This Friday is the first day of the
new lunar year, and for all of us who love China's cuisines, no better excuse
exists for making a whole lot of good food and inviting a whole lot of good
friends over to eat.
A great
thing about this Chinese celebration is that it is not relegated to one big
day. You get to start out with the night before, called Chūxì 初夕, when you put
up new strips of red paper around the front door with lots of good omens
written on them, light some firecrackers, and indulge in whatever is available.
If you come from a fractious family,
an especially wonderful thing about the ensuing two weeks is that there can be no
arguing or less than happy words, as these will bring about bad luck. So have
your in-laws over and feel the bliss!
You also are not supposed to cook or
use knives or scissors, which can be a bit of a bother as the food starts to
run out after a couple of days (some Chinese friends combat this with day after
day of the same hotpot), but if you do some advance preparations, this
is a great excuse not to toil away for too long in the kitchen.
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| Gorgeous dried filefish |
And so, I like to have stuff cooked
and ready for the steamer, ingredients prepped and frozen for soups, bags of jiaozi stuffed and stashed in the freezer, and a
bunch of containers stacked in the fridge filled with appetizers and bar
snacks so that we can have tasty things on the table in a matter of minutes.
This is an especially good idea if
you have lots of Chinese friends, because now is also the time of year when
they will show up on your doorstep laden with food and drink and flowers, and
you need to have something to offer them in return. A pot of tea
and a big batch of sugared almonds is a terrific way to make them feel welcome
at these times, and if they linger on toward dinner time, pull up an extra seat
or two to the table and start flinging things into the steamer and soup pot.
One bar snack I like to make that is
pretty much effortless is this, something I call “fish candy.” Made from a type
of pufferfish called a “filefish” that has been completely boned, flattened,
and dried, this is flavorful without being too smelly, and chock full of savory
notes that are deftly balanced with a touch of sugar, salt, and sesame.
This is really popular in Taiwan’s
beerhouses, as well in Korea... I am not sure where it started, to be truthful.
All I know is that it is ridiculously easy, super tasty, and just the right thing
to set before your friends alongside some cold beer or hot rice wine. After
all, it does offer not only the prospect of happy taste buds, but also wishes
for a prosperous new year (niánnián yŏuyú
年年有餘[魚])!
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| The ingredients |
Fish candy
Kǎo dānjítúngān 烤單棘魨乾
Taiwan,
Korea, and elsewhere
Serves
4
Half a package (2.5 ounces or so) of dried, pressed filefish (see Tips)
Spray
oil
Sweet
soy sauce
Unhulled
or white sesame seeds
1. Heat
a toaster oven to broil, with the rack set about 3 inches from the heating
element. Rinse the tilefish and pat dry. Use kitchen shears to cut the discs
into ½-inch strips.
2.
Spray a small broiler pan with oil. Arrange the strips of dried fish on the pan
so that they are in a single layer and barely touch each other.
3. Use
a pastry brush to dab sweet soy sauce over all of the fish strips, and then sprinkle
the sesame seeds evenly over the fish.
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| The package |
4.
Broil the fish until it is lightly browned and the soy sauce has turned sticky.
Remove from the oven, arrange the fish on a platter, and let it cool for a few
minutes, as this will give it enough time to turn from soft to chewy or crunchy, depending upon how long they were cooked. Serve
with cold beer or hot rice wine.
Tips
Filefish
is usually found in the refrigerated section of Korean and Chinese grocery
stores near the other dried seafood. I prefer the Korean brands, as they have
always been of excellent quality.
I do
not speak or read Korean, but the package is often labeled as being jwipo (쥐포).
