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Learn to make three delicious, traditional dishes for Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year is nothing without food and family. It’s one of the most important celebrations in the Asian community so everyone makes it a priority to gather for at least one amazing meal on New Year’s Eve. Dinner often takes hours, with tremendous significance and symbolism found in every dish served.
Vancouver-based cookbook author and media personality, Stephanie Yuen, is an authority on Asian food and culture. She’s recently developed three classic Chinese recipes that are perfect for lunar new year celebrations. Not only are they easy to make, but all the ingredients are easy to find at Loblaws and Real Canadian Superstore, which carries T&T food products like traditional Chinese sausages, dried black mushrooms and hoisin sauce.
Chinese New Year obviously celebrates a new lunar year, but it also symbolises the promise of good fortune, renewed friendships and rising success. That’s why it’s so important to share a special meal with extended family. “Even if all you have is simple fried rice,” says Yuen, “the point is that you’re together and truly connecting – not just connecting through Facebook and Twitter! We all have to eat, which is why food is one of the best tools to bring people together. People and food: it’s why I treasure this time of year.”
Click through for Stephanie’s Chinese New Year recipes. Get detailed instructions on how to cook a new dish (or three) and learn about the symbolism behind ingredients like whole fish, vegetables and rice cakes.
Serving a whole fish is a very traditional dish at Chinese New Year – even better if it’s a live fish. The Chinese word for fish (yu) also sounds like the word for abundance, so presenting a whole fish from head to tail symbolises a complete year, from start to finish, that’s filled with surplus.
“Superstore makes it so easy to buy a live fish,” enthuses Yuen. “Just pick out your fish in the tank and do your shopping – they’ll clean and gut the fish for you so all you have to do is pick it up. It’s so fresh!” And Yuen notes that it’s also a great reminder, even if only once a year, that we should have a better understanding of where our meat comes from. Choosing a live animal and preparing it whole for a meal is a significant gesture, and one rarely appreciated in a world prioritising modern conveniences.
Prep time: 20 minutesCooking time: 20 minutesServes: 4 with steamed rice
Ingredients:
Method:
The Cantonese word for lettuce (san choy) also sounds like “growing wealth,” which is why a vegetable-based dish is always a part of the Chinese New Year dinner. (If only it were that easy…) Beyond the symbolism, Yuen loves this dish because it’s a cinch to prepare and gives diners a fun DIY start to the evening. Everything can be prepared in advanced and brought out when guests arrive. Even better, it’s a fantastic way to serve up leftovers.
Prep time: 20 minutesCooking time: 10 minutesServes: 6 to 8 (as an appetizer)
These small rice cakes (nian gao) make a chewy, delicious, hearty dish with a double meaning that loosely translates to “may each year bring you higher.” For anyone who’s gluten-free and missing a good chew, this is the perfect dish. The rice cakes are much denser than traditional pasta and easily take on the flavours of accompanying meats and vegetables. This is also a very versatile dish – switch up the other ingredients and make it vegetarian or add in leftovers. Or, if you like spicy foods, Yuen suggests a healthy dollop of XO sauce.
Prep time: 15 minutesCooking time: 10 minutesServes: 3 to 4 as a main dish