Our First Reunion Dinner on Our Own

For as long as I remember, my Chinese New Year (CNY) reunion dinners (after marriage) have always been with my husband's family in Ipoh.  Although we've not balik kampung in the last couple of years (for one reason or another), our reunion dinners here in KL were always together with my husband's sisters and their families.  This year is the very first year we're doing it on our own...and by that, I mean in our own home (that's because my husband's family members had all balik kampung since interstate travel is no longer prohibited).

So, for our small reunion dinner in KL, I took inspiration from the Spanish (who have their tapas) and thought I'd make something similar and call them Chinese small plates....lol! :D  That way, we can still have a variety of food for a small family like ours.  You might think I'm crazy to cook 7 dishes but once a year only....tak apa lah!

Anyway, the way to do it is to cook smart...and I found that food prep and cooking (small portions) not too strenous + some of the dishes can be prepared ahead of time.  Here was what we had on the eve of CNY. Since I cooked a variety of dishes, I tried to use as many auspicious ingredients synonymous to the new year as I could.

#1 - Double-Boiled Chicken Soup with Goji Berries

Since no-one in my family likes to drink soup...unless it involves some kind of salted vegetable...and we can't very well have ham choy during CNY as it doesn't sound very auspicious, does it?  Lol.  So, I made double-boiled soup since I only needed a small portion for myself.  I don't know if goji berries (kei chee) is an auspicious ingredient or not but at least it's red! :P

I bought this steaming soup pot (600 ml) or double-boiler to replace my ugly old one.  Best thing I ever bought recently as it has been put to frequent use since.  It's good for 1 - 2 pax (yields 1 - 2 Chinese rice bowls of soup depending on the amount of ingredients you put in).  I bought this size so that it's able to fit into my mini slow cooker (you can get a bigger one if you have a bigger slow cooker).  That way I don't have to watch over the double boiling process over the stove top.

Double-boiled soups taste the best in my opinion coz it's slow cooked in a boiling water bath for many hours for maximum extraction of flavours...and one of the best soups to make this way is this double-boiled chicken soup with goji berries.  Because there aren't many ingredients in this soup other than just chicken (it must be kampung chicken or choi yin kai) and goji berries, it was able to churn out two bowls of soup.  And this soup practically needs no work at all....into the slow cooker at least 4 hours before dinner time and just let it do its thing.

#2 - Pan-Fried Mini Pork Patties

For something porky which is representative of strength and abundant blessings, I made my always-greeted-with-enthusiasm pork meatballs or patties.  This time I used chopped jicama (instead of onions) which provided extra juiciness and crunch to the meat patties combined with spring onions, egg and cornflour.

Put the formed patties in a single layer on a tray/plate in the fridge to chill and firm up (which makes them easier to fry later on).  This is a dish you can make ahead to ease your cooking time during dinner.  Then, it's just a matter of pan-frying in some oil.  In fact, you can even fry them ahead of time (I did that) and make them hot again in the toaster oven later.

#3 - Fried Chinese Pomfret with Soy & Crispy Garlic

Since fish (or yue in Cantonese...and it must be whole) signifies surplus and wealth, I got a small Chinese pomfret (tau tai chong or bawal tambak) on the morning of CNY eve itself from a small supermarket in our neighbourhood when I went looking for leeks.  It was a very small one only (so, it was very cheap).

Where people have steamed fish, we have fried fish (since my family isn't into steamed fish + it was a small fish that's better served fried).  Topped with some crispy fried garlic and drizzled with garlic oil + premium soy, it was sufficiently fresh and very tasty.

#4 - Premium Soy Sauce Prawns

Since prawns (pronounced as har in Cantonese) sounds like laughter which brings a new year filled with happiness and joy, I made my usual soy sauce prawns (or see chap har) with lots of sliced shallots and spring onions (using a good premium soy sauce makes a difference).  I bought just 12 prawns which would be enough for the three of us.

This dish is best made with shell-on prawns (with the back slit) and heads intact as it helps to trap all the soy sauce goodness in between its shells.  I'd do that if I was making it for a makan gathering for better presentation but since it was just us, I left only the tails intact...even then it still solicitied a comment from my family...why not just peel the tail off too (you see, my family doesn't want anything to do with shells)! ;D

#5 - Braised Mushrooms with Dried Scallops

Mushrooms are also traditionally eaten during CNY as a dish of braised mushrooms and dried scallops symbolises longetivity and fortune.  I was contemplating whether to add abalone but thought it'd be too wasteful to open a can of abalone for such a small portion of mushrooms.

Although I served only part of the braised mushrooms (8 pcs actually, what an auspicious number...hehe!), I did make extras as this is one dish that keeps well.  It can be steamed/reheated many times and the longer it sits, the flavours get even better when the mushrooms absorb more of the braising liquid.

#6 - Stir-Fried Chinese Leeks with Dried Sausage

What can be more auspicious than Chinese leeks (a homonym with counting...obviously money-lah) and dried pork sausage (lap cheong) which signifies long life.  Some recipes would add arrowroot (nga gu) slices, yet another auspicious ingredient.

Since it was CNY, I managed to get the leeks which have a higher proportion of white (the tasty part) to green parts.  This time, I stir-fried it with both lap cheong and yun cheong (liver sausages, yum...mine and my husband's favourite).  Ever since I first cooked this dish for last year's CNY, I've been hooked on the dish but CNY is the one time I can get my hands on a more delicious variety of leeks that I don't see selling at other times.

#7 - Stir-Fried Jicama with Dried Cuttlefish

For our final vegetable dish, I cooked jiu hu char, a dish commonly served during major Chinese festivals. Some recipes will have finely sliced pork belly strips and shiitake mushrooms added in.  It can be eaten as a wrap with iceberg lettuce (sang choy) for an even more auspicious meaning.

This was the other dish that I made extras (for freezing) as jicama (sengkuang) can be reheated many times over and as the vegetables soften, the flavours develop further and become even tastier.

#8 - Sweet Ending

What sweet ending?  Sorry, no dessert.....don't know how to make!  Just makan mandarin oranges saja-lah.....lol! :D

Actually, I'm not one for tradition but made the dishes for the fun of it since I didn't balik kampung and had time on my hands.  So, my small table for three had almost everything covered...lol....chicken, pork, fish, prawns, mushrooms, scallops, lap cheong and leeks.  Although we had 7 dishes on the table, we finished all of it (although I did have some portions of braised mushrooms and jiu hu char that I froze but that's because I purposely made extras).

I'm not one who would cook an insane 10 - 12 dishes in insane portions to be eaten over the next few days (like our Ipoh household would do) as I don't like (and prefer not) to eat leftovers (other than those I purposely made extras to freeze immediately) + it can get really jelak eating the same stuff over a few days. I prefer to cook just enough and finish them all in one sitting.  So, that was our variety of dishes for a simple, small reunion dinner.  Happy feasting! ^_~