Chinese New Year Celebration! Year of Tiger!

Happy Chinese New Year! Everybody I know that cares for this special time of the year just indulges themselves with lots of laughter, surrounding themselves with rich food and festive activities with their loved ones. I, of course, am one of them. Following a wonderful new year performance at the Washington University, Ping, my friend invited us over to her house for some wonderful food. I also cooked some of our favorite dishes to kick off the Chinese New Year with my family. Here're some of the pictures:

Crispy Shrimp with sweet and spicy ginger sauce (Mun's)

This is not hard to make but the quality of the shrimp is pretty important. They need to be fresh and relatively large so it'll be easier to peel. Keeping the heads on is also important, that's where all the flavor comes from. When the shrimp is cooked through with the hot, sizzling spicy sauce, the soaked-up heads taste really, really good! Peeled shrimp was also pan-fried with soy bean and egg to go with rice. It's my kid-friendly dish on the table!

Shrimp with egg and soybean (Mun's)

Here're our double fish dish this year. Cooking them double symbolizes prosperity in the new year inChinese beliefs. Heads and tails have to be attached for good luck. Here are our versions of this dish.

(Left) My supervisor in the kitchen (Mun's)

Pan fried Red Snappers - Cantonese style (Mun's)

Baked Tilapia (Ping's)

Ah, here comes my favorite! It's my famous Eggplant again. It's a must-have for me for any special occasion! (recipe is listed on my older post this year)

Crispy stuffed Eggplant Bites (Mun's)

I also baked up some chicken breasts in a "creative" tangerine marinade. It has a nice citrus flavor that is a bit sweet and sour. I keep the tangerine peel with the chicken while baking at around 400 degrees in the oven. It keeps the chicken nice and tender when chopping up later for platting.

Baked Tangerine Chicken (Mun's)

Ping made a meat dish with pork ribs using the pressure cooker. Not sure what her secret was, the meat was so juicy that it fell right off the bone. It had some smoky flavor with a hint of sweet soy sauce. I swore I devoured a whole bowl of rice with it. So gooood!!!

Short pork ribs in soy sauce (Ping's)

By now, you might be wondering where the vegetables were. Well, they were definitely not to be forgotten. They were beautifully green and fresh as ever. Noodles and soup were also served.