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Let’s Celebrate!
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It’s a Spring Festival – Chinese New Year
The lunar calendar and Chinese New Year remind us that it’s a good time to reflect on the past year and celebrate another fresh spring start in this new year. It’s time to join hands to attend festivals, have parties, and experience more about other cultures.
The Chinese cast aside bad luck, add prayers for blessings and prosperity, but the most important part is to spend time with loved ones. There are many traditions including a Reunion Dinner on Chinese New Year’s Eve when everyone gathers around the table for a meal that includes many lucky foods such as fish and dumplings.
More Information on Chinese New Year
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Orange Cauliflower
An inspired recipe by Maggie Zhu that is perfect to serve for Chinese New Year.
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About the Recipe: The skillet-fried crispy cauliflower is covered with a fruity, lightly sweetened sauce that is fragrant and syrupy. The mandarin oranges add a complex orange flavor with bits of tangy minced rind. This is a perfect recipe to serve for Chinese New Year.
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Vegetable Dumplings
Maggie Zhu’s recipe makes fun appetizers that everyone loves.
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About the Recipe: These dumplings are filled with a well-balanced texture, combining
veggies, tofu, and rice vermicelli. They are seasoned with aromatics, soy sauce, and a
dash of curry powder, which enhances their richness. Dumplings are eaten during the
Spring Festival to usher in the Lunar New Year, which marks new beginnings, harmony,
and prosperity
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Fun Fortune Cookies
To celebrate the Chinese New Year and have fun sharing good fortune messages.
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About the Recipe: Fortune cookies are very crisp and served with a piece of paper tucked inside, that contain a “fortune” message. No one is sure the origin of these cookies, but now in many Chinese restaurants, fortune cookies are served after dinner. Everyone has fun opening them up, sharing the fortune messages, and of course, eating the crunchy cookies.
See More – Fun Fortune Cookies
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Chinese Homestyle – The Book
Maggie Zhu -Author
With her popular blog, Omnivore’s Cookbook, Maggie Zhu is the go-to person for traditional Chinese recipes designed for the Western home cook, and over the past few years, she has been incorporating more plant-based cooking into her diet. In her book Chinese Homestyle, Maggie shares a wide range of foolproof vegan recipes that pack all the flavor and none of the meat.
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Enjoy the bold flavors of Chinese food with 90 accessible plant-based recipes for the Western cook and kitchen. No wok required!
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Building on a foundation of plant-based and vegetable-forward dishes found in Chinese cuisine, these umami-rich recipes are inspired by the comforting, everyday dishes Maggie grew up eating in northern China and discovered in her travels throughout the country, along with takeout favorites she became familiar with after moving to the United States.
Made with fresh ingredients and minimal oil and sugar, the salads, soups, stir-fries, braises, dumplings, and more are not only delicious, but also demonstrate the impact of aromatics, the benefits of using homemade sauces and condiments, how to cook tofu for maximum flavor and texture, and versatile cooking techniques, and include:
- Homemade Sauces and Condiments
- Appetizers and Salads
- Orange Cauliflower
- Char Siu Bao
- Cumin Potato Baked Buns
- Egg-less Egg Drop Soup
- Shanghai Scallion Oil Noodles
- Tofu, Tempeh, and Seitan
- Hearty Seasonal Mains
- Easy Seasonal Sides
- Creamy Red Bean Ice Pops
The book can be purchased through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other fine bookstores across the country.
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Buddha’s Delight
Plant-based classic Chinese vegetarian stew served at holidays & festivals.
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About the Recipe: Buddha’s Delight is a classic Chinese vegetarian stew that is often served during holidays and festivals. Because of its flexibility, it is also a homestyle dish that home cooks make on a weeknight using whatever they have on hand. This recipe is a holiday version that includes many different vegetables.
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Eggless Egg Drop Soup
Maggie Zhu’s updated classic Chinese soup is Vegan Style
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About the Recipe: This classic soup is made with plant-based ingredients while preserving all the character of the original. Maggie loves this recipe and often makes it at home because it’s so simple yet so satisfying. The yuba sheet truly mimics the texture and look of eggs and has a noodle texture that makes the recipe eggless.
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Air Fryer Tofu
Use an air fryer for a fast & healthy way to prepare protein for dinner.
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About the Recipe: The tofu cubes turned out crunchy and crispy, and worked beautifully. The entire recipe contains just 1 tablespoon of oil. But the results were amazing. Try using an air fryer to cook other protein for your dinner.
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Easy-to-Make Sesame Noodles
A Chinese New Year dish to serve as a vegan entrée or side dish.
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About the Recipe: The sesame sauce has a nutty taste, seasoned with savory flavors and a touch of spicy chili heat. It is one of the all-purpose sauces that can be used to top noodles, vegetables, or even grilled mushroom entrees. Make the sauce and noodles ahead of time, so it can be assembled later for an easy dinner. Serve it hot, room temperature, or cold.
See More – Easy-to-Make Sesame Noodles
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Fifteen-Minute Pickled Radishes
Delightful refreshing salad side dish to serve with that spicy entrée.
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About the Recipe: I used red and white radishes and the color blend was so attractive served in a blue bowl. I marinated the radishes in the refrigerator until serving. The vinegar and sugar in the recipe balances the spiciness of the radishes and slightly softens them. Serve as a refreshing side dish, appetizer, or small salad addition.
See More -Fifteen-Minute Pickled Radishes
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Dandy Dan Dan Noodles
A spicy rich Sichuan sauce for an easy vegetarian dinner
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About the Recipe: Dan Dan Noodles with its famous Szechuan style, is a popular Chinese street food. The red chili oil and the peppercorns make the dish spicy, which could cause a numbing reaction. We only used a small amount, but it still was spicy hot and sweet. Taste the sauce while preparing until the desired spicy flavor that you prefer. The noodles and topping were easy to prepare, and the dish might be fun to make when you celebrate Chinese New Year.
See More – Dandy Dan Dan Noodles
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General Tso’s Air-fryer Chicken Dinner
A favorite takeout dish, filled with tangy, savory-sweet, chili pepper spiced flavors.
About the Recipe: How many times did you wish that you could make that oh, so delicious dish you enjoyed at a restaurant? General Tso’s Chicken is one of those recipes and appears on the menu of most Chinese restaurants. We tried to reduce the salt and yet keep the vibrant Chinese flavors and used an air fryer to reduce the fat calories but not the chicken crispiness. For an at-home restaurant treat, enjoy making your own General Tso’s Chicken.
See More – General Tso’s Air-fryer Chicken Dinner
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America’s Chop Suey from 1946 – 1950
Cooks started to add canned Chinese veggies and crunchy noodles
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About the Recipe: The updated recipe has a mild taste so add more peppers if you enjoy a spicy kick. When processed canned foods became available, Chinese vegetables were added and even crunchy Chow Mein noodles were served. This recipe lets you enjoy a flashback trip when America first starting learning to serve Chinese food for dinner. The recipe’s flavor is mild, but delicious. You can always increase the amount of meat used and add spicy chili oil, if desired.
See More – America’s Chop Suey from 1946 – 1950
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Royal Black Rice Pudding
It has a beautiful royal purple color and a nutty flavor.
About the Recipe: Celebrate the Chinese New Year with warm. nutty-flavored black rice pudding, topped with toasty sweet coconut, a combo of mandarin oranges and apricots, and drizzles of chilled coconut milk. Chinese royal purple, black rice is so delicious and known as a dish that promises a long life of good health.
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Chop Suey Cake
A very dense, moist, and delicious dessert from the late 40s.
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About the Recipe¨ There isn’t any question why this recipe was a winner. It is one of the easiest cakes to make, can be stirred together, doesn’t have any butter or oil, but is pineapple sweet and moist. The cake is very dense, like a carrot cake, with lots of pineapples, nuts, and coconut. The warm frosting seems to melt into the cake, leaving a dessert that just get even better with age.
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