Happy Chinese New Year!

foodChinese New Year is celebrated by more than 20 per cent of the world. Chinese New Year is also known as the Spring Festival, which is similar to Christmas or Thanksgiving in the Chinese community. It is interesting to note that there is no fixed or set date for Chinese New Year. With a history of 2,000 years or so, Chinese New Year’s Eve, which falls on the last day of the year according to the Chinese lunar calendar, is called “chú x ” in Chinese. The celebration lasts between 7 and 15 days; from New Year’s Eve to the 15th day of the New Year - the Lantern Festival. (In 2019, the celebration started on February 4th and ended on February 19th.) Families would gather together from all over the world to celebrate both tradition and happiness. Red and Gold decorations adorn homes, malls and even along the streets. Large meals are prepared for families, guests and relatives to enjoy together. Red envelopes filled with goodies (money, sweets etc) are a sign of wealth. These red envelopes are shared to wish people a good fortune, prosperity, and longevity. The best part about Chinese New Year’s is that it is a time for families to be together. The New Year’s Eve dinner is called ‘reunion dinner’, and is believed to be the most important meal of the year. Big families including several generations sit at round tables and enjoy the food and time together. Dishes with lucky meanings must be included in the dinner such as fish, dumplings, niangao (sticky rice cake), and spring rolls. Many New Year foods are symbolic. Rice cakes in particular can represent a higher position or status. Sweet Rice Balls are eaten for family togetherness, and noodles are eaten for longevity. Chinese New Year is celebrated in countries and territories with large Chinese populations and in China towns all over the world. Keeping the Chinese New Year’s celebrations in mind, the management at Avari Hotel, Karachi, recently organised the Chinese food festival at its Dynasty restaurant. The salient feature of the festival was the Chinese New Year signature dishes, especially prepared by Chef Yu for the occasion. The festival started from 5th February and ended on 10th February. People enjoyed authentic dishes in a colourful (read red) ambiance, which was created specifically for the festival. Some of the Chef Yu’s signature and new dishes included - crispy duck with sweet and sour strawberry sauce; stewed beef in spicy Szechwan gravy; wok fried lobster with cashew nut in xo sauce; and sweet and sour belt fish Huai Yang style among many others. We had an opportunity to try some of these mouth-watering dishes and the taste was mind-blowing. Though Chinese New Year has ended and Chef Yu has gone back, the good news is that the management is launching their band new menu in March and all these scrumptious new dishes will be part of the menu. So if you have missed the Chinese food festival, you can still go to Dynasty and can enjoy a delectable dinner. Happy eating!––You! desk!

from The News International - You https://ift.tt/2H23EGW