Cookbook author and television personality Ching-He Huang is visiting the TODAY kitchen to ring in the Lunar New Year with a few of her favorite celebratory recipes. She shows us how to make pork and prawn dumplings with savory dipping sauce and a good-luck prosperity toss with fresh vegetables and salmon.
Traditionally, dumplings are a must-have dish at the Chinese New Year banquet because they resemble gold bars and are therefore a symbol of prosperity. In Mandarin Chinese, they're called "jiaozi," and they can be boiled, steamed or fried. I loved the satisfying taste and texture of boiled dumplings: a soft chewy dough with meaty pork, chunky prawns and aromatic chives. My grandmother used to make this dish; it's humble cooking. I love it served with an aromatic dipping sauce.
Yusheng (which means "raw fish") or "Prosperity Toss" is a traditional Lunar New Year dish. It's basically a cold noodle salad. Your guests arm themselves with chopsticks, then toss the ingredients as high up as possible while shouting auspicious Chinese New Year phrases, wishing each other good health, prosperity and luck. Afterwards, everyone helps themselves to the dish, which is now well-tossed!
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