Today heralds Chinese New Year and the commencing of the Year of the Snake. MSN has dire predictions for this coming year. "We're looking at a year only a Slytherin could love, Chinese astrologers say. The Lunar New Year comes on Sunday, ushering in the Year of the Snake — and it's a year that traditional forecasters say could bring economic upheaval and geopolitical strife. They point to events in previous years of the snake as evidence, including the calamitous terror attacks of 2001 and the 1941 Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor."
If this is your year, as it is mine, and you are born in a Year of the Snake: here is a fun page of personality traits that some believe are characteristic of snake people. Smile.
For many years our family has trekked down to Seattle's China Town to observe the Dragon dance, one year the dragon even stopped and shook himself before my son. I'm told this action brings good luck to the recipient for the coming year. We'll take that!
This year, we are having a simple dinner at home and will of course serve Asian dishes. Keeping my family's tastes in mind, this year I'm choosing this recipe by Cooking Channel's Ching-he Huang of Chinese Food Made Easy fame as our main dish. Delicious!
Singapore-Style Noodles
Ingredients
2 tablespoons groundnut oil ( peanut)
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 red chile, seeded and finely chopped
5 fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons ground turmeric
3 1/2 ounces diced smoked bacon
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced
1 handful julienned carrot strips
1 handful bean sprouts
3 1/2 ounces cooked chicken breast, shredded
9 ounces dried vermicelli rice noodles, pre-soaked in hot water for 10 minutes and drained
1 teaspoon crushed dried chiles
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon clear rice vinegar or cider vinegar
1 egg, beaten
Dash toasted sesame oil
2 spring onions (green), sliced lengthwise
Directions
Heat the groundnut oil in a wok, and when hot, stir-fry the ginger, chiles, mushrooms and turmeric for a few seconds. Add the bacon, and cook for less than 1 minute. Add the red bell pepper, carrots, and bean sprouts and cook for another minute, then add the cooked chicken, and stir well to combine.
Add the noodles, and stir-fry well, for 2 minutes, then season with the chiles, soy sauce, oyster sauce and vinegar. Stir to combine.
Add in the beaten egg, stirring gently until the egg is cooked through, less than 1 minute. Then, season with the sesame oil. Sprinkle over the spring onions, and serve immediately.
Cook's Note: You could also add 6 ounces raw Tiger prawns (shrimp), shelled, and deveined. Add them to the pan, and cook for 1 minute, or until they start to turn pink, right before you cook the bacon.
Source: Cooking Channel
