Celebrate Chinese New Year with Traditional Almond Cookies

Chinese New Year is here! There is gonna be lots of firework in China, symbolizing the festive spirit. It is believed that Buddha invited all the forest animals to invite him on a particular day. Twelve of them appeared and Buddha named a year after each one of them. New year calls for a huge get together and Chinese food is my all time favorite. People pay a visit to each other's house, share meals, gifts and of course happiness. 

In Chinese culture, red color is considered sacred. It symbolizes fire, which means bad luck is driven away. People wear red color garments, children write short poems on red paper. Children are given luck money in red envelopes. In ancient times, the tribals lit up bamboo stalks. They believed this would drive away the evil spirits and that they can lead a peaceful life. So lets pay a visit to our friend's place with a box of traditional almond cookies.

Ingredients:-

1 pinch salt,

100 ml corn oil,

1 beaten egg yolk,

150 gm plain flour,

100 gm caster sugar,

100 gm ground almonds,

100 gm blanched almonds,

3/4 teaspoon baking soda,

3/4 teaspoon baking powder.

Preparation Method:-

1. Sieve the flour, caster sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Add the ground almonds to the flour and sugar mixture.

2. Slowly trickle in the corn oil to this bowl. Blend until a cohesive dough forms. Heat the oven to 180 D.C. Roll the dough into small balls, place almonds above them and press a bit as shown.

3. Place on a baking tray. Make cookies until all the dough is used up. Lightly glaze the top of the cookie balls with the beaten egg yolk.

4. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the cookies become slightly golden. Leave to cool. Enjoy the homemade cookies.

Happy New Year!

Lantern Festival and Tangyuan Yummzz

The Chinese Festival, called the Lantern Festival falls on January, 15 according to the lunar calendar. As indicated by the name, this festival is accompanied by beautifully designed and decorated lanterns. In olden days, lanterns were pretty simple but today they consist of classic designs including those of animal shapes. Lanterns symbolize that people should forget their past problems and start the new year with a brand new begining with good deeds. The red lantern color indicates good fortune. But as we know that any festival is incomplete without food, Tangyuan is the traditional chinese sumptuous recipe that is served on this auspicious occasion.

Tangyuan is made up of glutinous rice flour, which is the main ingredient. It may be stuffed or unfilled. Unfilled Tangyuan are sweet dumplings. The rice flour is mixed with a small amount of water. Balls are formed from it and cooked. Balls may be big or small. They are served in boiling water. It can be eaten during following fests and occasions as well:-

• Chinese Winter Solstice Festival
• family/relatives re-union
• Wedding and ring ceremony
• Chinese New Year

Variant names:-

• yuanxiao (this is derived from Yuanxiao Festival)
• tangyuan or tangtuan
• round dumplings in soup

Southern Chinese usually eat sweet dumplings with filling that consists of sugar,  osmanthus flowers, sweet bean paste, sesame etc. Northern Chinese prefer to have salty dumplings consisting of minced vegetables and meat. Tangyuan can be paired with the following:-

• Red bean soup
• Black sesame soup
• Ginger and rock sugar
  
  
  

  
  

Since ancient times, the preparation method of this dish vary though it's chiefly consumed on Lantern festival in the same country. Tangyuan was traditionally white in color. Later on flavors were added to it on customer demand, making the recipe even more tempting and delectable. Yet few of them relish in their form and color.

Sweet filling consists of:-

• Peanut butter and sugar
• Chopped peanuts and sugar
• Red bean paste
• Crushed sugarcane rock candy
• Sesame and sugar paste
  
  

  

Asian supermarkets in China and other places produce Tangyuan that comes under frozen food section. Tangyuan is widely associated with  Winter Solstice and Chinese New Year in China as well as other parts of Asia like Japan etc.