Happy Year of Monkey!

Chinese New Year or the first day of Lunar New Year, also popularly known as “Spring Festival,” marks the biggest of all the celebration that is there in Chinese culture and its calendar. It is a really remarkable festival that has something for all ages. The practice, it is said, started thousands of years ago - more to “scare away” the old year than to actually welcome the new one, for “year” in Chinese is called “Nian” whose Chinese character  (年) resembles a lion-like mythical monster bent on harming people.  By some stroke of luck ancestors discovered that Nian is scared of loud noises of drums and fire crackers and it avoids paper cutouts carrying certain jingles; which is whence people started to set loud and boisterous celebration off cracking fire crackers and beating drums at the wee hours of morning to the horror of all animals, specially dogs who have sensitive ears. And they have been doing it ever since. It was also realized that Nian is particularly afraid of red colour and from the day the distinctive red hue was added to the festivities.

Chinese New Year, like other festivals of Chinese people, is a food fest starting with the irresistible “Lou Bak Gou,” days before the New Year has begun. For some reason it is called “turnip cake” in English and not “radish cake” as it should be, and that one can actually eat it all year round in dim sum bars robs off some of the novelty – which is a pity. Minced turnip is kneaded nicely in rice floor with assorted mushrooms, sea food and some dried sausages and condiments. Once this dough has been fried it is let to rest and then steamed and stored - it is served pan fried in rectangular pieces along with some dipping sauce.  So yes, it is cake only in shape and not in taste or texture.

Now being a savory dish, Lou Bak Gou needs to be complimented with something sweet. And lo, there is one exactly that fits this bill; a sweet and sticky cousin of Lou Bak Gou called the “Ling Gou” or date cakes. Although Ling Gou is pleasantly tasty desert, especially as it can come in a number of versions where dates are swapped with far better tasting fruits, it can sometimes present choking hazard to an untrained mouth as it packs in it enough gluten to seal even the biggest of the mouths shut!

Then there is this “Jai Choi,” and as this is probably the only time Chinese people are going to eat a “pure vegetarian” dish in the rest of the year, they really make it count. For it is said that this dish contains eight vegetarian ingredients, I however, can easily count twelve; four of which are different kinds of mushrooms itself. All the ingredients are, rather lazily, chopped and sautéed in a big wok. As no Chinese food is complete without some sort of sauce or “thickener,” the cooking is complete with a dollop of “oyster sauce.”  So much for being a vegetarian dish, let’s ignore this, shall we? I am told there is also a “vegetarian” oyster sauce, but for the old school nothing can replace a properly “aged” oyster sauce.

Finally, Chinese New Year also marks the only time when Chinese people actually pay out money and remain happy! “Lycee” is traditionally a red packet with some money inside. It is given by senior people in authority to junior and younger ones. Married people generously offer Lycee to the unmarried, residents to the support staff in a colony. It is the occasion when people pay their gratitude to all they are close to or are connected to, perhaps it is about putting one of their proverbs to practice which says, “Love is not about possession, it’s all about appreciation.”

Happy Year of Monkey to all!

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