Foods for a Chinese New Year feast

By Christine Zhang, Frank Shyong, Andrea Roberson

Chinese New Year begins on Jan. 28. On New Year’s Eve, Chinese households worldwide will welcome the Year of the Rooster with a home-cooked family “reunion” feast. Typical Chinese New Year foods are a mixture of tradition, superstition and edible puns and homophones. Each dish carries symbolic meaning, and they are eaten with the hopes of increasing the family’s fortune, health and prosperity. Start planning your meal with some essential Chinese New Year dishes from our California Cookbook. (Most of the recipe ingredients can be found at large grocery store chains, and many are available at these Asian supermarkets.)

Dumplings

Dumplings represent wealth and good fortune because they are shaped like ingots — blocks of gold used as ancient Chinese currency. Assembling the dumplings by stuffing the filling into wrappers is a popular family activity. Dumpling wrappers can be store-bought, but if you'd like to make them at home, try our recipes for Beijing-style pork and cabbage dumplings, Lao Yi's boiled beef and leek dumplings, or shrimp dumplings, or, for a vegan alternative, white lotus dumplings.

Chinese dumplings

Total time: 50 minutes, plus freezing time
Makes 40 to 50 dumplings

Recipe

Cantonese Chinese New Year dumplings with dipping sauce

Total time: 1 hour, plus freezing time
Makes about 4 dozen dumplings

Recipe

Pork dumplings

Total time: About 2 hours
Makes 80 dumplings

Recipe

Sichuan wontons in chili oil sauce

Total time: 1 hour
Serves 4

Recipe

Seafood dumplings

Total time: 1 hour
Makes 32 dumplings

Recipe

Vegetable dumplings

Total time: About 1 1/2 hours
Makes 32 dumplings

Recipe

White lotus dumplings

Total time: 1 1/2 hours, plus chilling time
Makes about 3 dozen dumplings

Recipe

Won ton

Total time: About 1 hour, 30 minutes, plus 4 hours chilling time
Makes about 36 won tons

Recipe

Beijing-style pork and cabbage dumplings

Total time: About 1 hour and 20 minutes
Makes about 3 dozen dumplings

Recipe

Lao Yi's boiled beef and leek dumplings

Total time: About 1 hour and 15 minutes
Makes about 3 dozen dumplings

Recipe

Shrimp dumplings

Total time: About 1 hour and 20 minutes
Makes about 3 dozen dumplings

Recipe

Sweet, aromatic soy sauce

Total time: 8 minutes
Makes about 2/3 cup soy sauce

Recipe

Dumpling dip

Total time: 5 minutes
Makes a scant 1 1⁄2 cups

Recipe

Vinegar dip

Total time: 3 minutes
Makes 1/2 cup

Recipe

Scallion oil

Total time: 25 minutes, plus cooling time
Makes 1 1/4 cups

Recipe

Whole fish

Since the Chinese word for fish, 鱼 (yu), is pronounced the same way as the word for abundance, 余 (yu), eating fish symbolizes wealth. The traditional holiday greeting 年年有余 (nian nian you yu) can mean “abundance and prosperity every year,” as well as “may we eat fish every year.” Fish should be prepared whole to represent family unity.

Steamed fish

Total time: About 50 minutes
Serves 4 to 6

Recipe

Steamed whole fish

Total time: 20 minutes
Serves 2 to 4

Recipe

Cantonese poached fish

Total time: 30 minutes
Serves 3 to 4

Recipe

Steamed fish with pea shoots

Total time: 25 minutes
Serves 2 to 4

Recipe

Chicken

Chicken is doubly significant as this year’s zodiac animal. Like fish, whole chicken signifies family togetherness, though households often prepare a variety of chicken dishes.

Cold chicken slices

Total time: 30 minutes plus cooling time
Serves 2 to 4

Recipe

Three cup chicken

Total time: 30 minutes
Serves 4

Recipe

Five-spice chicken

Total time: 1 hour plus 30 minutes standing
Serves 4

Recipe

Pork

Pork symbolizes strength, wealth and abundance. It’s eaten a variety of ways: chopped Chinese-deli style with crispy skin, roasted whole, wrapped in dumplings, braised and stir-fried.

Five-spice roast pork

Total time: About 1 hour and 5 minutes, plus 4 hours marinating time
Serves 8

Recipe

Pork meatball in broth

Total time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
Serves 6 as an appetizer

Recipe

Tangerine-marinated pork

Total time: 20 minutes
Serves 4

Recipe

Barbeque pork ribs

Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes, plus marinating time
Serves 6

Recipe

Pearly meatballs

Total time: 45 minutes plus 3 hours soaking time
Makes 36 meatballs

Recipe

Honey barbeque pork

Total time: 1 hour 30 minutes plus 2 hours marinating
Serves 6 to 8

Recipe

Longevity noodles

Eating noodles represents hope for a long life, and the longer the noodles are, the luckier. Make sure not to cut or break them during the cooking process — it’s bad luck, symbolizing cutting a life short.

Longevity noodles

Total time: 35 minutes
Serves 4

Recipe

New Year's cake

Nian gao is a sticky rice cake. 年 (nian) means “year” and 糕 (gao) means “cake," but nian gao can also mean “sticky cake” or “higher year,” because the pronunciations have double meanings. The cake can be steamed and served as is or cut into slices and pan-fried after steaming.

New year's cake

Total time: About 2 hours, plus cooling times
Makes about 72 slices

Recipe

Rice balls

Tang yuan are sticky rice balls, typically filled with sweet black sesame or red bean paste. The dessert represents family unity, as tang yuan sounds like the term 团圆 (tuan yuan), meaning “reunion.” 圆 (yuan) is also the word for “round” and evokes 圆满 (yuan man), meaning “togetherness” and “harmony.”