8 healthy Spring Festival recipes in flu season

Spring Festival is the most important festival in China. The festival could also be one of the greatest culinary events on the planet. During Spring Festival, people pay great attention to the food prepared during the entire holiday. Some dishes have a special meaning, and some even have a story behind them. However, people this year dare not eat chicken or duck for fear of avian influenza. So, if you are looking for some special dishes without chicken or duck during Spring Festival, the following are our recommendations.

1. Steak wrapped in lotus leaves

[Photo by Fan Zhen/For China Daily]

Xu Long is head chef of Western cuisine at Beijing's Great Hall of the People. Here is a recipe in which he uses Australian beef in a favorite Chinese recipe.

Ingredients:

Beef short ribs: 1,500g

Fresh lotus leaves: three pieces

Oyster sauce: 125g

Dark soy sauce: 5g

Wangshouyi spices (a mix of 13 spices)：1/4 of one bag

Salt: 3g

Sugar: 5g

Chinese spirits (baijiu): 10g

Cornstarch: 15g

Chopped spring onions: 10g

Chopped ginger: 10g

Sesame oil: 25g

To make:

Cut the ribs apart; boil them in water for a short time to clear the blood.

Mix all the ingredients except the sesame oil. Marinate the meat for 24 hours.

Blanche the leaves and let them cool off. Pat the leaves dry to remove water. Cut the leaves into smaller pieces for wrapping ribs.

Drizzle sesame oil over ribs, then wrap the ribs in the leaves and use kitchen twine to tie each package closed.

Steam ribs in a steamer for about two hours and serve hot.

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