Chinese Feasts & Festivals: A Cookbook

Author’s Preface

It is often said that the Chinese live to eat. Happily for them, China’s rich history and culture have, with heaven’s mandate, conspired to fill the traditional calendar with a generous round of festivities at which all their gastronomic longings can be fulfilled.

One good turn deserves another. To honor the benevolent powers that make all things possible, the Chinese install in their homes various guardians—some people call them gods—who at the appropriate times are invited to participate in human festivities and are plied with food and drink. The gods eat the spiritual essence of the offerings and man consumes the delectable substance. Chinese ancestors, who are considered on a par with the gods, are revered and worshiped in the same way with a glorious repast.

Cooking for both man and the gods is thus an event rich in symbolism—bringing wealth, happiness, luck and prosperity—all the things that man desires and which the gods can provide. Cooking for important festive occasions like this may seem like a formidable task, and certainly in the old days it was an enormous job, though nobody minded or even noticed. Fowls had to be plucked. Shark’s fins, sea cucumbers, bamboo shoots, to name just a few of the ingredients, needed to be soaked, cleaned, boiled and re-boiled—processes that could take several days. There were no short cuts, no labor-saving devices, and everything had to also be cooked over charcoal fires. For most cooks today, these would present insurmountable obstacles. Fortunately, time has taken much of the hard work out of cooking. Today, it is possible to cook for feasts and festivals without breaking one’s back. It can be quite an enjoyable exercise, in fact, thanks to refrigeration, the wide range of modern kitchen appliances available, and the presence of supermarkets stocked with ready-to-use ingredients.

I am privileged to come from a family whose ways are steeped in tradition, and to live in a community which takes great pride in the vibrant expression of its culture. From this great storehouse of knowledge and experience, I have been able to assemble a few culinary facts and fancies, as well as a collection of recipes for the Chinese food lover to read and enjoy or, if the spirit takes flight, to use in cooking up a feast that will impress the ancestors, win approval from the gods, and certainly please the family as well as friends.

S.C.Moey

Penang, 2005

PART ONE

The Chinese Feast

For food to be a truly joyous experience, there must be appropriate occasions to eat, drink and make merry. The Chinese are not short of such occasions. For more than 2,000 years, tradition has satisfied their desire to celebrate through a plethora of festivals, reunions, weddings and anniversaries.

Chinese festival feasts are purely family affairs. Gods and ancestors are invited to the party, but otherwise outsiders are generally excluded. The food served on these occasions is a combination of symbols and sumptuous flavors, a spiritual celebration and an earthly pleasure. Dishes suggesting wealth, luck and splendor by way of their appearance or because they rhyme with certain auspicious Chinese words, simmer or saute in pots and woks. Proportions are generous as custom dictates that one should not stint at the festive table. Abundance brings luck. For families of modest means, surplus is restricted to these special occasions. Hence festivals, with their promise of cornucopia, are eagerly awaited.

Before man can enjoy, the gods must be nourished. In Chinese homes, gods and ancestors take the form of tablets—red wooden or metal rectangles mounted on the wall, fitted with jars or cylinders for candles and joss sticks. Calligraphic characters in black or gold identify the ancestors. Three protectors—the Heavenly Emperor or Jade Emperor, the Earth God and the Kitchen God—are installed to look after the home. People in need of extra protection reinforce these with additional help from the God of Wealth, the Warrior God (Guan Gong) and the Goddess of Mercy (Kuan Yin). Food and wine are set on a tray or table before each tablet. The most efficacious offerings are chicken, roast pork, fresh lettuce, spring onions, celery, rice, sweet rice cakes and fruits—all symbolic of life and its attendant virtues and values. The same delicacies may be offered to the three household gods, who are worshiped in turns. Extra places are set in case a god has company. Popular imagination assigns two bodyguards to each celestial VIP.

Traditionally, the lady of the house conducts the offering rites. Once the food is set, the protector and his entourage, if any, are welcomed with two red candles. This is followed by an offering of joss sticks together with prayers and, if one desires, divination sticks or blocks are cast to determine the visitors’ wishes and receive their blessings. A suitable time is allowed to pass during which the invisible guests eat and drink. The entertainments over, they are given a send-off with a ceremonial burning of an assortment of joss papers (yim po in Cantonese) conveying good wishes and a safe journey.

For the ancestors, customarily the last of the protectors to partake of the feast, an even larger spread is laid out. Again, three places are set, though in some households the settings can reach ten or twelve. The family patriarch, proffering joss sticks, leads the way. Other males take precedence over females. Appeased, the ancestors feast in a fashion peculiar to the gods, unseen and undetected by mortals.

Protection is renewed when the divine have departed. Secure in the knowledge, members of the household gather and enjoy the feast they have shared with the gods and the ancestors.

Poultry Recipes

In the old days, it was customary to present gifts of live poultry, the bearer conveying the joy of living things to the recipient and his household. A pair of handsome capons created a stir whenever they were presented. Those were the days when fowl was a luxury.

Times change. Today, this practice had lost its appeal. Indeed, for people used to modern conveniences, a live chicken is considered more a bane than a boon. A battle with a live, squawking bird takes away much of the pleasure of receiving it. Dressing it may even spoil the appetite. But it is also not smart to resort to the dressed, ready-to-cook variety. It may even be risky, considering the special significance attached to the deed. One may not get through the front door bearing a couple of lifeless birds. To be sure, nothing unsettles the superstitious Chinese more than violating customary laws, as to do so is to invite misfortune. So generally today only cooked food or red packets containing money (hongbao) are given as gifts on special occasions.

The obligatory offering for the gods is a whole cooked chicken, head propped up, wings and feet neatly tucked into the body, accompanied by strips of roast pork, bunches of fresh green lettuce, stalks of celery and spring onions. The chicken represents the phoenix, the mythical bird that rose from the ashes, symbolizing life after death.

Duck is also a festive favorite, though in Cantonese homes it is not accorded the same status as the chicken, and is not offered whole to the household gods. According to the fastidious Cantonese, a duck’s flattened countenance (pien how, pien mien: literally flat mouth, flat face in Cantonese, an expression people associate with woe) simply does not fit into the celebratory scheme of all things bright and beautiful and may only be offered as a dish in which its form is no longer recognizable. Provincial customs differ. In Fukienese households, two whole birds—a duck and a chicken—are required to appease the ancestors. These are boiled, a method used since ancient times. Nowadays, roast duck is also acceptable, or even boiled duck eggs in the case of shrinking households. The chicken, however, persists as a permanent feature in all ceremonial feasts, cooked according to a tradition originating from the north when people offered boiled white meats to the gods of Manchuria.

Homestyle White Chicken

The feast that the Chinese prepare to mark each festival always includes this dish.

Boiling is the traditional method, with the stock reserved for soups and sauces. From this basic recipe, a variety of dishes can be created by simply varying the accompanying ingredients and condiments, as is the convention in formal dinners. At home, the chicken is usually served plain with a number of condiments placed in tiny sauce bowls. Soy sauce, oyster sauce, chili sauce and mustard are among the favorite condiments.

2 teaspoons salt

1 fresh chicken, cleaned and dried

1 pip star anise (optional)

3 spring onions, trimmed

3 to 4 slices fresh ginger

¼ teaspoon sesame oil

CHILI DIPPING SAUCE

6 finger-length red chilies, halved and deseeded

¼ cup (60 ml) chicken stock (from the boiled chicken)

Pinch of salt

GINGER DIP

1½ in (4 cm) fresh ginger

2 spring onions, finely sliced

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon oil

Serves 6 to 8

Preparation time: 30 mins

Cooking time: 25 mins

1 Sprinkle the salt on the chicken and rub well over the entire body including the body cavity. Set aside.

2 Bring a large pot of water (8 cups/2 liters) and all the other ingredients to a boil over high heat. Hold the chicken above the pot by firmly grasping one of its legs with one hand, and then ladle the simmering broth all over the chicken using a soup ladle in the other hand, allowing the broth to pass through the body cavity. Continue to ladle the broth over the chicken until it is lightly scalded all over and changes color, then immerse the whole chicken into the boiling broth, breast side up. Cover and boil the chicken for 15 minutes, then turn off the heat and leave the chicken to steep in the pot for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the chicken and plunge it immediately into iced water for about 15 minutes to stop the cooking process, then drain thoroughly. Strain and reserve the stock.

3 Make the Chili Dipping Sauce by grinding the chilies to a paste in a mortar or blender. Combine the chili paste, chicken stock and salt, and mix until well blended. Transfer to a serving bowl.

4 Prepare the Ginger Dip by peeling and grating or grinding the ginger, then placing the ground ginger in a small serving dish and topping it with the spring onion and salt. Heat the oil in a skillet until very hot and pour it over the ginger and spring onion. Lightly stir the mixture to blend.

5 Slice the cooked chicken into serving pieces, arrange on a large serving platter and serve with the Chili Dipping Sauce and Ginger Dip.

NOTE: If you prefer, you may steam the chicken instead of boiling it. Place the salted chicken on a steaming tray together with the spring onions and ginger. Fill a large wok a third full with water and bring the water to a boil over high heat. Place a wire rack in the wok and set the dish with the chicken on it. Cover the wok and steam the chicken over rapidly boiling water for about 45 minutes, adding more hot water whenever the water runs low. Alternatively, steam in a steamer.

Drunken Chicken

In this Sichuanese recipe, the plain Homestyle White Chicken is transformed into yet another classic dish by marinating it in fragrant Shao Xing rice wine. Drunken Chicken makes an excellent starter. At formal dinners and banquets, it is often served as a component in the elaborately assembled cold dish appetizer platter.

2 spring onions, bruised with a cleaver or pestle

3 slices fresh ginger

2 teaspoons salt

½ fresh chicken or 3 chicken legs, cleaned and dried

1 cup (250 ml) chicken stock

1 cup (250 ml) rice wine (preferably Shao Xing)

Few sprigs of coriander leaves (cilantro), to garnish

SOY DIP

1 in (2½ cm) fresh ginger

4 tablespoons soy sauce

¼ cup (60 ml) chicken stock (from the steamed chicken)

1 Combine the bruised spring onions, ginger slices and salt in a small bowl and mix well. Rub the mixture into the chicken, then place it on a heatproof dish and set aside for 1 hour to allow the flavors to penetrate. Steam the chicken with the spring onions and ginger slices on a rack in a covered wok (see page 19) or steamer over high heat for about 30 minutes until cooked. Turn off the heat and allow the chicken to cool. Discard the spring onions and ginger, drain the chicken and reserve the chicken stock, adding some water if necessary to make 1 cup (250 ml). Alternatively, you may boil the chicken by following the recipe for Homestyle White Chicken (see page 14), and use part of it as required for this recipe, reserving 1 cup (250 ml) of the chicken stock.

2 Debone and slice or chop