Chinese New Year, for the year of the mouse party with ravioli and bao - Lifestyle

The Chinese New Year , or Spring Festival, is an anniversary that celebrates the beginning of the new year in China and in many Far Eastern countries based on the Chinese lunisolar calendar . It is an event full of meaning and which is celebrated for much more than a day. The occasion of the Chinese New Year 2020, which is celebrated on January 25 and is the entry into the year of the mouse - decidedly subdued because of the health emergency of the coronavirus - is the starting point to talk about the Chinese cuisine loved all over the world Italy included. The first Chinese restaurants arrived in Italy in the 70s and 80s and for Italian customers almond chicken, Cantonese rice, sweet and sour shrimp, fried chicken with lemon and caramelized fruit for years have been a must especially for the younger generations certainly more curious. Then slowly the many proposals of this very varied cuisine, have made their way and so also the knowledge of the various Chinese regional cuisines, as it happens for the Italian one, have become popular also with us: Cantonese cuisine, that of Sichuan, of Shandong and others from Anhui, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang. We now appreciate noodles, rice and tofu with roasted beef, spicy braised meat and stewed vegetables, especially eggplants.
Ravioli, baozi, bao, dim sum are now so trendy as to have, for example in the area of Via Paolo Sarpi in Milan , dedicated and very popular restaurants and takeaways with files at any time of the day. Among these Maoji Street Food and Maoji Mini, which reproduce the real Chinese street food, Bao House, Ama Dim Sum, Asian Flavor - Ramen & Dim Sum, Kung Fu Bao, with its variety of ravioli and bao also sweet, Fan Wu, The Dumplings, Duo Mi, Lo's, Ristorante Fortuna, Mao Hunan, MG Foodie, Wok on the go, Wok of Milan and Ghe Sem (fusion of Chinese dumpling, with fillings of traditional Italian recipes such as Piedmontese and Sicilian).
And also for delivery , Chinese cuisine is at the top in the world. According to the latest Just Eat data, Chinese is the third most ordered cuisine internationally and for Ireland and Spain it is even in first place. In Italy it is the fourth with a 30% year-over-year order growth (December 2019). The Just Eat data confirm not only the trend in general but that in particular of ravioli & bao, a supertrend (the demand has even grown by 200% in a year) driven by the new format food and single-product restaurants such as ravioli. Only in Milan we are + 190% and the trend is also strong in Turin, Bologna and Florence.
But here are the origins and curiosities of these dishes in detail:
ravioli : they are the Chinese dish par excellence and according to some, the dish was born as a gift to be offered to benign spirits on New Year's Eve to encourage their benevolence. Grilled and steamed classics, both of meat. They are also loved in version with shrimp, grilled, with steamed vegetables and also in mix with chicken and curry, with Chinese cabbage, with mushrooms, with spinach, with white fish, with edamame filling, fried and also in broth.
baozi : food that can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner and in the Chinese tradition the fillings vary from region to region. With their flower closure and their unique flavor, they can be enjoyed steamed, with meat filling, braised, sweet, with chicken, veggie and even fried.
bao : origins of the Taiwanese culinary tradition (Gua Bao), variant of the Chinese baozi are paninetti that stand out for the softness of the dough and for the characteristic slightly sweet taste, while the classic filling is with fillets of beef and sauces but also with filling duck, totally veg, grilled or sweet-savory pig-shaped.
There are also Dim Sum , perhaps apparently ravioli, but not to be confused are steamed bites, but also fried, grilled, with meat, followed by versions with shrimp and vegetables, and in many varieties in the East they are loved as street food and more and also here in Italy are going strong.