Today is the 5th day of the Lunar New Year, as the Year of the Rabbit started on Sunday 22 January 2023. There are 15 days in the Chinese calendar to celebrate the new year, which is also called Spring Festival in mainland China. In Hong Kong, we just say Lunar New Year. Believe it or not, the night before the New Year, New Year’s Eve is considered the most important day. So much so that many businesses (especially offices) close early that day to enable their staff to go home for the Reunion Dinner. This is the meal that no one wants to miss. Even the dishes have happy and auspicious meanings: wholeness, prosperity, health and all other blessings in life. It has been many years since I have properly celebrated Lunar New Year in Hong Kong, mostly because we live abroad (and for me, well over 30 years now) and so when we mark the occasion here in London, it is usually a simple but no less delicious affair.
My memory of Lunar New Year was always filled with food, sweet treats, fried snacks, red packets (lei-see), new clothes, day trips and many gatherings with family. And when you do go about in town, everywhere is decorated in the favourite red as that’s the colour of the season…..every year. Other bright colours can be found too: gold, yellow, pink and purple, but never black or worse, white, as they represent sadness and death. Red packets or in Cantonese we call them lei-see, are envelopes filled with money. I remember each year at the end of the festivities I counted all the money, down to the coins and my parents would take me to the local bank to deposit most of the “takings” into my savings account, with a small amount for me to spend.
My maternal grandmother was the cook, everyday in her life and that included the new years. She used to make no less than 10 dishes in her tiny kitchen, multiple times over the festive period. This was certainly no mean feat, when all you have are the double ring gas stoves. No oven, no microwave, just a couple of woks, one for stir frying, the other for steaming, a few small saucepans, an earthen pot for braising and a large soup pot which she would have made a long boiled “big soup”. This also means for the cook, the day itself (and a few preceding ones) were spent shopping in the markets, supermarkets, specialist stores, then preparing, cooking and cleaning. And no dishwasher either! The “dishwasher” was one of her daughters. Can you imagine how many bowls, chopsticks, and other crockery my aunt had to deal with in a small single sink? It was a relentless cycle.
As there were no warming ovens at home, we used to have an electric portable warming plate plugged in at the table. During the meal we would be busy rotating the dishes to warm things up. Just thinking about this makes me giggle, but those were the days, everyone sitting elbow to elbow around a large round table (and no children table in sight) and we shared the meal noisily but joyfully. I’m sure this gave my grandmother much joy seeing her family (7 children, spouses and their children) enjoying the food, but most importantly being together. Since moving here, I have not celebrated Lunar New Year with my extended family, as it was usually during a school term, but I do remember ringing them from the phone box in school, (no mobiles for me in those days and no Facetime)!. My granny and in latter years, my Auntie Anita were the main cooks and they busied themselves, preparing and cooking, for our benefit. Now my uncles and their wives have taken up the baton and they take turns in hosting these feasts.
When we greet each other during this period, we choose well meaning blessings, and far more elaborate than the standard “Happy New Year!” For older relatives, “we wish you good health, and may your year be filled with abundance of smiles and laughter”; for businesses, “may your business flourish”; for those starting out in their work, “may you have great success in your career”; for students, “academic progress and success”; the gist is that we adapt the blessing for different groups of people and individuals.
If you want to join in for a light spot of Cantonese food, try this low (temp) and slow (time) recipe. To accompany it, steamed rice, or a noodle dish and a side dish of vegetables would be easily manageable. I certainly would not recommend a 10 dish marathon! For this recipe, choosing the right cut of meat is half the success already. Beef is a classic and popular choice to use in slow cooking. Personally I prefer ox cheeks, shin, ox tail or short ribs. The former are boneless and the latter two each have a piece of bone in but are very easy to remove after cooking. The ox cheeks and ox tail have similar flavour and texture profiles. Both give a gelatinous, rich and unctuous quality to your dish, fabulous stuff. The shin is a lean muscle, and when cooked after a long time, it just relaxes and melts beautifully. Short ribs or a fancier description, Jacob’s ladder are popular in the USA, this cut is more expensive and looks pleasing on the plate. You are more likely to find these, perhaps known as, “the forgotten cuts” at the butcher’s. Some supermarkets stock them, but those are the selected few and therefore your best source is the friendly butcher. And I wholeheartedly recommend you get to know your butcher for a number of reasons: you can buy just the amount you need, their meats (and poultry) are much better quality and fresher than the prepackaged varieties. Butchers give us sound cooking advice, and you are supporting independent and local businesses.
I used beef shin in this soy and spice braised dish. In Cantonese cooking, we seldom use spices, braising is probably one of the few dishes that we do use liberally. The other times are in roast meats (like those hanging behind the restaurant windows in London Chinatown), roast duck, roast belly pork, barbecued pork char siu, soy chicken etc, all have a little secret spices in them, especially the “five spice powder”. It is a bit like the equivalent of Garam Masala but in Chinese cooking. Anyway, I digressed, so back to my recipe. This is really easy to prepare and recently I made it for friends who came round for supper on a very cold night. This recipe makes 6 portions.
1.5 beef shin, cut into 2-3 inches pieces
500ml beef stock
2 whole star anise
1 cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
1 level teaspoon five spice powder
1 teaspoon sugar (any kind), I used a small lump of Chinese rock sugar
1 thumb size piece fresh ginger, cleaned but no need to peel, sliced and cut into thin strips
1 red chilli, seeds removed, cut at an angle into thin strips
1 bunch spring onions, or 100g pearl onions (previously frozen, defrosted and drained off)
4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
3 tablespoons dark soy sauce
3 tablespoons light soy sauce
3 tablespoons Shaoxing wine (or Japanese mirin or dry sherry)
3 tablespoons plain flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
Vegetable oil
More spring onions and red chilli cut at an angle for garnish
– Gather and prepare all the ingredients. Preheat the oven to 130c fan. If the beef is a little wet, dry each piece with kitchen paper*. Put the beef into a large mixing bowl, sprinkle over the seasoned plain flour and toss everything well. Heat a casserole pan, I love my cast iron one with a fitted lid, add a tablespoon of vegetable oil, add the beef in batches, about 4–5 pieces at a time. Once they are in, leave them unmoved for a few minutes on medium to high heat to create a crust on that surface. This is an important step as this crust adds flavour and colour to the finished dish. They are ready when you can lift them easily without sticking. Using a pair of tongs is helpful here. Do this to all the sides, remove to a separate dish before adding a new batch of meat until all the meat is prepared this way. You might need to add a spoonful of oil from time to time during the searing process.
– if the pan has a little burnt bits after the browning, rinse it under the tap and gently scrape off the bits using a wooden spoon. Return the pan on the medium to low and add the chilli, ginger, spring onions (or pearl onions), garlic, five spice powder, bay leaves, star anise and cinnamon. Stir and saute for a couple of minutes.
– In a measuring jug, mix the wet ingredients together, add to the pan, stir in the sugar, then add the beef. The liquid will not fully cover the beef, but the meat will be at least half submerged in it. Bring the dish to a simmer, put the lid on and very carefully take it to the preheated oven, middle rack and cook for 1.5 to 2 hours. During this time, the beef should become nice and tender, and the sauce thickens a little. A tight fitting lid is essential so the liquid does not evaporate off. Don’t be tempted to turn up the temperature, this dish really needs long and low cooking.
– Taste and adjust the seasoning, if required, and garnish with fresh spring onions and chilli. I like to serve this dish as it is on the table where everyone helps themselves, with plenty of steamed rice, and stir fried vegetables. There is plenty of sauce for everyone.
*This small detail will make a difference because the flour will lightly coat the meat, without going lumpy, also when the meat is seared (browned), it will give a more professional and even result. Wet meat cannot sear, they will steam instead.
This dish can be cooked on the day and served right away, otherwise it can be prepared up to two days ahead, allow it to fully cool before placing it in the fridge. The flavours will develop and mature during this sitting time. This is a wonderful dish to scale up for easy and low effort entertaining. I hope you will try this during this festive season, or indeed over this winter time.
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