Here be dragons
By VERONICA HINKE Contributor January 17, 2012 2:18PM
Lake Forest Place Executive Chef Benny Cheung cuts up Chinese cabbage for the Braised Eight Treasures dish he prepares for the Chinese New Year. | Joel Lerner~Sun-Times Media
Braised Eight Treasures
From Benny Cheung, Lake Forest Place Executive Chef
1 pound celery cabbage, (can substitute Napa or green cabbage), cut into about 1½-inch-square cubes 1 pound Chinese turnip, daikon, cut into large cubes ½ pound chestnuts (Make a cross on flat side of each chestnut, and bake in oven at 350 degrees for seven minutes or until the peel is popped open. Peel and skin after cool.) 1 cup chicken broth 4 ounces medium-size dry shrimp (Wash and soak shrimp in cup of water until soft. Reserve water.) 4 ounces bamboo shoots, sliced about ¼ inch thick 4 ounces dry black mushrooms, braised. Recipe follows. ½ pound pork spare rib, cut bite-size (Soak in hot water for two minutes to render fat.) 2 ounces mung bean thread (Soak in water until soft.) ¼ cup sliced scallions for garnish 3 slices ginger root, peeled and sliced ¼ inch thick
Cover pot and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium or lower. Simmer for 30 minutes. Add more chicken stock if ingredients begin to dry. Reduce heat.
Place mung bean thread on top of mushrooms. Cover and simmer for five more minutes. Toss ingredients before serving.
Garnish with sliced scallions.
Braised Dry
Black Mushrooms
4 ounces dry black mushrooms, stemmed, washed and soaked in one quart of water for six hours or until soft. Reserve water. ½ cup canola oil ½ cup oyster sauce 2 cloves garlic, crushed 1 teaspoon sugar
Combine oyster sauce, sugar and water reserved from soaking shrimps and mushrooms. Stir well until oyster sauce and sugar are combined.
Heat oil. Add garlic and cook until aromatic. Add mushrooms and stir until coated with oil.
Add sauce mixture to mushrooms. Bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat and cover pot.
Simmer and periodically stir, continuing to cook mushrooms for 45-60 minutes, or until mushrooms are tender.
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Updated: January 20, 2012 10:51AM
Flashy costumes parading through brilliant streets of Chinatown. Dancing lions and that colorful, undulating dragon. Endless food. Chinese New Year is anything but a drag.
So ushering in Chinese year 4710 during the third week of January certainly won’t be. From crimson-hued cocktails to dumplings with fire-breathing hot sauce, chefs everywhere plan to welcome the new year of the dragon.
Patrons will be seeing red at Big Bowl, which has a location in Lincolnshire. The restaurants, which will serve such Chinese New Year menu items as the aforementioned dumplings and spicy hot sauce, will run a drinks list during their Chinese New Year fest, Jan. 19-23, with cocktails inspired by the deep red color of blood oranges.
It’s the first year the restaurants have developed drinks for their annual Chinese New Year celebration, and these pay tribute to the rich symbolism of the holiday. “Blood oranges have the beautiful red color which symbolizes wealth and prosperity in the new year,” explained Bobby Rogers, Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises divisional trainer. Rogers and a mixology team developed a blood orange margarita (tequila blanco, Cointreau, fresh-squeezed blood orange and lime); blood orange sangria (blood orange-infused wine); and red dragon (vodka, yuzu sour, pomegranate and soda).
A non-alcoholic version, Little Red Dragon, will also be available. “It’s our healthier version of a traditional kiddie cocktail, but with pomegranate; it doesn’t have corn syrup,” Rogers said.
Freebie for dragons
Those born during a year of the dragon, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000 and 2012, will receive a complimentary lunch or dinner entrée on the first day of the new year, Jan. 23. “People love to learn what animal sign they are,” Rogers said.
Big Bowl restaurants will again this year donate to the Make-A-Wish Foundation proceeds of blood orange ginger ale sold during the Chinese New Year celebration. A complimentary class on making dumplings, symbols of wealth and prosperity, will be offered at Big Bowl in Lincolnshire on Jan. 21. “Chinese New Year is all about giving back,” Rogers said.
A bit farther up the North Shore at Lake Forest Place, a retirement community in Lake Forest, Executive Chef Benny Cheung served a special dinner for residents on Jan. 16. This dinner reflected the Chinese New Year meals he enjoyed while growing up in Hong Kong.
Cheung moved to Illinois with his family in 1992. His Braised Eight Treasures, a one-pot recipe, requires some exploration at an Asian food market, and the outcome is worth the adventure. His recipe, which features braised dry, black mushrooms, includes such Asian ingredients as Chinese turnips (daikon), mung bean thread and bamboo shoots. Cheung said tofu can be used in place of pork in the recipe. “It still gives some protein, but it is healthier.”
As the youngest of five children, Chinese New Year was one time each year Cheung wore brand new clothes that weren’t passed down from his brother. But among the hand-me-downs Cheung grew up with were family recipes he still cherishes.
His Chinese New Year dinner at Lake Forest Place showcased such Cheung family holiday favorites as Pan-fried Lotus Root Pancakes; Steamed Arctic Char Filet with Ginger and Scallions; Sweet Red Bean Pancakes — and, of course, plenty of fortune cookies.
“We make a lot of food to welcome the new year,” Cheung cheerfully confessed. “Leftovers from the dinner symbolize surplus from the old year and the promise of abundance in the coming year.’’
Paying respects
Cheung described a less commonly known Chinese New Year custom: visiting older adults on the first day of the new year. “Chinese New Year is a time to give our elders special recognition,” he explained.
Fruits and their blossoms are symbolic when ringing in the Chinese New Year. “The most common flowers at open air markets for Chinese New Year are peach blossoms, which symbolize growth, prosperity and long life,” Cheung said. They’re also rumored to fire up some romance. “Plum blossoms symbolize good luck and promise for a good year; mandarin oranges or tangerines indicate progress, good luck and good health.”
Symbolism will shine, as well, in a Chinese New Year menu Jan. 19-22 at PL8, an Asian restaurant in Barrington. One of the menu items, Long Life Noodles, is accented with star anise and is also flavored with Shanghai bok choy, ginger root, orange peel, shiitake mushrooms and wheat noodles — to represent a long life. On Jan. 19, their Eight Treasure Food and Wine Tasting event will feature more blood oranges. At PL8, the citrus fruits will be squeezed and mixed into Bellini cocktails.
So if you’re going out to welcome the dragon, the phrase is: Xin Nian Kuai Le! (Happy New Year!)
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