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February brings a delicious array of food honorees, offering plenty of reasons to celebrate and savor your favorite treats all month long. Food Holidays in February:
February 1: National Baked Alaska Day
February 2: National Tater Tot Day
February 4: Homemade Soup Day
February 5: National Chocolate Fondue Day
February 8: National Pizza Day
February 9: National Bagels and Lox Day
February 10: National Have a Brownie Day
February 20: National Muffin Day
February 23: National Dog Biscuit Day
February 24: National Tortilla Chip Day
February 27: National Strawberry Day RECIPE: Year of the Fire Horse - Chinese New Year, February 17th Chinese New Year Sweet Rice Cake (Nian Gao) Symbolizes: pay raise, promotion, good luck Ingredients 2 teaspoons vegetable oil (plus more for brushing baking pans)
3½ to 4 cups of water (depending on humidity levels where you are)
4 slices ginger
2 cups dark brown sugar or brown rock sugar
½ teaspoon allspice powder
1½ pounds glutinous rice flour (1½ bags, as they generally come in 1-lb bags)
½ pound rice flour (about half a bag)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon dark molasses
zest of 1 large orange
6 dried dates (for decoration, optional) Instructions 1. Prepare two 8-inch round baking pans by brushing the insides with vegetable oil. 2. Add 2 cups of water and the ginger to a medium-sized pot, bring it a boil, then let it simmer for 10 minutes over low to medium heat with the lid covered. Turn off the heat and stir in the brown sugar and allspice until the sugar is dissolved completely. Remove the ginger slices. Now add 1 1/2 cups of cold water to cool down the mixture so it’s warm, not hot. 3. In a large mixing bowl, mix the two kinds of flour together and then slowly add in the sugar water mixture. Stir thoroughly until the batter is smooth (without any lumps). Now stir in the vanilla extract, molasses, orange zest, and 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil until thoroughly combined. The resulting batter should have a consistency similar to condensed milk. If the batter is too thick, add a bit more water a couple tablespoons at a time until the desired consistency is reached. 4. Pour the batter evenly into two foil pans. Gently tap the pans against your countertop to get rid of air bubbles. Top each pan with three decorative dates in the center, if using. Put both pans in a double-decker bamboo steamer and steam for about 1 hour on high heat (the water should be boiling, but should NOT be bubbling high enough to touch the foil pans). You might need to add water into the steamer midway to avoid having the water dry up and burn your bamboo steamers. 5. After 1 hour, poke a toothpick into the rice cake. It’s done if the toothpick comes out clean–just like a regular cake! Regarding steaming techniques, for this recipe and in general, it doesn’t matter what type of vessel you use. The core goal here is to use steam to cook the food, which means it’s important that the steam doesn’t escape. 6. For example, if you use bamboo steamer, you will also need a pot that fits the bamboo steamer perfectly so there is no visible steam escaping. If you don’t have a pot that fits the bamboo steamer, you will need to put the bamboo steamer inside a much larger pot with a lid and set the bamboo steamer on a rack above the water. Whatever you decide to use, with the correct set up, you should not see steam escaping! LUCKY PLEASERS:
For additional good luck and success that is also healthy, have plenty of the luckiest fruit in Chinese tradition . . . TANGERINES! Its name sounds similar to the Chinese words for “luck” and “success,” so they’re often served at the end of a meal or given as gifts to relatives during visits year-round. But during Chinese New Year, they’re everywhere. Their roundness and golden color signify fullness and wealth. It’s believed that the more of them you eat during Lunar New Year, the more wealth they’ll bring, so you might want to get peeling…
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