New Year's Eve dinner, ready to serve! (Overseas Chinese concern)
The bell of 2023, the Year of the Rabbit, is about to ring, and the hot New Year’s Eve dinner is about to be served!
On the occasion of saying goodbye to the old year and welcoming the new year, it is a long-standing Chinese New Year custom that the whole family gather together to have a reunion dinner.
For overseas Chinese, no matter where they are, the New Year's Eve dinner is the most important meal of the year.
In the familiar taste, what is entrusted is the best wishes of overseas Chinese for the new year, and the deep yearning for the distant hometown.
What kind of New Year's Eve dinners have the overseas Chinese prepared for this year?
Let's follow this reporter to have a look!
“The most important meal of the year”
Go to the vegetable market to buy a freshly slaughtered whole chicken, and then go to the Chinese supermarket to buy a bag of high-quality ham, a handful of fresh winter bamboo shoots and a bag of venetian knots. After returning home, wash the ingredients, put them in a casserole, and simmer slowly After five or six hours, boil a pot of pickled Du Xian with a strong fragrance-this is the sense of ritual that the Lu Wei family, an overseas Chinese in the United States, "cannot be shaken" every New Year's Eve.
"Drinking a bowl of salted Duxian is like going home." 77-year-old Lu Wei has lived in Los Angeles, USA for more than 30 years, but his "Chinese stomach" has never changed.
Every New Year's Eve, he and his family will cook a table of Shanghai-style New Year's Eve dinner in his hometown, expressing his deep homesickness.
This year is no exception.
In addition to salted Duxian, Lu Wei and his family also purchased grass carp, glutinous rice, red bean paste and other ingredients.
"Grass carp is used to make Shanghai smoked fish. One grass carp can be shaved to make 8 to 10 pieces of smoked fish, just enough for a family to eat. Glutinous rice and red bean paste are used to make eight-treasure rice, which is a must-eat dessert in my hometown. We craft We have limited resources, so let’s make a simple version, mix the steamed glutinous rice with a little lard, then mix it with fine bean paste, sprinkle some dried osmanthus, it tastes very sweet.”
When it comes to the cooking process of each dish, Lu Wei is very thorough, just like an experienced chef.
“I only learned these things after I went abroad. Some of them were learned from recipes, and some were learned from the chefs in the Chinese restaurants in Los Angeles after eating the familiar flavors of my hometown. Now the Internet is more and more developed, and foreign video sites are also very popular. It is easy to find teaching videos of Chinese food." Lu Wei said that the reason why he learns to cook Chinese food and prepares New Year's Eve dinner so hard is because in the hearts of overseas travelers, no matter where they go, no matter how the craftsmanship is, a New Year's Eve meal full of Chinese taste Supper is always the most important meal of the year.
"Overseas, during the Chinese New Year, people rarely carry gifts, visit relatives and friends, and pay New Year's greetings to each other. But our family always goes to Chinatown to visit the flower market and participate in the New Year's parade to feel the festive atmosphere of the New Year. Over the years, I think about it day and night, and I look forward to going back to my hometown in Shanghai, having a reunion dinner with my cousins and having a reunion year." Lu Wei said with emotion that he was busy working hard in his early years, and he almost never had the opportunity after going abroad. Returning to China for the New Year, now that I have reached the age of caring for my life, and catching up with China's optimization and adjustment of epidemic prevention and control policies, I believe that this wish that has been hidden in my heart for many years will soon come true.
"Let's cheer up together"
In Athens, Greece, the newly renovated "Jing Pin Shi Shang" Chinese restaurant is clean and bright, with a strong Chinese flavor everywhere.
A while ago, the restaurant was refurbished and reopened, and it didn't take long to catch up with the Spring Festival.
In the opinion of the boss, Lu Xiang, this can be described as happiness on top of happiness.
"I started thinking about how to make New Year's Eve dinner a few weeks in advance!" Lu Xiang is a refreshing "old Beijinger". The authentic copper pot shabu-shabu in the restaurant is a well-known "net celebrity" dish in Athens, attracting many overseas Chinese Come here to "satisfy your cravings", and many diners from other countries come here to "try the early adopters".
"This year's New Year's Eve dinner, in addition to the copper pot, I also listed a long list of menus, so that everyone can eat and drink, and have a lively New Year's Eve." Lu Xiang said that in the past two years, because of the epidemic, local overseas Chinese could not When going to a restaurant for dinner, many people can only pack the New Year's Eve set meal and eat it at home.
This year, the epidemic situation has improved, and many customers have called, hoping to gather with family and friends at the restaurant.
Lu Xiang is also very willing to talk about it, "raise your breath with the big guys."
With two weeks left before New Year's Eve, Lu Xiang finalized the menu for the New Year's Eve dinner and began to purchase ingredients everywhere, even calling suppliers in Italy, France and other countries to place orders.
Peking duck, Cantonese-style roast goose, husband and wife lung slices, braised prawns...the menu is full of beautiful things, bringing together traditional dishes from many places in China, just like a table of Chinese delicacies.
"Overseas Chinese in Athens come from different cities in China and have different tastes. I want to prepare as much as possible so that everyone can taste the taste of their hometown." Lu Xiang said.
For "Old Beijing", a hot plate of dumplings stuffed with cabbage and pork is an indispensable "highlight" on New Year's Eve.
"In the past, when winter came, the neighbors in the neighborhood would stock up Chinese cabbage in the cellar early on. The moment the New Year's bell rings, eating warm cabbage and pork stuffed dumplings, rushing out to set off firecrackers, don't mention how happy it is!" Lu Xiang's happiest thoughts are the New Year's scene when he was a child.
He hopes to continue this good memory overseas.
On New Year's Eve, Lu Xiang and the restaurant staff will make dumplings early.
"We are waiting for the moment to say goodbye to the old and usher in the new, and gather together with diners from all over the world, eat dumplings, and welcome the Year of the Rabbit!"
"The most nostalgic firework in the world"
"After the Chinese New Year, my mother will be 96 years old! On New Year's Eve this year, as in previous years, I will make a plate of vegetarian dumplings for my mother, so that she can taste the taste of home." On the eve of the Spring Festival, Sun Li, a Japanese overseas Chinese, and her husband Back to my hometown in Jinan, Shandong.
Over the years, as her mother is getting older, no matter how many difficulties Sun Li overcomes, she will definitely fulfill a "New Year's promise" - returning home to cook a New Year's Eve dinner for her mother.
Make stuffing with leeks, eggs, and fungus, add a little shrimp skin to enhance the freshness, and wrap it in dumplings. A plate of light vegetarian three-fresh dumplings is a unique New Year flavor of Sun Li's family.
"When I was young, after eating a sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner, my grandma would always bring out a plate of vegetarian three-fresh dumplings, implying that the new year will be clean and peaceful. My mother often said that if you eat vegetarian three-fresh dumplings, you have eaten them." The smell of our home."
Time flies, and the warm pictures of childhood are like frames of movie shots, permanently resident in Sun Li's heart.
"Every New Year's Eve, my family gets busy from early in the morning, steaming flower rolls, steaming steamed buns, steaming rice cakes, and making dumplings. When we are young, we help the adults to arrange the wrapped dumplings neatly in the Cover the pads and form a circle. In the afternoon, it’s time to cook big dishes, fried lotus root box, fried loose meat, fried fish, stewed elbow meat... the whole room is full of aromas, making us salivate. After growing up, It was only when I was far away from home that I realized that it was the most nostalgic fireworks in the world."
Although living overseas all the year round, Sun Li has not lost this craftsmanship passed down from generation to generation.
She is good at steaming flower rolls, making dumplings, and fried lotus root boxes.
Every Spring Festival, she rushes back to her hometown early in order to accompany her mother to relive this warm taste.
"Even if my mother just eats two or three dumplings and drinks a sip of dumpling soup, I feel very happy."
Today, the traditional Shandong noodles made by Sun Li still attract many "fans" in Japan.
"Every time I take pictures of pasta and share it on social networking sites, many friends from overseas Chinese in Japan leave messages to me, saying that they want to learn how to make white and fat steamed buns and flower rolls. Some local Japanese friends are also very interested, and they are waiting for me to finish the meal. Come back to Japan every year to teach them." Sun Li lamented that in recent years, the Chinese New Year flavor has become stronger and stronger in Japan.
When the Spring Festival is approaching, the most frequently discussed topics among overseas Chinese friends are how to celebrate the New Year and what to eat for the New Year’s Eve dinner. "The Spring Festival has an unforgettable imprint in the hearts of every overseas Chinese."
"The Spring Festival belongs to China, but also to the world"
Shopping for ingredients, making pastries, booking lion dance performances... Fang Qiyun, owner of Regal Chinese Restaurant in Lima, Peru, is busy every day as New Year's Eve approaches.
On the eve of the Spring Festival, Regal Chinese Restaurant elaborately launched two New Year’s Eve set meals.
"Unexpectedly, before we had time to advertise, we received a lot of reservation calls from regular customers, and the 13 tables of New Year's Eve dinner on New Year's Eve were quickly booked." Fang Qiyun laughed.
Most of the overseas Chinese in Lima, Peru are from Guangdong.
For this reason, when Fang Qiyun set the New Year's Eve dinner menu, he specially arranged many dishes that Cantonese people must eat during the New Year.
"'Get rich and good things' is a favorite New Year's Eve dish for many Cantonese. The ingredients mainly include oysters, hair vegetables, scallops, etc., implying a lot of money and good things in the new year. In addition, steamed fish, boiled chicken, rice cakes, sesame balls, etc. They are all indispensable in Cantonese New Year’s Eve dinner.”
Fang Qiyun's hometown is Zhongshan, Guangdong.
She has been abroad for more than 30 years. Due to the long distance, she has returned to China for the New Year very few times, but the taste of the New Year in her memory has never faded.
"When I was a child, every Chinese New Year, my favorite dish was a traditional Cantonese vegetarian dish - Luo Hanzhai, which mixed and stir-fried various mushrooms and vegetables such as shiitake mushrooms, fungus, and enoki mushrooms. It was fragrant and smooth." Fang Qiyun said, regretting Yes, some special ingredients cannot be bought in Peru, so she has not been able to eat authentic Luohanzhai abroad for so many years.
But she never forgot the familiar taste.
Sending red envelopes, visiting the flower market, watching lion dances... Fang Qiyun was so excited that she talked about the New Year customs in her hometown in Guangdong.
On New Year's Eve this year, she prepared an "easter egg" for her customers.
"In my hometown, what I look forward to most during the Chinese New Year is watching the lion dance performance. With the lively sound of gongs and drums, the lively lion dance can always push the atmosphere of the New Year to a climax. This year, our restaurant invited the local Chinese community to perform lion dance on New Year's Eve , to add to the fun for everyone, and dance to create a new year and a new look."
To Fang Qiyun's surprise, among the customers who booked the New Year's Eve dinner, in addition to local overseas Chinese and employees of Chinese-funded enterprises, there were also many Peruvians.
"In recent years, many Peruvians also like to enjoy the fun and celebrate the Spring Festival with us. This time, I reserved a few tables for the New Year's Eve dinner for Peruvian customers, and I also made dumplings with hidden coins. The Spring Festival belongs to China and the world. Yes. Let's celebrate the New Year together!"
Yan Yu