Chinese New Year potluck

It’s been awhile since we’ve had a potluck, and it was great to get together to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Gung hay fat choy! Thanks to Kim and Rob for hosting and challenging us to create some delicious Chinese-inspired dishes.

I searched “Chinese new year” on Allrecipes and I decided to make Chinese lion’s head soup for a few reasons 1) I’m obsessed with soup, 2) I loved the name, and that it does not contain real lion, and 3) it didn’t seem too complicated. Turns out you can’t really go wrong with a pork, cabbage, ginger combination…it was the base for my soup as well as Kendrin’s pork dumplings.

Homemade dumplings

We had a pretty delicious spread, including chicken in foil, hot and sour soup, Chinese chicken salad, longevity noodles, peanut noodles, and a beautiful cake from Eldo Cake House.

Chicken in foil

Delicious cake

Chinese lion’s head soup
Source: Allrecipes.com
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients
1 pound ground pork
1 egg
1 Tbsp cornstarch
4 tsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger root
1/2 tsp salt
2 green onions, chopped and divided
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 head Napa cabbage, cored and cut into chunks
2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
2 cups water, or as needed
1 Tbsp soy sauce

Directions
1. Mix the ground pork, egg, cornstarch 2 teaspoons of sesame oil, ginger, salt, and half of the chopped green onions together in a bowl. Use your hands to mix until the ingredients are evenly distributed. Use a spoon to form the meat mixture into 1-inch balls. Set aside. 
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a wok or large pot over high heat. When the oil is hot, fry the cabbage, stirring constantly, until cabbage begins to wilt, 2-3 minutes. Pour in the broth, water, and soy sauce. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to medium.
3. Drop meatballs into the boiling soup. When the last ball has been added, cover with a lid and simmer for 10 minutes. Taste, and adjust salt before serving. Garnish with remaining green onions and 2 teaspoons of sesame oil. 

Prepping the lion’s head

Cheers to the Year of the Serpent! May your fortunes be better than some of the ones we received…

Fortune cookies from Long Island