Chinese New Year Celebrations Hong Kong Style and Wine Pairing

School of Wok
Main part of Chinese New Year celebrations include food and the ceremonies surround it. I remember so well when my mother-in-law used to cook different dishes and each had a meaning focused on wealth, health, prosperity and good fortune.  This year Hong Kong Tourism Board has partnered with some of the finest Chinese restaurants, in London – Ming Jiang, Grand Imperial, China Tang at the Dorchester and China Club – to offer foodies a chance to taste magnificent Chinese cuisine. The School of Wok, Central London, will  teach how to make a superb banquet for our own party.
Jeremy Pang – founder of School of Wok teaching us to roll wontons
 making crispy wontons

The wonton filling were prepared in advance and it consisted in a mixture of minced garlic, ginger, prawns, Chinese chives, soy sauce, sesame oil and a pinch of sugar.

    above: hand model Jeanne author of the fabulous Cooksister Blog folding a
lovely flower bud shaped wonton (which looks like tortellini)

THE FOLDING

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1. Place 1 tbsp filling in the centre of the pastry

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2. Using the tip of your finger, wet all sides of the pastry with cold water

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3. Fold bottom corner over the filling to the top corner and press pastry down to seal all sides (to form a triangle)

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4. Holding the base of the filling with your thumbs, pull the 2
corners of the triangle towards each other, overlap the ends and then
press together to form a ‘trough’ shape

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5. Place aside and fold all wontons the same way. They are ready to be deep fried.

the wine  pairing of choice of A Grape Night In for the deep fried wontons  was the New Zealander sparkling Sauvignon Blanc 2010. This new bubbly is light,  fresh, clean, citrusy, notes of passion-fruit and plenty of fizz. Perfect party starter.
Wontons were fried and served with sweet chilli sauce and a tamarind sauce. The sweetness and acidic tamarind sauce that cut through the deep fried wonton perfectly.
cook stations ready!
  Jeremy teaching Danny how to use a wok properly
Above the final dish, Hong Kong stir-fry, we were told a vegetarian dish served at breakfast,  with added plates of stir fried rice and matching wines.
In this particular evening A Grape Night In was pairing the spicy Asian food with wine.

The wine pairings: a choice of wine and red win:
Red wine: Sepp : 2011,  Zweigel, Austria’s most planted red grape and a relative new to the market. This organic and unoaked wine is medium-bodied, 12% alcohol, with gentle
tannins and a red sour cherry with black pepper-like taste and a liquorice finish. Not my choice as I don’t the liquorice finish. It can be chilled at 13oC -15oC for a summertime wine.
White wine: 2012, Some Young Punks ‘Monsters Monsters Attack’, Riesling, Clare Valley from Australia, a fine and gentle medium bodied wine, with refreshing bursts of lime, apples and sweet peaches. 11% alcohol. Perfect pairing with the spiciness of Chinese and Asian foods. The eye catching label is a endless point of conversation.

Discover more about  Hong Kong click on Hong King Tourist Board site: HKTB
The School of Wok is hosting a series of Chinese New Year and banquets lessons. More details : here.
We also got a goodie bag which included a pair of chopsticks decorated with eight Austrian crystal symbolising splendour and good fortune. It’s very Hot&Chilli bling.
Happy Chinese New Year of the snake and I am waiting for my red envelope!

‘give someone a fish; they will eat for a day. teach them how to fish, they will eat for a lifetime’
Other views on the event and lovely photography:
Cherrapeno
Cooksister 
Disclaimer: I was invited to this event but was not paid to attend or write this post, all views are my own. 

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4 Comments

  1. Nic
    February 7, 2013 / 8:04 pm

    Those noodles looks so good I could eat them again!

  2. February 9, 2013 / 6:14 pm

    Hi Nic, I would love a bowl right now too! 😉

  3. February 9, 2013 / 6:19 pm

    That was a fun night! I discovered wonton, wok and hand-modelling skills I did not know I had LOL! 🙂

  4. February 9, 2013 / 7:00 pm

    Jeanne, you are very talented indeed! great to see you at this event. 🙂