Natalie Tan's Book of Luck and Fortune(49)

In three days, I would hold a dinner and invite all of them. They wouldn’t be able to turn down the invitation because the dinner would be held in my mother’s memory.

I had no guilt for invoking my mother’s name. Nothing else would coax my fractured neighbors to come together. The three new recipes would counter the three dishes that had failed, I told myself. They had to work.



* * *





?By the afternoon of the dinner, all of my neighbors had confirmed their attendance—even Celia, to my surprise. I wanted to think that if she could talk, Meimei would praise my ingenuity and agree that my plan would work.

Laolao’s recipe book lay on the counter among garlands of fresh vegetables and meats wrapped in butcher paper. Stainless-steel pots gleamed from a recent scrubbing while my grandmother’s wok, with its darkened patina, sat on the stove’s burner. Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” played on the Victrola.

It was time to cook.





Spring Rolls



Carrots

Green beans

Garlic

Shrimp

Pork tenderloin

Fish sauce

Salt

Pepper

Bean sprouts

Green leaf lettuce

Pre-made spring roll wrappers

Coriander

Hot sauce

Crushed peanuts



Sauce:


Apple cider vinegar

Sugar

Soy sauce

Water

Chili flakes

Garlic

Cornstarch


Julienne the carrots and green beans. Mince the garlic. Butterfly the shrimp, and slice the pork tenderloin into tiny strips.

Heat the wok and stir-fry the pork and shrimp with a sprinkle of fish sauce and garlic. Set aside.

Stir-fry the carrots and green beans with a dash of salt and pepper for four to five minutes to ensure they retain their crunch. Lastly, stir-fry the bean sprouts for two minutes.

Toss the filling together, mixing the vegetables with the meat.

For the sauce, mix the apple cider vinegar, sugar, and soy sauce in a bowl. The ratios depend on your taste as well as the portion of the filling. Boil the water and add the ingredients, all the while stirring to dissolve the sugar. Once the mixture is boiling, add the chili flakes and the rest of the minced garlic along with the cornstarch to thicken the sauce. Always add more garlic than you need because there can never be too much of it. Keep stirring to avoid clumps from forming, and once it has thickened and is the proper viscosity, it is ready.

Place a lettuce leaf on the wrapper. Stuff the leafy canoe with the filling and top with a generous helping of the sauce. Add coriander leaves, hot sauce, and the crushed peanuts as a garnish before wrapping everything up.



Note:

Time is the key to these spring rolls.

This is a meal designed to entice conversation and build connections, for it involves active participation: kinship. Communication is important to bridge any chasms or mend any feuds. This is one of the three dishes that promote harmony.

Each person makes their own spring rolls, and in the process, ingredients are passed around and shared. As much time is spent in preparation of this dish, more time is taken in its consumption.

It is perfect welcome fare for newcomers.

The spring rolls needed the most preparation time, so I tackled them first. My sharp knife minced the onions and garlic, and julienned the carrots and green beans, transforming them into colorful edible confetti. I set aside the garlic and deposited the rest into a hot wok. The vegetables sizzled on impact, dancing in the heat as I stirred, mixing greens, oranges, yellows in a culinary palette. The vegetables would add crunch when added to the seasoned, minced pork.





Watercress Soup



Leftover soup stock, or new stock made from water and chicken neck bones

Ginger

Fresh watercress

Sesame oil

Green onions

Salt


Boil water with the chicken neck bones and two slices of ginger. As the water bubbles, scoop out the impurities rising to the surface in the form of floating clouds. If you have leftover soup stock, skip this step.

When the stock has been purified, drop the bundles of fresh watercress into the boiling pot along with a few drops of sesame oil. Boil until the watercress rises to the surface.

Serve in bowls garnished with minced green onions. Add salt according to taste.

The soup evokes the feeling of wading into a river: the warmth of a summer’s day, the softness of moss on polished stones.



Note:

The balance achieved in this soup brings a lightness of being. The soup brings clarity to clouded minds.

Serve this to the indecisive. It will bring them comfort when their decisions become clearer.

This is the second of three dishes that promote harmony.

At my side, the boiling water bubbled. The base of the watercress soup was a broth made of chicken neck bones. I unwrapped the chicken bones from the brown paper and they tumbled into the pot along with a few slices of ginger. The subtlety of the broth and its main ingredient, watercress, promoted healing.





Clear Soda Shrimp



Ginger

Salt

Pepper

Clear soda

Black tiger shrimp

Sesame oil

Cilantro

Water