Feeding the dragon

IF the millennium festivities haven't exhausted your partying potential, why not celebrate New Year all over again - Chinese style?

February 5 sees the beginning of Chinese New Year with 2000 being the Year of the Dragon.

Food is an integral part of the Chinese festive season and, as the Year of the Dragon is associated with strength, health and good luck, it's a great excuse to invite friends and family over for a delicious oriental feast.

A host of mouth-watering flavours come together in Chinese cooking and oriental dishes give cooks the chance to experiment with a wide range of ingredients.

Vegetables such as baby corn, peppers, spring onion, and carrots can work alongside more exotic ingredients like pineapple, cashew nuts, bamboo shoots and water chestnuts.

Why not celebrate with some succulent king prawns or juicy duck to vary your meal?

Most Chinese dishes also work just as well with chicken, pork, lamb and beef.

Here are a couple of delicious oriental dishes that should go down well with all the family.

Diet has a central role in Chinese thinking.

Just as western nutritionists advise a balanced diet for health benefits, so Chinese philosophers have long recommended a balance of the three treasures of jing, qi and shen to make the person radiant with life, physically fit, mentally sharp and alert. This balance can be influenced through diet and choice of foods.

It is supplemented by a belief that there are five elements - fire, earth, metal, wood and water - which are fundamental to food and energy. They lend a character or energy to foods and are highly representational, symbolising colours, flavours, moods, seasons and body parts. For example, if your liver is weak Chinese physicians might suggest eating more wood-based foods such as chicken, liver, green pepper or broccoli to boost your liver energy.

The Chinese also believe that moods and outlooks can be positively influenced by diet.

Beef is reputed to soothe anger, pork is eaten to ease agitation, chicken is considered to increase passion, vegetables are believed to strengthen resolve, and prawns are said to bear up the spirit.

CHINESE STIR-FRIED LAMB

(Serves two)

225g lean lamb stir-fry strips

1.25cm fresh root ginger, grated

2 cloves garlic crushed

1 yellow pepper, seeded and cut into strips

1 orange pepper, seeded and cut into strips 5 spring onions, sliced

5cm cucumber, cut into sticks

75g pak choi, Chinese leaf, or cabbage, shredded

227g water chestnuts (optional)

1tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp plum sauce

IN A large non-stick wok or saucepan, dry fry the meat, ginger and garlic until browned.

Add peppers and spring onions and cook for 2-3 minutes. add the cucumber, pak choi, and water chestnuts.

Cook for 1-2 minutes.

Add the sauce to the pan and continue cooking for a further minute. Serve with egg noodles, additional stir-fry vegetables and prawn crackers.

SPICY PRAWNS AND BRAMLEY NOODLES

(Serves four)

350g Bramley apples, cored and sliced

175g medium egg noodles

1 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp dark soy sauce 1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 red pepper, deseeded and sliced

100g mangetout

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2.5cm piece root ginger, chopped

1 bunch spring onions, shredded

225g cooked tiger prawns, thawed if frozen

COOK the noodles according to packet instructions.

Drain, toss in the sesame oil and set aside.

Prepare the spicy sauce by mixing the soy and chilli together until smooth, set aside.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok. Add the Bramley apple and pepper slices and stir fry for four minutes or until golden. Add the mangetout, garlic and ginger and stir-fry for two minutes. Add the prawns, spring onions and spicy sauce to the wok with 150ml water and stir fry for one minute.

Stir in the noodles and serve immediately.

To help your Chinese New Year celebrations go off with a bang here a few Chinese superstitions to share with your guests.

The Chinese believe it is bad luck to kill anything on New Year's Day.

People therefore do not use knives to avoid bringing bad luck for the rest of the year.

All houses are also cleaned thoroughly at New Year and dirt must be swept out of the back door - sweeping it out of the front door could lead to one of the family being swept away.

By setting off fireworks on New Year's Eve, the old year is expelled and the new one welcomed in.

Every door and window in the house is opened to let the old year out.

Traditionally at Chinese New Year people give each other "Lai see" envelopes containing luck money.

The Chinese wear red clothes at New Year because it is the luckiest and most auspicious colour.

The first person you meet and the first words you hear on New Year's Day will predict your fortunes for the rest of the year.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.