Life
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! Here Are 11 Recipes to Bring You Good Luck This Fall
If you ask me, there aren’t nearly enough excuses to feast in the fall. After a whole summer’s worth of cookouts, patriotic occasions, and barbecues, it’s a foodie desert until holiday season. I mean, what are you supposed to do between Labor Day and Thanksgiving? Eat kale chips? Allow me to introduce the Mid-Autumn Festival. Growing up in a Vietnamese household, I knew it as the time when my grandmother used to stuff me with even more sticky rice and mooncakes than usual — and oh, what a glorious time, indeed. Its origins are murky, involving either 13th-century Chinese rebels or a woman on the moon, but one thing is certain: There is no tastier way to ring in the season. Ditch the apple pie for noodles, taro, and pomelo — we have a festival to celebrate.
Image: Kirbie’s Cravings
Pomelo
Think of the pomelo as grapefruit’s younger, sweeter sibling. Give it as a gift for good luck — and buy one for yourself, because it’s delicious and makes a killer tart. Duh.
Image: Fotolia
Egg Rolls
Hoping for a raise this year? Fry up some egg rolls, which are said to resemble gold bars and bring prosperity. Steamy Kitchen does one better than takeout.
Image: Steamy Kitchen
Garlic Shrimp
Start the season right with garlicky, aromatic shrimp from our friends at Lady and Pups. In Chinese, the word for shrimp resembles the sound of laughter — so it looks like we’re in for some good times ahead.
Image: Lady and Pups
Shrimp Dumplings
OK, OK. So this one is mostly because shrimp dumplings are amazing, and you need more of them in your life. Thanks, Lady and Pups!
Image: Lady and Pups
Soba Noodle Salad
Long noodles mean long life — so get slurping. Our friends at Tucker bulk up their soba with miso-roasted eggplant.
Image: Tucker
Spicy Noodle Chips
Need your noodles to go? Fry them up, à la Lady and Pups. Just be sure not to break one: a shortened noodle may mean your earthly days are numbered.
Image: Lady and Pups
Steamed Fish
Forget those tidy little filets. This fall, we’re going for the whole fish, eyeballs be damned, to represent abundance. Wandercrush shows us how to steam it like a pro.
Image: Wandercrush
Bok Choy
Kale? So last season. Pair your steamed fish with leafy bok choy, courtesy of Steamy Kitchen.
Image: Steamy Kitchen
Mooncakes
You can’t celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival without mooncakes. Made from creamy bean paste wrapped in glutinous rice flour, these addictive little things may have once carried messages between rebels during the Mongol era. Thanks, Kirbie’s Cravings!
Image: Kirbie’s Cravings
Watermelon
During the festival, watermelons are often cut into the shape of a lotus flower. But if you haven’t brushed up on your carving skills, we won’t blame you for eating your melon by the slice.
Image: Pixabay
Taro
And because no autumn celebration would be complete without pie, Lady and Pups turns traditional pumpkin on its head with taro root. Now, go forth and feast.
Image: Lady and Pups
