Chinese New Year With Tai Pei ® Appetizers

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #NewYearFortune #CollectiveBias. There are just a few days left till the beginning of the Chinese New Year .

February 19th marks the start of the Lunar New Year, which also coincides  with the New Moon Phase in the Lunar cycle.

2015 is the year of the Green or Wooden Sheep.

To be honest I knew almost nothing  about the Chinese New Year until 5 years ago. I have a very good friend, who was born in China – her name is Xiaoling.

She was nice enough to tell me more about their traditions. And it was a lot of fun learning about them.

Some facts, I found interesting are:

Chinese New Year Celebrations are a little similar to Thanksgiving in the US. Celebration usually lasts for 2 days, but it could go on for 2 weeks.

There always is lots of food. People spend time with their families.

Kids are given (by family members) red envelopes  with money, which symbolizes luck!

New Year Fortune – More Money, More Luck, Let’s just hope for the best!

And since 2015 is the year of the sheep, I heard on TV that to be born in the year of the sheep is considered bad luck. My friend told me that it isn’t necessarily considered bad luck, just people born in this year are not born leaders. Being born in the year of the Horse, Dragon or Tiger is considered lucky!

I love Chinese food and eat it at least once a month, usually out. I rarely cook Chinese, besides fried rice, which is the easiest thing I can make.

I always wanted to make spring or egg rolls, but never even tried.

I recently started buying these great tasting Tai Pei ® Spring and Egg Rolls from the frozen grocery section of my local Walmart. I love them!

No need to spend time filling and rolling spring rolls, these are ready in under 20 minutes and taste amazing. Just place them on a baking sheet and bake them in the oven (for 15-20 minutes), so easy! There also is an option to make them in the microwave.

Perfect for a quick snack or a party appetizer. They are loaded with traditional Chinese flavor, meat and veggies and the wrappers are perfectly crispy.

To celebrate the Chinese New Year, although I’m not Chinese, I decided to get some Tai Pei ® Chicken Egg Rolls and Mini Vegetable Spring Rolls and invite my Chinese friend for lunch. I did it a week earlier, since I knew she was going to be busy celebrating with her family this week. I did not tell her about my plan. I wanted it to be a surprise, because I did not want her to worry and feel like she needs to cook and bring stuff. We had some great time!

These appetizers come with a dipping sauce, but I decided to make my own. I prepared a trio of my favorite Asian dipping sauces – Peanut, Chili Soy and Sriracha Mayo. These take under 10 minutes to make and I’ve included the recipes below.

I know I could have done more, but my friend was amazed with the little I did! Just the fact that I planned a surprise for the coming New Year meant a lot.

And for my New Year’s Celebration, of course I had to include some fortune cookies, to tell me what to expect in 2015. Well mine said “Take advantage of an upcoming opportunity“.

 What fortune are you hoping for the New Year to bring you?

Tai Pei ® Frozen Appetizers are available in chicken, pork and vegetable varieties. My personal favorites are the mini vegetable spring rolls. For more information and to get great ideas for your celebration, you can visit their Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest  pages.

Don’t forget to check out the Chinese New Year App on the Tai Pei ® Facebook page, as well as the Red Envelope tab for a coupon surprise, but hurry, before they run out.

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5 from 1 vote

Chinese New Year With Tai Pei ® Appetizers

By Lyubomira from CookingLSL

Three Dipping Sauces to accompany your Chinese New Year celebrations with Tai Pei ® Spring and Egg Rolls. The recipe makes 3 different sauces, 1/2 cup each.

Prep: 5 minutes mins

Total: 5 minutes mins

Servings: 3

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Ingredients 

1x2x3x

FOR THE PEANUT SAUCE:

• ▢ 2 Tbsp creamy peanut butter
• ▢ 1 Tbsp honey
• ▢ 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• ▢ 1 tsp sesame oil
• ▢ 2 tsp lime juice

FOR THE CHILI SOY SAUCE:

• ▢ 1/4 cup soy sauce
• ▢ 2 tsp chilli sauce, (or more if you'd like it spicier)
• ▢ 1 tsp honey
• ▢ 2 tsp rice wine vinegar
• ▢ 2 tsp sesame oil
• ▢ 1 Tbsp scallions

FOR THE SRIRACHA MAYO:

• ▢ 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• ▢ 1-2 Tbsp Sriracha
• ▢ 2 tsp lime juice

Instructions 

FOR THE PEANUT SAUCE:

• Combine all ingredients in a blender.
• Pulse 3-4 times, until well combined. Add 1 tsp of water, if sauce appears too thick.
• Transfer to a serving bowl.

FOR THE CHILI SOY SAUCE:

• In a small mixing bowl combine: soy sauce, chill sauce, honey, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil and whisk until combined.
• Transfer to a serving bowl. Add scallions on top.

FOR THE SRIRACHA MAYO:

• In a small mixing bowl mix together mayo, 1 Tbsp Sriracha and lime juice. Taste and add more Sriracha if needed.
• Transfer to a serving bowl.

Notes

Nutritional info includes calories for the sauces only.

Nutrition

Calories: 413kcal, Carbohydrates: 14g, Protein: 6g, Fat: 37g, Saturated Fat: 6g, Cholesterol: 15mg, Sodium: 2184mg, Potassium: 135mg, Sugar: 11g, Vitamin A: 45IU, Vitamin C: 5.6mg, Calcium: 8mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: sauce

Cuisine: Chinese

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