Chap Goh Meh 元宵节

17^th February was the 15^th day of lunar new year and the last day of Chinese New Year (CNY) (元宵节) or "Chap Goh Meh" (Hokkien dialect) which was also known as "Lantern Festival" and Chinese Valentine's day in the Southeast Asia.

On this day, Chinese in Malaysia celebrate with match making events where groups of unmarried ladies throw tangerines into the sea or river with their contact numbers written on them while groups of bachelors wait to pick up these tangerines and the contact number to begin a romantic relationship. You may ask why throw tangerines? This is because tangerines in Hokkien dialect has the homophone of husband, so the hope of finding a husband. J

Tangerines

I celebrated this day by inviting my cooking members over to my house for pot-luck lunch sharing. Thanks to Ellen who shared her catches of snappers and Kahawai fish, we had a great seafood lunch sharing.

I used the snappers for Assam Fish curry cooked with eCosway Assam paste brought over by Jenny. The paste tasted pretty good not too hot, my cooking members from Mainland China and Hong Kong liked it very much.

Assam Snappers

Snappers, eggplants and tomatoes

As for the big Kahawai fish, Ellen handed it over to nearby Chinese restaurant to make sweet and sour Fish.

Ellen's takeaway - Sweet & sour fish

Chap Goh Lunch Sharing - 17/02/2011

Vera's Coconut buns - 椰丝包

Jenny Yip's fruit cake - Birthday cake for Florence and Jenny