Happy Chinese New Year! Celebrate with Shanghai noodles and shrimp

Monday, January 26th, 2009 is the beginning of the Chinese New Year, which this year celebrates the Ox. The festival starts according to the Chinese lunar calendar, the astronomical point of the second new moon after the winter solstice, and ends traditionally 15 days later.

Food, Legends, and Semantics

In Chinese mythology there was a beast named Nian or “Year” in Chinese. On the first day of the New Year, Nian would gobble up food crops, livestock, townspeople, and even children. For protection against Nian, the townspeople placed food in front of their homes, with the hopes that he would eat the food, and would not be hungry for more.

Foods have symbolic meaning in Chinese culture. For example, noodles are a symbol of longevity and long life. Mandarin oranges are symbolic of good luck, but in this case, it is a matter of semantics, the word orange in Chinese sounds like the word “Ji”, or the name “jīn jí” which means good luck, golden luck, or good fortune. Here’s another one: Pomelos, a fruit in the grapefruit family, sound very much like the chinese words “to have”, and so they signify abundance in the Chinese culture.

This video from the CBS early show features Chef Chris Cheung from China 1 restaurant in NYC, as he not only explains Chinese food traditions for the New Year but also demonstrates his recipe for a simple and authentic Shanghai noodle soup with shrimp, that you can easily prepare at home.

Read on for the recipe:

SHANGHAI NOODLEs WITH SHRIMP AND FAT CHOY

1 large serving

Ingredients
1 qt chicken stock (or shrimp stock)
2 tbsp shao shing rice wine
2 tbsp soy
1 tbsp sugar
1/3 pound shanghai noodles
5 cleaned shrimp (the larger the better)
1 cup cleaned spinach or watercress
1 tbsp fat choy (available at chinese markets)
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp sliced scallions
2 sprigs cilantro

Method
Heat chicken stock to a simmer.
Add the wine, soy and sugar, bring to a boil.
Add the noodles, then add the shrimp and fat choy.
Pour into a large soup bowl and add the ginger, cilantro and scallion.