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Bernice Chan

Lunar New Year is the biggest holiday of the year for people in China, as well as for the Chinese diaspora around the world. The celebration revolves around family reunions and sitting together eating delicious food.
The festive dinner is all about eating dishes that will hopefully bring wealth and happiness in the coming year. In China these include dumplings (as they look similar to oval-shaped silver ingots), a whole fish, a whole chicken, deep-fried spring rolls, lion’s head meatballs, and New Year puddings made of glutinous rice flour and brown sugar.

For the Cantonese, who live in southern China, Lunar New Year feasts feature dishes with names that are homophones of lucky words. By this rationale, the best way to attract good luck for the coming year is by eating auspicious-sounding dishes.
Oysters

One classic dish typically eaten during Lunar New Year is braised dried oysters with sea moss, called ho see fat choy, which sounds similar to “prosperity and good fortune”. The Chinese prefer dried oysters because they have a more concentrated umami flavour. Top chefs in Hong Kong prefer using golden oysters like those harvested in Lau Fau Shan in the New Territories because they are bigger and plumper than typical dried oysters, and have a sweet, rich flavour.
Dried oysters are rehydrated and cleaned before being sautéed, then chicken stock and Shaoxing wine are added. These ingredients are then braised in soy and oyster sauces together with sea moss – a vegetable whose Chinese name sounds similar to “wealth”.

Fresh oysters can be cooked in a claypot, and seasoned with ginger, scallions and glass noodles, or steamed in the shell with black bean sauce and finished with chopped scallions.
Prawns

A seafood staple in southern China is shrimp or prawns, called ha in Cantonese – which, when repeated, sounds like laughter. The crustaceans, which represent liveliness and happiness, are essential during the festive season to ensure joy in the year ahead.
Fresh whole prawns can be poached in boiling water, then peeled at the table and dipped in soy sauce with chopped chilli; or steamed with minced garlic to retain their natural sweetness.

These crustaceans can also be sautéed with garlic, ginger, soy sauce and XO sauce; or sautéed with scallops together with vegetables. Honey walnut shrimp, a classic Hong Kong-style dish usually found on banquet menus, features prawns that are stir-fried and coated in a sweet mayonnaise sauce before being garnished with toasted walnuts.
Kumquats

For the Lunar New Year, the Chinese like to decorate their homes with kumquat trees because the Cantonese word for kumquat literally means “golden orange”, a metaphorical way to bring fortune home.
A citrus fruit, the kumquat is actually quite tart, but the skin is edible, tastes sweet and is packed with vitamin C and fibre. If you can get past the sour taste, snacking on kumquats can feel satisfying thanks to their high fibre and water content, which together promote satiety.
Kumquats can be turned into marmalade or chutney, pickled, or candied in a syrup that can be drizzled into beverages, or used to garnish cakes and ice cream.
Candied kumquats can also be made by boiling water, sugar, ginger and spices, and then adding deseeded kumquats. After simmering for several minutes, remove the kumquats, while letting the syrup boil a bit longer to concentrate the sweetness before storing it and the fruit in a jar.
Noodles

Aside from hopes of happiness and prosperity in the coming year, the Chinese also like to wish each other a long and healthy life, symbolised through eating noodles. The basic maxim is that the longer the noodles, the longer one’s life.
There are many different kinds of noodles across China. Northerners in Shaanxi province use wheat flour and water to make biang biang noodles – thick, broad ribbons formed by pulling and slapping the dough on the table. The cooked noodles are mixed in a vibrant sauce of chilli oil, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, garlic and numbing Sichuan peppercorns.
In southern China, including Hong Kong, e-fu noodles, or yi mein, are made with wheat flour and eggs, with the addition of sodium bicarbonate. The noodles – which look similar to spaghetti but are much lighter – are deep-fried and dried, giving them a springy texture.
Sesame seeds

To sweeten the Lunar New Year celebrations, neen goh – or puddings made of glutinous rice flour and brown sugar – are typical desserts, though there are other treats that involve sesame seeds. Golden sesame seed balls or jin dui, and tong yuen – glutinous rice balls filled with ground black sesame paste – are both consumed for their round shape, representing togetherness and reunion. Sesame balls are made by forming glutinous rice flour, sugar and water into a dough, which is filled with either lotus seed paste or red bean paste. They are then rolled into balls, covered with sesame seeds, and carefully deep-fried, which causes them to expand and have a lovely golden colour.
Tong yuen are similar to sesame balls, also made using glutinous rice flour and filled with ground black sesame paste. The tong yuen are boiled and served in a fragrant sweet fermented rice soup, or a sweet ginger soup that warms the body.


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Pan-fried dumplings from Ah Chun Shandong Dumpling. Photo: Handout

Pan-seared dried oysters in supreme soy sauce from Lung King Heen at Four Seasons Hong Kong. Photo: Handout

Braised conpoy with dried oysters and sea moss from Lung King Heen at Four Seasons Hong Kong. Photo: Handout

Poon choi featuring yellow oysters from Lung King Heen at Four Seasons Hong Kong. Photo: Handout

Prawns, scallions and green asparagus in XO sauce at Cuisine Cuisine in The Mira Hong Kong. Photo: Handout

Prawns are a must for Lunar New Year celebrations. Photo: Four Seasons Hong Kong

Mandarin and kumquat, white chocolate mousse dessert from Coco at The Mira Hong Kong. Photo: Handout

Cart noodles from Min Dong at BaseHall. Photo: Nicholas Wong Sixteen Photography

Ningbo sesame dumplings from The Legacy House at Rosewood Hong Kong. Photo: Handout

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The new Bakery by the Grand at Festival Walk, Hong Kong. Photo: Handout

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Sushidokoro Mekumi in New York City offers limited season crab omakase. Photo: @mekuminyc/Instagram

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Rat years include 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996 and 2008. Illustration: SCMP Graphics

Ox years include 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997 and 2009. Illustration: SCMP Graphics

Tiger years include 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998 and 2010. Illustration: SCMP Graphics

Rabbit years include 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999 and 2011. Illustration: SCMP Graphics

Dragon years include 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000 and 2012. Illustration: SCMP Graphics

Snake years include 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001 and 2013. Illustration: SCMP Graphics

Horse years include 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002 and 2014. Illustration: SCMP Graphics

Goat – or Sheep – years include 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003 and 2015. Illustration: SCMP Graphics

Monkey years include 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004 and 2016. Illustration: SCMP Graphics

Rooster years include 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005 and 2017. Illustration: SCMP Graphics

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Pig years include 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007 and 2019. Illustration: SCMP Graphics

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Here are the lucky dishes to eat this festive season, from prosperity-generating oysters to biang biang noodles symbolising a long life


Here are the lucky dishes to eat this festive season, from prosperity-generating oysters to biang biang noodles symbolising a long life.


Our guide to 5 auspicious foods for Chinese New Year: prawns, kumquats and more

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Here are the lucky dishes to eat this festive season, from prosperity-generating oysters to biang biang noodles symbolising a long life

Here are the lucky dishes to eat this festive season, from prosperity-generating oysters to biang biang noodles symbolising a long life