Things usually feel a bit dreary after Christmas is over, when there are no more Christmas songs to listen to and when it's time to officially take down that Christmas tree - in February. Luckily for us, we have Chinese New Years to celebrate! It's based on the Lunar calendar and usually changes every year and this year we're celebrating it on February 16th, 2018.
Chinese New Years is a big deal. It's one of the only times our family ventures out of Mississauga to visit relatives and family friends to give them well wishes for the upcoming year and as a child, the best part of Chinese New Years were the red pockets. Now that I have an actual salary (that goes directly to bills), I'm appreciating the cultural aspects of the holiday more and enjoying the food a lot more.
Quite honestly, preparing everything for Chinese New Years can be quite time consuming. We're lucky to have an abundant number of Chinese grocery stores in Mississauga but I collect PC points so I absolutely love that I can get everything I need at Real Canadian Superstore.
Chinese dishes always seemed so complicated to me as my mother never wanted to pass down her age-old secrets, but it actually ended up being really easy. It doesn't cost a lot to make, and the best part of going to Real Canadian Superstore is that you can pick up authentic brands like T&T and Rooster to create these classic dishes.
All these products are available year-round and the list goes on. Not only can you find classic Asian kitchen staples, you can find fresh vegetables like bok choy there as well! Some other staples that we love to pick up at Real Canadian Superstore is the Rooster condensed milk (goes GREAT with toast), Ovaltine malt drink and the Nong Shim Shrimp-flavoured chips, just to name a few!
I tried making Red Braised Pork Belly for the first time and I was pretty happy with the results.
Quite honestly, preparing everything for Chinese New Years can be quite time consuming. We're lucky to have an abundant number of Chinese grocery stores in Mississauga but I collect PC points so I absolutely love that I can get everything I need at Real Canadian Superstore.
Chinese dishes always seemed so complicated to me as my mother never wanted to pass down her age-old secrets, but it actually ended up being really easy. It doesn't cost a lot to make, and the best part of going to Real Canadian Superstore is that you can pick up authentic brands like T&T and Rooster to create these classic dishes.
All these products are available year-round and the list goes on. Not only can you find classic Asian kitchen staples, you can find fresh vegetables like bok choy there as well! Some other staples that we love to pick up at Real Canadian Superstore is the Rooster condensed milk (goes GREAT with toast), Ovaltine malt drink and the Nong Shim Shrimp-flavoured chips, just to name a few!
I tried making Red Braised Pork Belly for the first time and I was pretty happy with the results.
Who doesn't love pork belly? It goes great with rice or noodles and is a super easy recipe to make. Red is also a lucky colour in Chinese culture so eat up!
Ingredients:
- 900g skin on Pork Belly
- 2 tbsp Rooster Brand™ 100% Pure Canola Oil
- 3 tbsp crushed Chinese rock sugar or granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup Chinese rice wine
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 2 tbsp each Rooster Brand™ Superior Soy Sauce and Rooster Superior Dark Soy Sauce
- 1 star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 3 green onions
- 2 inch piece fresh ginger
- Fresh cilantro, for garnish
Directions:
1. Bring large saucepan of water to a boil. Add pork; return to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-high: cook 5 minutes. Transfers to a cutting board, let cool enough to handle. (I find it's much easier to cut through the meat when it's had a chance to cool down.) Cut into 1 - inch chunks and set aside.
2. Heat oil in work or large (4L) saucepan over low heat. Add sugar, cook, stirring, until melted and light brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat; carefully add rice wine. (NOTE: Mixture may splatter and steam. Make sure to keep stirring the sugar constantly as it can burn very easily)
3. Stir in pork, broth, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, star anise and cinnamon stick; bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
4. Slice 2 green onions into 2 inch (5 cm) lengths. Add ginger to cutting board and hit several times to light bruise and brush. This really brings out the flavours in the green onion and ginger. Stir into pork mixture. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and cook until pork is fork-tender, about 1 hour.
5. Uncover; skim fat from surface of cooking liquid and discard. Increase heat to medium; cook uncovered, stirring often, until sauce is thick, 15 to 20 minutes. Discard star anise and cinnamon stick. Transfer pork mixture to serving bowls. Thinly slice remaining green onion; sprinkle over top of pork mixture. Garnish with cilantro.
I'm not one to eat a meal without having something sweet and Chinese New Year is the perfect time to Nian gao which is also known as year cake. It's made from glutinous rice and is a very popular dessert during the holiday. It may not look that appetizing at first as it just looks like a big brown block but trust m, once you've tried it you'll understand why it's popular!
It's a very easy dish to make - all you have to do is cut the cake into 1 inch slices and coat with egg and then pan fry it until it's soft! All the ingredients are at Real Canadian Superstore, so visit www.realcanadiansuperstore.ca to see a sample of the East Asian selection available and be prepared for your next visit!
Picking up dried shitake mushrooms at RCS at Mavis and Dundas in Mississauga.
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