Gung hay fat choy

Year of the Dragon was welcomed at somerville kitchen with a feast inspired by Janice Wong's lovely cookbook Chow (more @ c-h-o-w.blogspot.com).

The dinner featured:
- A new version of Chow's 3 Green Beans recipes
- Asparagus, Mushrooms + Pork
- Gai Fun (Chicken Rice)

I wanted to do something different with the green beans so an experiment with Rick's Rub was in order.

Given the occasion, I thought Rick's Rub Asian will be the best choice. But with a guest allergic to onions and garlic, I opted for Rick's Rub Heat.  

An amazingly tasty and easy recipe that I will be making again and again. 

Simply heat up some oil, add the green beans, sprinkle with a generous amount of Rick's Rub Heat, a bit of soy sauce and you have a deliciously eye tearing hot beans. Try it (A list of outlets where you can buy Rick's Rub can be found at Ricksdryrub.com).

Gai Fun - my favourite recipe in Chow. I got this fancy clay pot as a gift and wanted to use it, so, for the second time in one night, I adjusted the recipe (Forgive me JW?).

I got the chicken and rice going on stove top (half the process) then poured all into the pot and put it in the oven to wrap up. Delicious taste, fancy look. Repeat!

For the Asparagus, Mushrooms + Pork recipe, I stuck to the book's instructions (and yes, the Scotch whisky is part of the recipe).

This was the first time I try making this dish and it was easy, tasty, smelled great and disappeared off the table in no time.

None of us spoke any Asian language, but we sure had fun, ate well and enjoyed our small scale somerville kitchen Chinese New Year celebration.