10 Feb
Snacks for Chinese New Year
One of the most important thing about Chinese New Year is the food, of course it has to come after your family, friends and companions. Chinese New Year is a chance where people enjoy huge feasts, socialize and pig out! I tend to forget about my weight watch or work out during the period and I’ll carry with me the flabby meat until Chap Goh Meh.
Chinese New Year is also known for its snacks. Usually we will serve our guests with little snacks keep inside a container. This year, mum decided to make her own snacks so I helped out a bit.
Hornet’s Nest are my favourite and it is very addictive. It is crispy with a hint of sweetness. Sesame seeds are added into the batter to make it aromatic. The recipe and methods for both sweet and savoury version are available in FoodCrazee’s blog.
Arrowhead is a kind of swamp vegetable and also cousin to water chesnut or lotus root. My mum used to steam sliced arrowheads and garlic with chinese sausages (lap cheong). It makes a good New Year dish on the dining table. Other than that arrowhead makes a good snack after some deep frying.Peel off the skin and sliced it thinly. Put the sliced arrowhead into hot oil slices by slices. Drain the crisps as soon as it turn golden brown or else it will taste bitter. Bear in mind that the arrowhead slices has to be thin or else it would abosb oil. Sprinkle the crisps with some salt. Warning: It is extremely addictive!! One can never get enough of it!!
Pasar malam and shops in Ipoh are bursting with these crispy filamen crabstick. It is very easy to be duplicated at home, wonder why they can sell it for RM 12 for each red capped plastic container? First cut the filamen crabstick into half.
The filamen crabstick can be easily teared into stripes like this. Deep fried the thin slices until it turned golden brown. No seasoning is required because the slices taste sweet and salty at the same time. It makes a great TV snack!
From left: Crispy filamen crabstick, Chicken floss spring roll (no pic was taken on the making), Arrowhead Crisps.
