Lunar New Year Tablescape

I guess I have begun to blog about once a year now!  

Not every year, but most years, we celebrate the Lunar New Year's.  This year we invited a cute family from our church over for dinner.  What was on the menu?  We had Lemon Chicken and Pork Dumplings, Basmati Rice, and Almond Cookies.  I have been making the Lemon Chicken for over 40 years now, but the Pork Dumplings were added to our Lunar Menu a few years ago.  The Pork Dumplings were a huge hit with the pre-teen and teenage boy of the family we invited for dinner.  They wished I had made more, and their mom called for the recipe later.  Today, I am just showing my table, and I have plans to post the Pork Dumpling Recipe later.  You can find the Lemon Chicken recipe here on my blog.  Here is a picture of it.  It is funny, I was deep frying to the last minute, and I did not take pictures of the Lemon Chicken, Rice or Almond Cookies we had for dessert.  I apologize for the lighting; we held the dinner at night, and the lighting is not so great.

 Here is a picture of the full table.  Inside the snake envelopes was a dollar coin and chocolate coins for everyone at the table.  The giving of red envelopes is called "hongbao" during the Lunar New Year

Mandarin oranges symbolize prosperity, good fortune, and happiness.  Red is a prominent color during the Lunar New Year symbolizing luck, happiness, and prosperity.  The brass Chinese characters were bought many moons ago in Chinatown in San Francisco.  I believe they symbolize double happiness and long life.  I am not totally sure about this.

This is a mirror right by our table.  I bought the fans, napkins, chopsticks, and red envelopes from Oriental Trading Company.  I have four children that live away from us, and this year I sent a package at the end of January that included Valentine's things and Lunar New Year things like napkins, envelopes, fans, and fortune cookies.

I bought the Chinese strawberry candies from World Market.  The boys enjoyed them.

This is a huge Chinese dragon puppet my sister Jackie gave me years ago.  I didn't have room for him on my table...LOL, so I placed him on our piano.

Well for now I bid farewell.  One of my favorite things in life is to prepare a special meal for people for people I love.

Chicken Korma

Hello, I have not written a blog post in years; I have fallen off the wagon.  I thought I would start off the New Year with a blog post of a recipe that I have made repeatedly since I last posted.  It all started when I went to an Indian restaurant in Utah and had some delicious Korma.  The restaurant food was good, but pricey, and the service was subpar.  When I came home, I searched the Internet for a recipe and found this recipe from the blog Favorite Family Recipes.  It has been a hit with my family.  I have no idea about whether this is authentic recipe, but I do know that it makes a delicious meal.

So, it is a long recipe, but well worth the effort.  There are a lot of spices (six) in this recipe, and that is what makes it so good!

Chicken Korma Recipe

Chicken Spice Marinade

3 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Chicken Korma

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

3 teaspoons minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 medium tomatoes cut into small pieces (or 1 can diced tomatoes)

4 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt (sometimes I substitute heavy cream)

3/4 cup water

1 teaspoon salt

14-ounce can coconut milk

1 teaspoon Garam Masala (see below for a substitute)

Slivered almonds (optional)

Instructions:

1.  Put the marinated chicken into a large fry pan over medium heat until cooked throughout.

2.  In a large saucepan, put the oil, garlic, and ginger over medium heat until it starts to simmer.  Then add the remaining spices (except the salt and Garam Masala) and simmer for another minute.  Then add tomatoes and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes.  Add the yogurt and blend in with a wire whisk.  Then add the cooked chicken pieces, the water, and salt.  Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

3.  Stir in the coconut milk and the Garam Masala, then simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally until the sauce become fairly thick.  Serve over Basmati rice.

Garam Masala Substitute

Garam Masala can be pricey, and sometimes hard to find.  I found this substitute on All Recipes, and I have always used it for this Korma.  I keep a little spice bottle of it in my cupboard.

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1-1/2 teaspoons ground coriander

1-1/2 teaspoons cardamon

1-1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Mix all spices together.  place in an airtight container and store in a cool, dry place.

NOTES:

1.  The original recipe does not contain slivered almonds, but at the Indian Restaurant I went to, they served it with almonds and dates.  I have tried it with dates, but I believe the dates makes the sauce too sweet.

2.  You can find coconut milk at most grocery stores.  I usually buy mine at Costco, and sometimes they have a sale on it.  

3.  If you are serving this to someone who might be sensitive to spicy things, you might want to use less Cayenne Pepper, but for my family we usually use the full amount.

I usually serve the Korma on these cute elephant plates my son Skyler bought for me years ago.

I think you will love this Korma!

Top of the Mornin' To You

So do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day?   Whether you are Irish or not, it is always fun to show off your green.  My childhood memories are of always having corned beef, cabbage and potatoes for St. Patrick's Day.  The community I grew up in were always ready for Friday night fish fries, and they were always ready to put on the green.

So, just a little note, I have not blogged for awhile, but I hope to begin again.  Life got the best of me....

It is always fun to have a little chocolate decorating the plate.

When my children were going to elementary school, big contests were held to see which child from each grade level would wear the most green.  Sadly, my children always lost.

The gold and white plates were from TJ Maxx last Christmas.  The green plates were from World Market at Christmas time a couple of years ago;I have matching red ones.

I have used these bubble glasses for so many occasions.  I love them.  The green candlesticks were from when we were first married, and we have been married for thirty years!

The napkins rings actually have fall leaves embossed on them, but if you won't tell, I won't tell!

Just another view of the table.

For dessert, how about some chocolate cupcakes with Andes mints on top?

This gives a better view of the two-toned cupcakes.

I hope you enjoyed this table, and I hope you enjoy St. Patrick's Day, with love from Red Couch Recipes.

Posted with Between Naps on the Porch.