Our Best Chinese New Year Recipes

• Mix 180ml water with both flours to make the batter. Beat the two eggs together.
• Add a little oil to the frying pan. Once hot, spread the pancake batter on the pan, add the eggs to the top of the pancake. Leave for 1 to 2 minutes in the frying pan.
• Flip the pancake over. Drizzle over the sweet bean and chilli sauce, top with the chopped spring onions and Frankfurter sausages.
• Roll it up and cut in the middle. Ready to eat.

To make the pastry

• Combine the pastry ingredients together, stirring in the water slowly and knead to form a dough. Roll out into a thin sausage and cut into small cubes, the size of a 50p piece. Then press each into a round, thin circle to use later. (Can use rolling pin).

To make the meat filling

• Mix all the filling ingredients together ready to use later

To make the soup jelly

• Place the pork ribs into a stock pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil. Cook for about 2 minutes or until foam begins to float to the top. Empty the content of the pot into a colander and rinse the bones thoroughly with cold water. Clean the pot thoroughly as well.
• Return the cleaned pork ribs to the cleaned stock pot. Add spring onions, ginger, wine, and water. Bring the pot to a boil then reduce heat to a low simmer. Occasionally skim the surface of any foam that floats to the top to keep the stock clear. Simmer on low for about 1.5 hours or until liquid reduces to half.
• Season with salt.
• Strain liquid into a 13×9 inch baking dish and discard the solids. Cover with plastic and chill in fridge until set (at least two hours).
• Once set, cut a crosshatch pattern into the jellied soup. 

To assemble the dumplings

• Mix the meat filling with the diced soup jelly in the proportion of 1:1.
• Place the filling in the middle of the round pastry and fold (this is the hardest part, a good xiao long bao should have between 16 and 20 folds).
• Place in a basket and steam your xiao long bao for 4 and a half minutes.

• Whip all of the filling ingredients by hand, until they are fully combined and hold together.
• Place a dollop of the filling in the centre of each wrapper and bring up the corners to form a little “money bag.” Leave the top open so that you can see some of the filling.
• Blanch the whole chives in very hot water tap water. Then tie a chive around the neck of each dumpling so that it looks like it is wearing a little green belt.
• Steam the dumplings in an oiled bamboo steamer for 15 minutes, in a steaming wok.
• Serve hot with sweet chilli sauce.

• Put the finely chopped cabbage, bamboo shoots, carrots, water chestnuts and chives into a thin white clean cloth and squeeze out all of the excess water. In a large mixing bowl, mix the squeezed finely chopped vegetables with the minced pork meat and chopped pork belly. Season well and mix thoroughly. Leave for an hour in the fridge before use.
• Get a dumpling wrapper (method below or store bought) and fill the middle with a spoonful of the filling (around 25g per dumpling), leaving space around the outside of the wrapper so the filling does not fall out.
• Now, the Jiaozi fold. Hold the dumpling gently using your two fingers and a thumb, then applying the pressure of the fingers, fold them in half to close. Use your left hand finger to push the skin closed against the thumb around the edge.
• Then, form a pleat in the centre of the dumpling wrapper. One side at a time, form pleats moving into the centre. Make sure that the pleats are pressed together tight all around to make sure there is no leaking of the filling and the dumpling is completely closed. Keep your hands a little wet, so they do not stick.
• Heat a large pan with 3 tablespoons of oil. Place the dumplings with the folding facing up. Ensure each dumpling is sitting separately on the pan and not stacked.
• Turn the heat up for one minute to crisp one side, then drain the oil and add the chicken stock so the dumplings are submerged in the stock. Turn the heat to simmer for 4 minutes.
• Using tongs, take the dumplings out onto a plate. Drain the pan and add the oil back in and fry the folded side for 1 minute again.
• Ready to serve – serve with a soy sauce or vinegar dipping sauce and some freshly chopped red chilli.

• Mix the chopped chicken, water chestnuts and spring onions. Add the light and dark soy sauce and 1 tsp salt, as well as the sesame oil, five spice, white pepper, shao xing wine and corn starch.
• Put the mixture to one side and leave to marinate for 1-2 hours.
• Place a teaspoon of the filling in the middle of each of the wonton skins, then brush warm water around the edge of the skin and fold over the top of the filling. It’s very important there’s no air inside. Press the edges together and crimp, much like a Cornish pasty.
• When they are all ready, bring a pan of water to the boil and gently place them in for 7-8 minutes. They’re ready when they float to the surface. Use a strainer to remove.
• To make a traditional dipping sauce, mix the Chinese black vinegar with some thinly cut ginger.
• Garnish with chopped spring onion.

• Begin by making the chicken stock. Place chicken bones or carcass on a roasting tray and bake in the oven at 200C/Gas 6 until browned. Transfer all ingredients into a heavy bottom pot and fill with cold water. Bring it up to heat and simmer until stock is reduced by half. Then pass through a fine mesh sieve and allow to cool. Separate fat that rises to the top and discard.
• Next start by rehydrating both dried mushrooms in boiling water for 20 minutes. Once done, squeeze and drain them. Roughly chop both and set aside.
• Place your chicken stock back on the heat. While it is warming, create a cornflour slurry by whisking cornflour with 150ml of water. Then slowly incorporate the cornflour into the warm stock string constantly. Over a minute or so it will start to thicken. Once done, add hydrated mushrooms, sesame oil, dried shrimp, white pepper and salt.
• Crack your eggs and whisk thoroughly with the 30ml of water, this helps bring the egg together and helps with pouring.
• Get your mixture into something that is easy to pour. Once ready, begin to stir the soup in a circular motion to create a vortex and in a steady stream add the egg. As you do so you will begin to see ribbons of egg appear. Be careful not have the soup on too hot as the egg can quickly overcook.
• Garnish with slices of crumbled eel and fried donut slice and a sprinkling of freshly sliced spring onion.

• To make the char siu sauce, combine all ingredients and mix well. (Char siu sauce can be pre-made and stored in jars for future marinades. To make a smaller batch simply reduce the ingredients in ratio.)
• Cut pork belly into approx. 6x 2 inch long thick strips
• Combine all marinade ingredients (except the honey) and mix well.
• Add pork into sauce and marinade for at least 2 hours or overnight for a better result.
• Preheat the oven to 230C/ Fan 210C/ Gas 7.
• Mix all sugar skin dust ingredients together and set aside.
• Place pork on a rack and roast for 23 minutes.
• Take the rack out of the oven and flip the pork. Brush honey on all surfaces of the pork and return to the oven. Roast for another 20 minutes or until edges are lightly charred with a shiny and lightly golden finish.
• Set aside to cool.
• Before serving, coat the cooled pork strips with sugar dust. Put back into the oven for 2 minutes or until the sugar dust melts with a slight char on the edges.
• Let the pork cool slightly until the sugar crisps up then serve.

• To make the pickled red chillies, slice the chillies in half, remove the seeds and discard them.
• Put the chilli halves into an airtight container, mixed with the sea salt. Leave at room temperature where it will begin to release a liquid.
• Mix up the ingredients in the container every day for 21+ days, until the pickles are fully submerged. This leaves you with around 150g of pickled chillies.
• When you would like to prepare the chutney, finely chop the pickled chillies and add all of the remaining ingredients. Once mixed, keep refrigerated and use it within 30 days.
• To prepare the fish, mix all of the sauce ingredients together with 480ml water and steam the mixture for 30 minutes.
• Sprinkle cornflour over the whole fish, ensuring that it is evenly coated.
• Place the fish onto a plate and spread the pickled chili over it.
• Steam the fish for 8 minutes. Once steamed, pour away the liquid
• Heat the vegetable oil in a pan.
• While the oil is heating up, place the fish on your serving dish and pour the steamed sauce over the top, then sprinkle with your spring onion.
• Pour a little of the hot oil on the spring onion and then add the coriander and serve.

• Preheat the oven to 170C. Roast the aubergine for 22 mins, then turn over, and roast for another 22 mins.
• Burn the chilli directly over a gas flame, or lay directly on the glass of a ceramic hob, turning every 1-2 minutes until blackened all over. Set aside to cool while you measure out the sauce ingredients – as with most stir-frying, it’s important to have all the ingredients ready to go before cooking.
• Finely chop the burnt chilli, crush or mince the garlic, thinly slice the spring onion whites, and peel and finely chop the ginger. Notice how the ginger has stringy fibres running along its length – try to slice across those to avoid strings in the finished dish.
• On a medium heat, fry the garlic and white spring onion, until softening and smelling delicious.
• Add the 5-spice, disperse in the oil, and then add the doubanjiang. Turn up the heat to medium-high and fry the doubanjiang for around 1 minute – some caramelisation on the bottom is good, but be careful not to burn it.
• Add the pickled chilli, sugar and light soy sauce, and mix everything together well.
• Add the ginger, so that it cooks through by the time the sugar has dissolved – we don’t want to cook it for too long.
• Remove from the heat, and check seasoning – it should be rich and a little sweet.
• Slice the cooled aubergine in half longways, and slather on the sauce. Sprinkle with crushed peanuts, spring onion greens, chinkiang vinegar, and enjoy.

• Mix the cornflour, refined flour and salt in a bowl with enough water to make a thick batter. Add the vegetables and mix so that all the vegetables are well coated. Make palm sized flattened cakes of the battered vegetables.
• Heat enough oil in a wok and deep fry the vegetable cakes in batches for 1 – 2 minutes, just until they begin to change colour. Drain on absorbent paper and set aside.
• Once the cakes are fried, cut them into bite size pieces and deep fry again until they are golden brown and crispy.
• For the sauce, heat two tablespoons of oil in a pan or wok until smoking hot. Add the dried red chillies to get the smoking flavour in the pan/wok, then add garlic, green chilli and sauté until brown in colour.
• Add the ketchup, soy sauce, honey, spring onions and salt, then sauté́ for 30 seconds or so. Add all the fried vegetables and mix well until the vegetables are coated with the sauce.
• Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and serve hot.