Chinese New Year at Spice Temple

幸福 Happiness
Jasmine tea egg with smoked chicken salad
Eggs are a traditional Chinese New Year ingredient, symbolising a fresh start and new beginnings. Eggs also represent fertility and the joy this brings to families.

You will need to prepare the jasmine tea eggs a day in advance

Ingredients

For the jasmine tea infused eggs

• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 2tbsp jasmine tea leaves
• 1 cup dark soy sauce
• 2 cloves star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• ½ cup water

For the smoked chicken salad

• 2 smoked chicken marylands (a cut of chicken which contains both drumstick and thigh), store bought
• 1 cucumber
• ½ bunch spring onion
• ½ bunch coriander
• 2tbsp crispy chilli oil, Laoganma brand

For the black Vinegar Dressing

• 75ml black vinegar
• 45ml chilli oil
• 25g caster sugar
• 5g table salt

Method
For the eggs

1. In a cooking pot over high heat, combine dark soy sauce, water, star anise, cinnamon stick and jasmine tea. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Take the mixture off the heat and cool down to room temperature.
3. In a separate pot, bring water to the boil and gently place eggs into the pot. Cook for 7 minutes. Remove and place into a bowl of ice water immediately.
4. Once the eggs have cooled down, gently tap the sides with a spoon to create even cracks.
5. Place eggs in a separate bowl and pour over the tea infused dark soy until submerged. Leave eggs to rest in the fridge overnight.

For the salad dressing

1. To prepare the salad dressing, place all ingredients in a bowl and whisk well until chilli oil and black vinegar and fully combined.
2. Cut cucumber and spring onion into fine long strips.
3. Then, roughly chop coriander.
4. Shred chicken into bite sized pieces and place in a salad bowl.

To finish

5. To serve the dish, peel the tea infused eggs and cut into quarters.
6. Combine cucumber, spring onion, coriander and crispy chilli oil with your smoked chicken, and then dress well with black vinegar dressing.
7. Serve the egg along with the smoked chicken salad.

福 Peace
Roasted pork belly with black fungi salad
Pork is another staple for any Chinese banquet, symbolises strength and abundant blessings. This sauce is the perfect balance of acidity and spice, and cuts through the fattiness of the pork belly.

• You will need to prepare pork a day in advance in order to properly dry out the pork skin. This helps to achieve a crisp crackling.

Ingredients

• 1 serving of pork belly, skin on
• 50g black fungi
• ½ bunch spring onion
• Table salt, for basting

 For the green chilli dressing

• 1tbsp minced garlic
• 1tbsp minced ginger
• 2 tbsp chopped green chilli
• 100ml rice wine vinegar
• 50ml black vinegar
• 80g sugar
• 30ml light soy sauce
• 50ml chilli oil

Method

1. Score the pork skin, 5mm deep, using a very sharp knife.
2. Preheat oven to 220°C. Sprinkle a good amount of table salt over the skin then transfer the pork to a wire rack in a roasting tin. Place in oven and roast for 30 minutes. Then, reduce the oven temperature to 175°C and continue cooking for another 15 minutes.
3. Check the internal temperature of the pork with a thermometer. It should be 59°C. Remove from oven and leave to rest.
4. Soak the black fungi cold water to rehydrate for 1 hour. Once it has rehydrated, or is soft and squishy, cut into small bite sized pieces.
5. Then, slice spring onion into fine long strips and leave aside.

For the dressing

1. In a small bowl, combine all ingredients together and whisk well until combined.

To finish

1. To serve the dish, cut the pork belly into 2 cm sized cubes and place them neatly on a plate.
2. Dress black fungi and spring onion with green chilli dressing, and then place on top of cubed pork belly.