthy. I really enjoyed the lunch. Most important of all, it warms my heart to know that my girl knows how to cook a quick, simple and healthy meal even when she is busy.
Right, back to my post about Chinese New Year. We had several Chinese New Year parties this year, mainly pot luck style where each one brings a dish or 2. We had it at different venues. There was one in my house too, for my lady friends (top picture above). Pot luck style is always a wonderful option for parties as you don’t have to cook a lot and yet eat a lot since everyone brings. It’s relaxing and everyone enjoys.
However, I managed to cook for the whole party for one time over the weekend where I invited a dozen lovely friends to celebrate Chinese New Year with my family. We had a great time of chat and we even played Win Lose or Draw and also Taboo. We laughed so much….haha. That was one of the best parties that I had ever have in my house.
Want to know what I cooked? It’s quite the usual stuff really. It’s always best to cook something that you are familiar with rather than venture out into unknown territory. I always tell my friends that if they come more often, they will find themselves eating the usual same food!….*grin*.
You can see on the table that there’s chicken curry, fried noodles, plain rice (in the rice cooker), braised pork, baked fish fillets, roasted chicken. These are the usual ones that I serve and it’s very Malaysian. A friend brought the pork ribs ‘bak kut teh’ which is very delicious with rice. ‘Bak out teh’ is a pork dish in herbal soup. It’s very warming and nutritious. I also cooked the spicy sambal and sweet and sour king prawns. Sambal goes very well with rice or fried noodles.
On this table above here, you can see all the desserts and also vegetable and fruit salad. There is also the cassava crackers and fish crackers. Those fish crackers were a hit. They were made by my mother-in-law. She makes them for sale. When I went back in December last year, I saw her made them. My gosh…it was labour intensive! But they are just SO good….mmmm. My girls have been pestering me to try and make them. I answer them “I’ll see first, maybe one day.” But deep down I am screaming, “NO!!” Well, one day I may try. Need to build up my courage and patience first… *wink*. Oh, and a friend brought a panda chiffon cake. That was just delicious!….mmmm. Everyone liked it very much. It’s so light, cottony soft and moist.
On the final day of the Chinese New Year, Chap Goh Mei, we had the ladies’ pot luck steamboat (hot pot) lunch in a friend’s house. Absolutely fantastic…..so much food, fun and laughter. Steamboat is always fun, both in preparation and eating. Actually not much preparation needed. Most food is raw and everyone will cook herself on the table. The most important is the soup stock. It has to be tasty. It tastes even better after cooking all the food. We had 2 steamboat cookers to cater to 12 of us.
I brought homemade egg noodles. Everyone loved the noodles. It was funny how everyone stood up to dish out the noodles from the pot….haha. Wow…full concentration here! Next time I will make longer noodles. That would be total fun to watch. Everyone will probably have to stand on the chairs to dish out the noodles from the pot…..haha.
I also made fish balls to bring there. Fish balls, beef balls, pork balls and squid balls are all great choices for steamboat. My fish balls tasted very delicious. My family likes them. However I find the texture not there yet. Just sad that we can’t get a special type of mackerel here, called ‘ikan tenggiri’ in Malaysia. Over here in Aberdeen, the best fish for fish balls is a type of fish called hake. However, they don’t sell it in the supermarket. You need to go to the fishmonger to order…..*sigh*.
I also made a dessert. I made pandan bean puffs. Pandan is a very fragrant leave called screwpine leaves. We use a lot back home in Malaysia for making desserts and drinks. All my friends liked the puffs very much…..happy me. The sesame seeds on top give a nice fragrance.
Well, that’s how much fun I had and how busy I was this Chinese New Year. To all my Chinese friends and readers, I hope you had a great time too with your family and friends. And to all non-Chinese friends and readers, I hope you had a great holiday and a taste of the Chinese New Year celebration with your Chinese friends.
Oh yes, I must mention here about Katerina of Culinary Flavours. She is a Greek, an awesome mother and cook. She even took the time to cook Chinese food for her family and share with her son about the Chinese culture. That’s so inspiring! Do visit her blog. She has lots of lovely recipes.
And if you think you have over eaten during this festive season and want to get back to healthy food, I would recommend another lovely food blogger, Sophie at Sophies Foodie Files. Sophie is from Belgium. She has a lot of healthy recipes, some of them non gluten. I got quite a lot of good tips from her. Do drop by her blog.
And if you want to cook Malaysian food for a party, here is my recommendation. It’s rather simple and easy where you use both the stove and the oven. I cook them all the time for my parties. When I have more time, I would add another one, two our even more.
1. Chicken curry
This can be cooked early and reheated before serving.
Check out at Fast And Easy Malaysian Chicken Curry
2. Fried noodles
Any vegetables and meat can go with noodles. I always make it vegetarian which is quicker. Great to go with curry.
Check out at Delicious Malaysian Fried Noodles (Part 2)
If you want to make your own egg noodles, which is the best, please check out at
How To Make Egg Noodles At Home
3. Sweet and sour chicken/pork/prawns
A hot favourite. Cook the sauce and panfry the meat early. Just before serving just mix and heat up.
Check out at Restaurant Style Sweet And Sour Pork
4. Char siu chicken/pork
Use the bottle sauce to marinade the meat which is quick. Bake about half hour before meal.
Check out at Super Fast Chinese Roasted Chicken
5. Vegetable with Thai dressing
Prepare the dressing early. Buy ready washed salad. Don’t mix the dressing. Put in separate bowl and let your guests help themselves.
Check out at How To Make Salad - For Health And Weight Lose.
6. Baked fish
Defrost, add seasoning and bake just before your guests arrive. Fish is always best served hot. Use warmer to keep your food warm if possible.
Check out at Baked Fish Fillet Just like Steamed.
Rice is always a must to go with the dishes. I hardly use rice cooker but I do need it when I have parties, to keep the rice hot. You can just cook plain rice or coconut rice or even turmeric rice as in ‘nasi lemak’. To cook coconut rice, check out at Easy Nasi Lemak Overseas - Malaysia’s Great Favourite. Coconut rice goes very well with curry but may not be that nice for braised pork, char siu chicken and sweet and sour prawns. So I only served plain white rice.
For desserts, you can make it ahead and keep in the fridge. Depending on the type, some do not need to be heated up while some need to be heated up. An easy one would be the banana fritters. This one is easy and simple. You can make this ahead and warm up in the oven for a while just before serving. They can also be eaten cold. If you need more, there are lots more in my Recipes section.
Hope you have fun cooking!
Quote of the day……
“When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.”
- Helen Keller