Enter the Year of the Dragon

This week marks the beginning of The Year of the Dragon. Chinese New Year was on Monday, January 23rd and we're excited to try our hand at some traditional Chinese dishes. And this time we're gonna resist the urge to call our favorite delivery spot (Main Garden, anyone?) and make everything by hand.

Because making dumplings, egg rolls and lo mein from scratch seemed a little intimidating, we needed some inspiration. Enter Bruce Lee. His classic Enter the Dragon was exactly what we needed. Watching Bruce win battle after battle gave us confidence that we could follow a couple new recipes- even if we wrecked the kitchen in the process.

So, we put down the nunchucks and picked up a laptop to use FoodPair Recipe Search Engine for traditional Chinese dishes like steamed dumplings and moo shu pork. After some trial and error, here are our 5 favorite dishes for the Year of the Dragon.

Plump Pea Dumplings
With this recipe you'll be a dumpling black-belt in no time.
Ingredients: Olive Oil, Parmesan Cheese, Shallot, Ricotta Cheese, Peas, Lemon Zest, Sea Salt, Wonton Wrappers

Chinese Boiled Pork Dumplings
Steamy Kitchen walks you through dumplings step-by-step.
Ingredients: Scallion, Ginger, Soy, Napa Cabbage, Salt, White Pepper, Ground Pork, Chinese Rice Wine, Sesame Oil, Dumpling Wrappers

Chicken and Shrimp Egg Rolls
Making egg rolls is a fun and delicious cooking project.
Ingredients: Cilantro, Garlic, Shrimp, Scallion, Cabbage, Ginger, Chicken Stock, Chicken Breast, Apple, Red Chile, Egg Roll Wrappers

Moo Shu Pork
Not sure why, but we always love wrapping up moo shu pancakes.
Ingredients: Garlic, Ginger, Soy Sauce, Flour Tortilla, Cornstarch, Sesame Oil, Pork Loin, Hoisin Sauce, Cole Slaw Mix

Steamed Cantonese-Style Fish
In Chinese, fish sounds like "save more" and brings good luck.
Ingredients: Cilantro, Ginger, Cod, Sea Salt, Sesame Oil, Peanut Oil, Spring Onion, Light and Dark Soy Sauce


Happy Chinese New Year, everyone! Feel free to share your dumpling-making secrets in the comments.

If there are any themes, ingredients or dishes you'd like us to highlight, post them in the comments or on our Facebook page. And while you're at it, Like us on Facebook for helpful food news, tips and recipes in your news feed.