When I first realized that Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day is on the same day this year, I thought, oh no! Disastrous! Would I have to share my V-day with others? Would Chinese New Year get pushed aside at restaurants? The sky is falling! When the Chicken Little in me finally calmed down, I realized that this was not a tragedy at all. First, I was already warned that with our new apartment purchase, I was not getting any more presents in 2010, maybe 2011. Chinese New Year always means a delicious banquet and it still would. Those Chinese restaurants are not where people flock to for romantic dinners. Everything is fine (except for the no presents thing).
After making my Fortune Cookies, I also realized that this was an opportunity, that may not come up again in years, or ever…to make V-day and Chinese New Year foods, dual purposed or dually symbolic. Fun, a challenge I set my mind to immediately.
For New Year’s, it’s symbolic to have dumplings because they look like yuan bao, gold ingots used as money in ancient times. Lon loves dumplings, as does pretty much everyone, so this could also be a great Cupid’s offering. The problem is that most dipping sauces are black or dark, from the typical ingredients: soy sauce or black vinegar. My simple solution to making this suitable for both is turning the sauce red. So here, serve your favorite dumplings with something new, but still just as easy.
Sweet chili sauce is not very spicy, but the fresh ginger and garlic add another layer of kick that does build up. I should warn that this is coming from a married couple’s perspective, where garlic breathe isn’t really a problem.
Red Dumpling Sauce
~enough for about 20 dumplings
- 2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
- 2 teaspoons minced ginger
- 1 large clove garlic, minced
Stir ingredients together in a small bowl. Allow to rest for at least 30 minutes before serving.
*recipe scales easily
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Can’t believe Chinese New Year is just around the corner! Are you planning to make any new year delicacy? I remembered my grandmother used to fry these “smiling face balls”. I don’t eat those now (too oily for me nowadays), but I loved hers when I was little. Now, most people just buy them, not make them.
Hey,it was great meeting you tonight. That dumpling sauce sounds like something I’d put on everything. My favourite condiment is Thai sweet chili sauce.
You know, my first date with Ian involved a lot of garlic, and we bonded over both our love of garlic AND our natural compatibility. I have to say, if garlic breath is a deal breaker, perhaps it wasn’t meant to be. But that’s just me.
I love *love* the sauce idea, and I’m going to try it with some fresh salad rolls this week.
You two bought a new apartment? So exciting! Are you moved out/in yet, and how will Ice handle it all? Sorry, it’s the dog lover in me that has to ask that last bit of question.
A lovely, easy yet so tasty sauce!! MMMMMMM,….
wow, that’s a lovely red (romantic 🙂 ) dress on the chinese dumplings !!!
homemade chilly sauce looks perfect! I wouldn’t have imagined that it would be so easy to do it at home!!!
I don’t mind garlic smell at all ( I love the ginger/garlic flavour in my concoctions)
thank you for the recipe!!
I really love sweet chili sauce…especially when you citrus it up with some lime juice. Looks like a delicious dipping sauce for the dumplings.
chicken little. ha.
your sauce is terrific–simple ingredients in reasonable amounts. lovely.
Kim, I’m no familiar with smiling face balls…you should write about them! These days, we usually go out for New Year’s because it’s so many people.
Marc, great meeting you too! Can’t wait to cook together!
EMC, I bet this sauce would be perfect for salad rolls! We are moving! We thought we were moving in Feb, but now it’ll be March, not sure of date yet. Ice should handle it well. She’s lived in two other apartments before the one we’re in now and she’s never seemed to have much of a problem. Plus, I think she’s going to love her new window seat!! (It’s a surprise so don’t tell her.)
Vinolia, I buy the sweet chili sauce in a bottle which makes it easy to just mix together. Making chili sauce from scratch would me more work. Check out the fresh sriracha though. It is SO SO good!
The lime juice is a nice addition. I like how it gives it a nice bright, fresh tang.
Great looking sauce it looks really rich and wholesome
Great meeting you last night! I had the same frantic reaction when I learned that V-Day and Chinese New Year fell on the same date. Thinking about a variation of dessert wontons with chocolate in them…Love the pretty red chili sauce!
Lovely post and wonderful blog. I can’t wait to try this. I made my first dumplings a couple of weeks ago!
High/Low, dessert wontons sound perfect!
Jun, congrats! So worth the work!
Love the combination of sweet red chili sauce and fresh ginger. Thanks for sharing!
My mom was putting the spicy red sauce on everything for a while. It was good, but eating all that oil can’t be healthy. Especially since she is a diabetic.
Steve, you can now switch to this one, no oil. =)
oh, you make the traditional Chinese dumpling. that’s cool.
I am from China, and I have a special Chinese food blog, so can we change the website link?
Oscar.
A lovely, easy yet so tasty sauce!! thanks