How to Make Chinese Dumplings

Common food that Chinese heritage usually consume are peanuts, soybeans and grains. The Chinese culture believes in steaming most of their foods and only fried what is needed. They believe drinking something cold can damage and out balance their body system. When it is suppertime, everyone joins in at the middle of a table and food is served among the most important guest there, then someone signals everyone to eat. It is important for the Chinese heritage to uphold their health. The Chinese people try to keep their body well-balanced with a healthy diet. A healthy diet will aid and prevent imbalances and indigestion (Purnell, 2013).

Grains like rice, wheat and millet were staple items in the Ancient Chinese diet. They also ate plenty of meat including pork, chicken, duck, goose and dog. Vegetables included yams, soy beans, turnip as well as spring onions and

First, Chinese Americans preserve their ethnic identities through holidays. One of the biggest holidays is the Chinese New Year. The Chinese New Year is different from the regular New Years in that it relies on the moon cycles instead of the western calendar, so it falls on different days each year. There is a lot of preparation that goes into the Chinese New Year. People start cleaning their houses and decorating them with spring couplets on the twentieth day of the twelfth moon. Spring couplets are short poems written on red scrolls of paper in black. A popular New Years tradition in the United States is the exchanging of red envelopes containing money, which are called hong-bao. Most families spend this holiday celebrating together because this holiday, above others, emphasizes family and family ties.

Remove wrapper and place gum in right side of the mouth. Begin chewing for 20 seconds on the first trial, doing

(Is using a wooden or metal hoop feel free to skip this step). If you are using willow or grapevine, place it into a bowl of warm water for about thirty minutes. It may be longer, depending if you can bend it without breaking it. Bend it into a circle, make sure to do more than one loop so that it can be extra sturdy. Use a twist tie, in three different places to fasten the willow or grapevine so it does not lose its shape. (Place two heavy, flat objects to keep in flat until completely dry).

Grandmas chicken and dumplings, start with 5 cups of flour into a mixing bowl. Add a table spoon of salt, a half a cup of lard. Knead the flour until you can form it into a ball. Put it on a cutting board and roll the dough out. Cut into two by two square shapes and put that aside. Then they prepare the chicken by putting a 2.5-pound chicken into a crock pot, cook for 6 hours on low. The broth from the chicken is added to another pot, and remove the chicken from the bones and add this chicken to the pot with the chicken broth. Let that simmer, when it starts to boil add the dumplings that were previously cut out. Stir the mixtures together for about fifteen minutes, then the dumplings are ready to be served. What I do, I buy a can of buttermilk

The Vietnamese immigrant’s cuisine mainly consists of rice, noodles, tofu, fish, pork, chicken, vegetables, and vegetable oil. Rice is always involved in any of the daily meals. Green tea, jasmine tea, and pure water are the daily drinks. In daily meals, a pair of chopsticks is always an indispensable tool with most of Orient. It takes the role of a fork in the cuisine Western. Among the Vietnamese immigrant’s cuisines in the United States, noodle soup has become the highlight of Vietnamese culture. In noodle soup, white rice noodles come together with sliced rare beef or chicken, meatballs, and brisket. The broth for noodle soup is practically made by boiling beef bones, white onion and herbs, such as cinnamon, ginger, fennel seed, clove, star anise, etc., Customers are served noodle soup with jalapeno, basil, bean sprouts, and lemon. In South Sacramento, among plenty of Vietnamese restaurants, there are dozens of noodle soup restaurants concentrated in the Little Saigon Supermarket and neighborhoods. Some restaurants are Huong Lan, Thanh Huong, King, Pho Bac Hoa Viet, Pho Garden, Pho Anh Dao, Bon Mua, Ho Tay, etc. Vietnamese cuisine has become a popular choice of food, for both those who have immigrated to the United States and those born in the United States. It has enriched the American

few tablespoons of water, and then cover with a plastic wrap. Let this heat for

Asia is such a large continent that being Asian already means you are part of a culturally diverse community. As an Asian American, you are mix of two cultures. We celebrate the lunar new year with huge family gatherings, gift exchanging, and food. Lots of food. Whether it be dumplings, kimchi, mattar paneer, mee goreng, or pho, our native cuisine will always make it to the dinner table. During the lunar new year, my family always prepares a huge hot pot, stuffed with shiitake and enokitake mushrooms, vegan fish balls, tofu, carrots, cabbage, ramen, bean sprouts, beancurd, and many other delicious foods. My grandparents hand us red envelopes and we bow to them to show our respect.

A traditional dish of “a slimy rock cod with bulging eyes” (Tan 184) was served along with “a plate of squid, their backs crisscrossed with knife markings so they resemble bicycle tires” (Tan 184). These are traditional Chinese foods, as seafood was a common meal choice during ancient times. There were also many plates of food on the table during dinner, as there was during Imperial times. Not only were traditional Chinese foods served in Fish Cheeks, but many meal customs were also presented. Chinese manners are a lot different from American manners.

Mix the salt with the flour, work the lard into the flour, make it up into a good workmanlike dough with cold water. Spread some flour on the back of a box or something flat, and pat the dough around a while. Then roll it out with whatever kind of round bottle you prefer. Put a little more lard on the surface of the sheet of dough and then slosh a little flour on and roll it up and then roll it out again with the bottle.

Take one end and hold with thumb in place on the metal fragment, wrap around using the other end. Make a small loop with second end of string and place first end of string through the loop. Pull both ends to tighten and secure. ~Once tighten, place string around the wooden ring from outside to the inside. Do this step in the same manner multiple times until the ring is completely wrapped with the string.

Spoon filling into the center of each circle. Pull dough over the filling and seal the edges with a fork.

Fish also play a large role in the celebrations. The word for fish, “Yu” sounds like the words both for and abundance. The fish is usually served whole, with head and tail, which mean having a good beginning and ending for the coming year. These round dumplings which is called JiaoZi signify family reunion. Its shape look like a bag the has many gold coins inside. This dish is called Lion’s Head Meatball. They are cooked with oversized meatballs and some vegetable soup. The lion represents power and strength in Chinese culture, while the oversized meatballs symbolize family reunion. Duck symbolizes fidelity in chinese culture. Also, sweet and sour pork is popular with families hoping for a lot of grandchildren because the Cantonese word for “sour” sounds like the word for grandchild. Cakes have a special place in Chinese New year celebrations. Chinese people called them NianGow. NianGow is made up of rice flour, wheat starch, water and sugar. Their sweetness symbolizes a rich and sweet life. The family will then end the night with firecrackers.

hot water (colored), stacking them open-mouthed on top of each other with a slick plastic card