Chive and Pork Dumplings Recipe for Cambodian-Chinese Jiaozi. What to Cook This Week. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

What to Cook This Week – Curry, Carnitas, Cacciatore and Chinese New Year Recipes

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For this edition of What to Cook this Week, we’re sharing a Burmese chicken curry recipe for International Hot and Spicy Food Day (today!), a Mexican tacos de Carnitas recipe for slow cooked pulled pork tacos for Taco Tuesday, a pasta cacciatore recipe if you have chicken cacciatore leftovers in the freezer, and recipes for Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year this week.

Here in Siem Reap, the Chinese-Cambodian community is busy prepping for Chinese New Year this Sunday 22 January. Celebrated in China (obviously) and countries with Chinese communities, such as Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Singapore, it’s Lunar New Year for other countries following the lunisolar calendar, such as Vietnam, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.

If you’re eager to get in the spirit of the holiday, browse our collection of recipes for Chinese New Year and Lunar Year that come predominantly from Cambodia and Vietnam. While some dishes are traditionally made for offerings and family feasts, others are special occasions dishes cooked and eaten year-round, but have a place on the table during the spring festival.

If you’ve cooked our recommendations for What to Cook this Week below and you need more inspiration, click through to our 31 winter recipes to cook this January if you’re in the chilly northern hemisphere (brrrr!!) or our 31 summer recipes to make this January if you’re lucky to be in the southern hemisphere (envious!).

And if you’re visiting us here at Grantourismo for the first time – lovely to see you! – What to Cook this Week is a random-ish weekly-ish recipe series, where on most Mondays I dig around in the Grantourismo recipe archives, which are heaving with hundreds of recipes from around the world, for five delicious midweek dinner ideas for you.

For What to Cook this Week I try to share a mix of recipes – ideas for dishes to cook when you don’t feel like cooking, recipes that might require a little bit of an effort but will be worth it, and dishes to make on a Friday night when you’re looking forward to spending some time in the kitchen with loved-ones, a bottle of wine, and good music in the background.

But before you scroll down to my ideas for what to cook this week, I have a favour to ask of you. Grantourismo is partly funded by its readers. If you’ve enjoyed our recipes, please consider supporting our work by supporting our epic Cambodian cuisine history and cookbook on Patreon, which you can do for as little as the price of a coffee.

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What to Cook This Week – Curry, Carnitas, Cacciatore and Chinese New Year Recipes

Our ideas for What to Cook this Week include everything from a chicken curry for International Hot and Spicy Food Day to recipes for Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year.

Monday – Burmese Chicken Curry Recipe

Today is International Hot and Spicy Food Day – and I have no idea who came up with that day. Nor am I an avid follower of international food days, and I certainly don’t need an excuse to make hot and spicy food at home. We live in Southeast Asia, after all.

But the day is apparently intended as an opportunity to celebrate spicy cuisines such as Mexican food and Indian food. Suggested ways to mark the occasion include holding a chilli eating contest, going to a Mexican or Indian restaurant, or cooking spicy food at home. Let’s go with that last one.

Of course, the use of spice isn’t limited to Mexican cuisine or Indian cuisine – although I have to confess to being a major fan of both – so I’m sharing this classic Burmese chicken curry recipe from Myanmar, which makes a fragrant curry perfumed with turmeric, ginger, garlic, chilli, and lemongrass.

A rich curry with a moreish tomato-based gravy and layer of aromatic quickly soaked up by coconut rice, it should be served with salads, such as this Burmese raw cabbage salad, Shan vermicelli noodle salad or a Shan tomato salad.

Like the Burmese Indian style chicken curry recipe I shared a couple of weeks ago, this is adapted from my favourite Burmese cookbook by Mi Mi Khaing called Cook and Entertain the Burmese Way, dating to 1978. If you’re a spice lover, try her homemade curry powder blend.

And if you’ve cooked that curry before, browse this compilation of our 30 best curry recipes for more hot tips.

Burmese Indian Style Chicken Curry Recipe for a Rich Curry Fragrant with Ginger, Turmeric and Garlic

 

Tuesday – Mexican Tacos de Carnitas Recipe for Pulled Pork Tacos

Tuesday is Taco Tuesday, of course, and although it’s been a while since I shared a taco recipe for What to Cook this Week, that’s a food day I definitely get into. It’s also been a while since I’ve shared this pork carnitas recipe for Mexican slow-cooked pulled pork tacos de carnitas, so here you go.

This traditional pork carnitas recipe will make you mouthwatering pulled pork that’s fantastic on tacos, tostadas, tortas, burritos, and more. (Incidentally, we managed to get hold of some authentic Mexican tostadas at our supermarket, so we’ll share some recipes soon.)

If you’re not already a fan, carnitas means ‘little meats’ and the pork is slow-braised until it’s so tender that it easily falls apart into small pieces. The heat is then increased to get crispy bits of pork for delicious contrasts of texture and flavour.

This pork carnitas recipe makes the mouthwatering Mexican tacos that we fell in love with in Mexico City many years ago. Along with the carnitas, they tacos are topped with green salsa made from tomatillos, a little fresh coriander, and lime quarters on the side.

If you’ve also made that recipe, take a look at this round-up of Taco Tuesday recipes. There’s everything from a tacos al pastor recipe inspired by the tacos we loved at Mexico City’s Salón Corona to more Mexican-American and Tex-Mex-style tacos from a chicken tinga taco recipe to an Austin-inspired breakfast tacos recipe.

Pork Carnitas Recipe for Mexican Slow Cooked Pulled Pork Tacos de Carnitas

 

Wednesday – Pasta Cacciatore Recipe

In the last edition of What to Cook this Week, I shared our classic chicken cacciatore recipe, which makes a traditional Italian chicken stew with a luscious tomato sauce. It was one of our 10 most popular recipes of December 2022 and after going viral it became one of our 22 most popular recipes of 2022, though didn’t make that list as I shared the recipe after it was published.

Called pollo alla cacciatora in Italian, which translates to ‘hunter’s chicken’ – ‘pollo’ is ‘chicken’ and ‘cacciatore’ means ‘hunter’ – it’s a rustic old Italian dish traditionally eaten alone as a main course with crusty bread to mop up the rich sauce. (Although I think a panzanella is fab on the side.)

If you happened to have any chicken cacciatore leftovers that you froze, then make our easy chicken cacciatore pasta recipe for spaghetti cacciatore – although you can use any pasta you have in the pantry.

Created to use up leftover chicken cacciatore, the hearty chicken pasta is a 1970s retro-classic from the Italian-Australian diaspora that’s completely inauthentic – Italians don’t eat pasta with main course dishes – but deliciously comforting all the same.

Terence also shares his memories of the dish and a Brisbane Italian restaurant that only sold chicken cacciatore and spaghetti carriatore. Need more pasta inspo? Peruse our best pasta recipes collection.

Chicken Cacciatore Pasta Recipe for Spaghetti Cacciatore for a Retro-Classic from the 1970s

 

Thursday – Longevity Noodles and Lucky Dumplings

Preparations have already begun here within the Chinese-Cambodian community for Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year, which takes place this Sunday 22 January.

Lunar New Year is also celebrated in other countries, such as Korea, where Korean New Year is called Seollal, and in Vietnam, where the holiday is called Tết Nguyên Đán or simply Tết.

The period leading up to the holiday is important, too, with all kinds of activities, such as cleaning the home, worshipping ancestors, praying to the kitchen gods, buying new clothes, and preparing food.

In the last edition of What to Cook this Week I shared a recipe for Korean japchae or stir fried glass noodles with mixed vegetables, which is a popular Korean New Year dish.

Noodles are considered a lucky food and the longer the noodle, the luckier you’ll be – as long as you don’t break the noodle when you’re cooking, which will bring bad luck.

Try this recipe for Chinese longevity noodles. We buy a Singapore brand here in Siem Reap produced by Hup Huat Noodles to a recipe dating to 1930. But you’ll find longevity noodles at an Asian market, specialty store or a supermarket well-stocked Asian products. Ask for yi mein, yi mian, yee mein, yee fu or e-fu noodles. Good luck!

Longevity Noodles Recipe for Lunar New Year for Long Life, Good Luck and Prosperity

 

If you can’t source longevity noodles, make dumplings instead, which are another lucky food for Lunar New Year and one of my top picks for What to Cook this Week. This easy chive and pork dumplings recipe makes one of the most popular dumplings here in Cambodia and they’re a cinch to make and super scrummy.

Easy Chive and Pork Dumplings Recipe for the Cambodian-Chinese Take on Jiaozi

 

Friday – Vietnamese Caramelised Pork Belly Recipe

Why not make a popular Vietnamese Lunar New Year holiday dish on Friday? Cooking and eating together is central to Vietnamese Tet celebrations – there’s even a name for that, for eating Tet food, and that’s ‘ăn Tết’.

Tet food isn’t only eaten on the big day, it’s also enjoyed during the three periods of the holiday – during the preparations leading up the holiday (tất niên), Lunar New Year’s Eve (giao thừa) and Lunar New Year’s Day (tân niên) and the holiday days that follow.

Another one of my picks of this week’s edition of What to Cook this Week is one of the most beloved Lunar New Year dishes in Vietnam and that’s this Vietnamese braised pork belly and eggs recipe for thịt kho tàu. Also called thịt kho hột vịt, it’s a rich dish of sweet and salty, melt-in-the-mouth, caramelised pork belly simmered slowly with boiled eggs.

While it’s eaten all year in Vietnam, it’s long been a traditional dish for Tết, and one of our favourite Vietnamese dishes. We used to eat it whenever we had the opportunity when we lived in Hanoi and Hoi An. This particular version has its provenance in Southern Vietnam, as we explain in the post.

Vietnamese Braised Pork Belly and Eggs Recipe for Thit Kho Tau to Celebrate Lunar New Year

Please do let us know if you make any of our What to Cook this Week recipes in the Comments below, as we love to hear how our recipes turn out for you.

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A travel and food writer who has experienced over 70 countries and written for The Guardian, Australian Gourmet Traveller, Feast, Delicious, National Geographic Traveller, Conde Nast Traveller, Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia, DestinAsian, TIME, CNN, The Independent, The Telegraph, Sunday Times Travel Magazine, AFAR, Wanderlust, International Traveller, Get Lost, Four Seasons Magazine, Fah Thai, Sawasdee, and more, as well as authored more than 40 guidebooks for Lonely Planet, DK, Footprint, Rough Guides, Fodors, Thomas Cook, and AA Guides.

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