Chinese Food Recipes for Your “Christmas” Meal

Chinese food has long been a “traditional” meal for Jews to enjoy on Christmas. For one thing, Chinese restaurants are usually open. Plus, the lack of dairy in the cuisine makes it easier for Jews to avoid mixing meat and dairy. And it’s delicious!

“Most Jews I know hardly limit their enjoyment to one day a year, so any excuse to eat it is a welcome one”– David Chiu

“Most Jews I know hardly limit their enjoyment to one day a year, so any excuse to eat it is a welcome one,” David Chiu, a Los Angeles Community Leader for The LUNAR Collective, a national organization by and for Asian Jews, told the Journal.

As a Chinese-American Jew, he says “Chinese food on Christmas” has an extra personal dimension. “My mom is a Jewish New Yorker descended from Litvak (Lithuanian Jewish) immigrants and my dad is an immigrant from Hong Kong,” Chiu said. “He’s definitely the cook of the family and when I think of the tastes and smells of home, I think of Chinese food.” 

Want to skip the restaurant this year? Here are Chiu’s kosher adaptations of two of his favorite family recipes.

Chow Fun Noodles

Serves 2 (increase amounts accordingly). You can cook this in a skillet or wok, the latter is more traditional.

1/2 package of chow fun noodles.
(These are long, flat, wide rice noodles, and are called by different names)
1/2 pound of your protein of choice (chicken, beef, tofu, etc.)
1 cup soy sauce
dash of white pepper
1/2 large yellow onion
4 scallions
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 carrot
4 large leaves and stalks of bok choy
1 zucchini
5 white mushrooms
Toasted sesame oil
High heat cooking oil of your choice
(I use peanut oil)

Soak half the package of chow fun noodles in a large bowl of warm water for 30 minutes. Use enough water to completely submerge the noodles; the exact amount of water depends on the size of your bowl.

Marinate the protein in a bowl in soy sauce with a dash of white pepper for 30 minutes.

Chop up the aromatics (onion, scallions and garlic) and combine into a small bowl.

Slice the carrot and set aside. Slice the bok choy, zucchini and mushrooms, and combine into a large bowl.

Heat the empty skillet or wok on high heat until ripping hot. Then pour in enough cooking oil to just coat the bottom of the pan.
Add aromatics (onion, scallions, garlic). It should be sizzling and will cook very fast. Stir fry with a spatula until lightly browned.

Remove into a bowl and set aside.

Toss in the carrots and stir with a spatula until they just start to soften. Add in the rest of the vegetables (bok choy, zucchini, mushrooms), and stir fry until lightly browned. Remove these and set aside in a bowl.

During that time, drain the water from the chow fun noodles and set them aside in a bowl, so they are ready.

Put your protein and the soy sauce marinade into the wok and stir fry until browned.

Add a little bit more cooking oil (a little splash). Toss in the chow fun noodles and immediately start stir frying. Keep them moving and get them thoroughly coated with cooking oil, so they don’t burn and don’t stick to the bottom. The noodles should start to absorb some of the marinade as well. Stir fry until some of the noodles are just SLIGHTLY crispy and the rest have softened to a tender texture.

Toss in the aromatics and the vegetables and mix until everything is combined together. Turn off the heat.

Add a splash of toasted sesame oil, and some extra white pepper to taste. If that is too spicy, use black pepper instead. Thoroughly mix.

Chinese Dumplings/Wontons

This can make Dumplings or Wontons, depending on which wrapper you use

One 14 oz tube of Impossible sausage (use the Spicy flavor)
5 oz frozen spinach, thawed and drained
3 scallions, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro (optional)
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 egg
1 Tbsp cornstarch
ground white pepper
1 tsp garlic powder (or to taste)
1 tsp onion powder (or to taste)
Good Catch vegetarian crab cakes
1 package wonton or dumpling wrappers: wontons are square, dumplings are round. The recipe works for either. They usually come in amounts of 50-60.

Have a bottle of cooking oil ready for use. (I use peanut. You can use vegetable or canola, but don’t use olive oil — it imparts too strong a flavor.) You won’t use the whole bottle but rather will add little amounts of it regularly for each batch of wontons you make.
In a large mixing bowl, combine Impossible sausage, spinach, scallions, cilantro (if using), soy and fish sauces, egg and cornstarch. Season with ground white pepper, garlic powder and onion powder to taste. Mix together with your hands until thoroughly combined.

Chop vegetarian crab cakes into little pieces. Set them aside in a little bowl. (These are optional.)

In the center of each wonton or dumpling wrappers, put 1 teaspoon of the mixture and add 1 little piece of the crab cake. Fold and seal the wrapper. (There are many good YouTube videos showing you different ways to fold a wonton. Experiment with different shapes!)
In a skillet at least 2.5 inches deep, heat cooking oil over medium-high flame. It should be hot enough so that when you add the wontons, they start to sizzle.

Add a batch of wontons: enough of them to fill the skillet, but leave enough room between them to be able to maneuver them with a spatula.

Fry the wontons until the bottoms have turned a golden brown, then pour in enough water to submerge the wontons halfway. The water will immediately start boiling and bubbling. Boil for a couple of minutes until the wonton skins are slightly translucent and the water is a thin starchy layer at the bottom of the skillet, but it hasn’t completely evaporated. (The wontons will be easier to scoop out if there’s still a layer of water at the bottom.) Use a flat spatula to put the wontons on a paper-towel-lined plate to cool slightly.

Boil off the rest of the water and add a little bit more oil to cook the next batch (enough to coat the bottom of the skillet). Repeat the process until all the wontons have been cooked.

Plate and serve with your dipping sauce of choice. I love Lingham’s Hot Sauce, which is certified kosher. It’s spicy and sweet and peppery all at once. Another option is a mixture of ketchup, soy sauce and toasted sesame oil.

Enjoy!