A taste of the Chinese New Year

THERE are two main features of real Cantonese cooking -- the ingredients must be fresh and everything is cooked very quickly at extremely high temperatures.

"We start off with the freshest vegetables because they are the tastiest," said Yu and You manager Victor. "Then, by cooking quickly -- and in a very hot wok -- the flavour and all the nutrition is sealed in."

We were watching one of the North's acclaimed masters of the art of Cantonese cooking, Yu and You chief chef Mr K -- to help with language difficulties all the names of staff are shortened -- prepare chicken green pepper with black bean sauce.

To begin a dish for four people, Mr K took two large chicken breasts, trimmed any excess fat or skin and thinly sliced them "across the grain".

The chicken strips were then placed in a small bowl with a mixture of potato starch and water, a quarter teaspoon of salt, a pinch of sugar and half a cupful of vegetable oil. This marinade was stirred well, so that every piece of chicken was coated, then put to one side.

Next, the vegetables. A large onion was halved, then sliced and cubed. "When we get to the cooking everything is so fast that all the different ingredients must be prepared in advance so that they are to hand," said Victor.

I often use peppers in my own efforts at oriental cooking at home, but words fail me when I try to describe how Mr K prepared the green pepper for this dish -- and he was, Victor assured me, going slowly for the sake of this article. The chef who has worked for the Yu and You for the past nine years took a normal green pepper, topped and tailed it, opened it up, scooped out the middle, opened up the skin and sliced it diagonally in less time than it took me to write this sentence!

While he was doing all this with a razor sharp chopper he was looking around, talking to his underchefs, Sam, Rong, Billy -- all Chinese -- and Ted, a local lad apprenticed from Bolton College. The nickname habit is strong at Yu and You. Ted's real name is Alex Seddon!

To the green pepper is added one spring onion, again chopped into segments, and a quarter of a chopped red chilli with the seeds removed.

Mr K prepares his own black bean sauce, although Victor says the ready-made supermarket sauces are mostly quite good.

With all the ingredients ready, Mr K then heated up his wok with about a good dollop of vegetable oil. When everything was hot enough, the chicken was dropped into the wok and fried until it was about two-thirds cooked. It was then removed from the wok and put to drain. The chef then added the vegetables with just a little oil.

Again, in just a minute or so the vegetables were adjudged almost ready and the chicken was re-introduced.

A tablespoon of Chinese white wine, chicken stock ("water will do"), another half teaspoon of salt, the same of sugar and three or four drops of sesame oil and a teaspoonful of mushroom soy sauce -- all the time stirring and shaking the wok so that everything was cooked at the same speed.

Finally, Mr K added a solution of potato starch -- although I was told cornflour would do -- to thicken slightly, and the deed was done. In my house at this point the dish would be tipped from the wok onto a plate. At Yu and You, Mr K ladled it onto a large serving dish on which he had earlier placed thin sliced cucumber, which he had twisted into a pattern, and a carrot which he had carved to look like a rose.

In total, despite having to stop occasionally for BEN photographer Sean Wilton, the meal took Mr K no more than 25 minutes to prepare and cook. It shouldn't take a beginner much more than half as long again.

The food was certainly not wasted as Sean and I left Yu and You with a carrier bag each!

The meal was quite simply excellent. The chicken melted in the mouth with the various vegetables crisp and tasty adding a counterpoint, and the sauce was smooth and tasty.

Dinner brings with it a feast of goodwill

THE origin of the Chinese New Year is centuries old -- in fact, too old to be traced accurately. Beginning on February 12 and lasting for 12 days, it is popularly recognised as the Spring Festival.

Preparations tend to begin a month before, when people buy presents, decoration materials, food and clothing.

A huge clean-up gets under way days before the New Year, when Chinese houses are cleaned from top to bottom, to sweep away any traces of bad luck, and doors and window frames are given a new coat of paint, usually red.

The doors and windows are then decorated with paper and couplets on themes such as happiness, wealth and longevity.

The eve of the New Year is perhaps the most exciting part of the event, when traditions and rituals are very carefully observed in everything from food to clothing.

Dinner is usually a feast of seafood and dumplings, signifying different good wishes. Delicacies include prawns, for liveliness and happiness, dried oysters (or ho xi), for all things good, raw fish salad (yu sheng), to bring good luck and prosperity, Fai-hai (Angel Hair, an edible hair-like seaweed), to bring prosperity, and dumplings boiled in water (Jiaozi), signifying a good wish for a family.

After dinner, the family sit up for the night playing cards, board games or watching TV programmes dedicated to the occasion. At midnight, the sky is lit up by fireworks.

On the day itself, an ancient custom called Hong Bao, meaning Red Packet, takes place. This involves married couples giving children and unmarried adults money in red envelopes.

The family then begins to say greetings from door to door, first to their relatives and then their neighbours.

The end of the New Year is marked by the Festival of Lanterns, a celebration with singing and dancing.

Horses are wise and intelligent with many talents

THIS year will be the Year of the Horse. People born during the Year of the Horse are very popular for their cheerful disposition and are generally well liked and admired.

They are skilled with money matters and good with their hands. Often, they are wise and intelligent, harbouring talents in many fields and they are extremely hard working. However, they are also known to play as hard as they work.

Horses are born under signs of elegance and ardour but, under normal circumstances, will come across as being very easy going and laid back. Get them worked up about something, however, and they are very hard to bring down again.

They can be incredibly short-tempered at times, which may be partly due to their rebellious nature.

They enjoy crowds and entertainment and are renowned for their talkativeness, sharp wit and taking pleasure in the company of others.

Active and energetic, horses generally have good dress sense and will often be found in theatres, concerts and parties. They have boundless energy and ambition. However, they know themselves to be more cunning than intelligent and sadly often see themselves as being inferior to their peers.

This often results in the horse constantly changing his company for fear of being exposed as a fraud!

Independent and individual, horses also tend to be a little impatient about everything and frequently come across as being selfish.

Some might see them as egotists but, although they will only really concern themselves with their own problems and successes, the outcome is invariably of benefit to everybody. Horses are also famous for suddenly losing interest in projects and areas of work as well as social circles.

It is thought that those who are born in the Year of the Horse will leave home early in life, being born to travel. Their yearning for independence and freedom means they need plenty or room to roam.

Someone born under the sign of the horse will be a stable and loving partner in love. Although they fall in love easily and may have several relationships before they find the right person, they will give up everything for love. They are seducers, often coming across strong at the beginning of a relationship. Unfortunately, they are burdened with many contradictions of character that leads them to crave love and intimacy while at the same time feeling cornered and pressured.

In work, they make good scientists because of their honest and factual nature. A horse never shies away from giving a direct opinion and is always a good source of reliable information. Their passionate roots also lead them to success in fields of poetry.

Born under the element sign of Fire, a horse is said to be blessed with great fortune or cursed with great misfortune, possibly both.

They are most compatible with tigers and dogs, but are hostile towards rats.

Goats and pigs also make worthy partners, but it is with dragons and snakes that their passions can be aroused. Rabbits are good friends to a horse but monkeys are best avoided.

Famous people who were born in the Year of the Horse include Robert Wagner, Rolf Harris, Helmut Kohl, Clint Eastwood, Barbara Streisand, John Thaw and Aretha Franklin.