Chinese Hot Pot

 

Hot pot is one of the very famous Chinese meals. It has originated in China for at least one thousand years. The eating method of hot pot, as the name implied, is to put all the prepared fresh foods into a large pot of boiling soup. Chinese usually had hot pot in the winter but nowadays, it is so popular that it is welcome anytime.

Before enjoying the meal, various preparations are needed.

For equipments, it is necessary to have large pot and some hand-held strainers. The large pot is for carrying the soup and food whereas hand-held strainers are for removing food from the large pot of soup to individual bowl.

One of the most fascinated parts of hot pot is you can eat many different kinds of food in a meal. Before having hot pot, go to the supermarket and buy the food that you like. Some common ingredients are recommended such as beef, tofu, vegetables and udon…

Normally, the cooked food is eaten with dipping sauces. There are numerous types of sauces such as soy sauce, hot chile oil, vinegar, sesame oil, and many more, as well as an infinite combination. What’s more, you can add a fresh egg into your sauces, it is tasty.

In the following video, we will demonstrate the cooking process of hot pot.

You may feel strange to the cooking method but we are sure that you will love it once you try it. 

Go to the supermarket now and prepare for the delicious meal. 

If you are too tired to do the preparation, you can go to Chinese restaurants. 

Most of them serve their customers with hot pot!

Making Chinese Style Egg Tarts

To show some interesting culture inside China, today we are going to introduce you a very famous dessert in Hong Kong: egg tarts

Cantonese Egg Tart is a very traditional Chinese dessert. There are two kinds of tart shells, one is puff pastry-like, the other cookie-like.

Christopher Francis Patten, who is now a British Conservative politician and administrator, was the last Governor of British Hong Kong. During his stay in Hong Kong, egg tart was his favorite food for tea.

Not sure how to make it? We have made a video showing you how to make this delicious dessert! (We are making those with cookies-like tart shells)

Try the recipe out with your family and friends, then you will know why Chris Patten liked egg tarts so much :D

Reference:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicZfXnot_2MDAuVlSHXzFO45WKkVkqLgpyyNSpN5XFl9dyeuirXtdIMvxIFkzCmCEqow8p7MKt6yHNnUolxf-m4UUFePeS2eKhEFi8t-_-oZ12nUmhQJLO2llgTbWaQhmG5AHzokiXHgf3/

Chinese New Year VS Christmas

The most important social holiday in China is The Chinese New Year. According to the Chinese calendar, the festival is usually between the end of January to mid of February.


The festival is a time for family gathering.  Since different family members are working in different region in China, Chinese New Year is an opportunity to renew family ties.

Do you find that the Chinese New Year is so similar to Christmas? Both consider family gathering as the most important activity in the festival.

What do they do during the festivals?

Decoration

Westerners will decorate Christmas trees; Chinese will decorate their houses with Auspicious Messages (i.e. Red banners).
       


Mistletoe(left), Poinsettias(middle), Holly, Ivy and Greenery(right) are plants that used for decoration during Christmas; while orange plants(left),  pink flowers(middle), and Water Lily(right).
 


       

Beliefs

In Western, there is a saying that Santa Claus will send blessings and give gifts to well behaved children; Chinese believe that the Chinese parade will protect us from bad luck and the devils.

            

Food

Turkey may be one of the traditional food in Christmas, Chinese New Year has different kinds of traditional food, such as:

Chinese carrot cakes(front), rice cakes(back)


Candy Box



Tang Yuan (i.e.Chinese sweet dumplings)

Other Activities

While westerns will send Christmas cards, give,open presents to each other, watch TV programme, play games with family in the festival, while in the Lunar New Year, red envelopes are given by the married to the unmarried, most of whom are children.

Interesting fact:

The amount of money is usually a single note to avoid heavy coins and to make it difficult to judge the amount inside before opening. It is traditional to put brand new notes inside red envelopes and also to avoid opening the envelopes in front of the relatives out of courtesy.
The red color of the envelope symbolizes good luck and is supposed to ward off evil spirits.


     





Reference:
http://www.scottishchristmastrees.co.uk/uploads/decorated%20cut%20christmas%20trees.jpg
http://www.23hq.com/292805/417688_d1e5e4a8c0fb3f4fafea143cb39371de_standard.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Jonathan_G_Meath_portrays_Santa_Claus.jpg
http://badmagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Mistletoe.jpg
http://cdn.blogs.sheknows.com/gardening.sheknows.com/2010/11/Poinsettia.jpg
http://www.ourbigearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/KLL1203091.png
http://www.2gz.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Changzhou-Rice-Cake.jpg
http://bookmarqc.com/8khakis/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Chinese-New-Year-Food-Chinese-New-Year-Candy-Box.jpg
http://www.szcchina.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/chinese-dumpling.jpg
http://tonakai.org/diary/media/3/20070703-Red-Pocket.JPG
http://www.shanghailiving.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/redenvelope.jpg
http://daniel.nomadlife.org/uploaded_images/theorangetreewithredpocketmoney-702590.JPG
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcJxMz3plGOaMFhxi-wzEOsPBd3_Gu3921YRTHh9kvYi18X8mWDlJ6DJpzn2PA5A-OJ-qIygqnTbYgl8bbcMvbHheVZ3jBqslVQC7beUkbrtzxt3JQaNuSQrP2p47_Zq4tfbYElsgkk6VE/s1600/cny-flowers.JPG
http://wayofdesign.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Narcissus1.jpg

Introduction of our channel