Lunar New Year is the time for a festive celebration, and one of the main components is of course a delicious feast! Here are 10+ Delicious Lunar New Year recipes to check out!
What is Lunar New Year
Lunar New Year, aka Spring Festival, is a major holiday celebrated across Asian countries. In fact, it may be the most significant one!
The date actually changes every year. Well, let me back that up. It changes every year on the Gregorian calendar (aka Solar calendar) which is based off of Earth circling around the sun.
The actual day of Lunar New Year is the first day of the first month on the Lunar calendar, which is based on the lunar calendar. The lunar calendar is based off the cycles of the Moon!
Lunar New Year Traditions
There are a few traditions that are associated with Lunar New Year:
Family gatherings - One of the important aspects is reuniting with families, so many people travel back to their hometowns in order to spend time with family.
Cleaning and decorating - Many people clean and sweet away the 'bad luck' of the last year, and place red decorations which symbolize good fortunate around the house!
And my favorite tradition - FOOD! Lots and lots of good food is to be eating to celebrate the new year. There are many dishes that have symbolic meaning - such as Dumplings, Noodles, Fish and more!
What to eat on Lunar New Year
Ring in the Lunar New Year with a feast! Here are some traditional Lunar New Year dishes and their recipes, including dumplings, noodles, and more.
Traditionally, dumplings symbolize longevity and wealth. This is because their shape looks similar to these gold ingots that existed as an old Chinese currency known as Yuanbao! So it often eaten on Chinese New Year!
If you're making some dumplings at home, and feel like making some homemade dumpling wrappers as well, check out this recipe!
If you prefer, you can have wontons instead of dumplings as well! Or... why not both!
Noodles represent longevity as the long strands of noodles symbolize a long prosperous life! Any noodles will do, for example, Zha Jiang Mian 炸醬麵. This is a noodle dish that contains ground pork cooked in a savory and sweet sauce made of beans, ginger, and green onions, and is served with julienned cucumber slices.
Of course Zha Jiang Mian was just one example, I've whipped up a round up of various tasty Asian noodles you can try here!
Fish is usually also on the Lunar New Year menu. And not just any fish but usually a WHOLE fish. For two reasons: 1) The word fish in Chinese is "Yu" which sounds like abundance", symbolizing prosperity. 2) it has to be a whole fish because in Chinese you want the fish to "Have head and have tail" which also sounds like "have a beginning and an end" of the year.
One whole fish recipe is Red braised fish aka Hong Shao Yu! It is traditionally made by cooking a whole fish with rice wine, ginger, scallions, soy sauce, and the star ingredient of chili bean paste.
If you're looking for another whole fish recipe, check out this tasty and easy pan fried pomfret!
Hot Pot is another great option for Lunar New Year! It's often eaten during Holidays as it represents warmth and unity, and it's a great social gathering!
Rice Cakes in Chinese is called "Nian Gao" which sounds like the words "High Year" symbolizing progress and advancement for the year. There are multiple ways to eat Rice Cakes and this is the savory version!
Another way to prepare Rice Cakes is the sweet way! My mom used to cook these and serve with eggs!
Tang Yuan aka Sweet Rice balls are often eaten during Lunar New Year as well as they represent unity and togetherness. There are many different kinds and it can be filled with sweet fillings like black sesame or red bean paste, or they can be savory as well!
Overall, you want to make sure you are just eating... a giant feast! So lots and lots of good food - think seafood, meats, veggies and all of the above!
Of course you don't have to do that though, if you only have two people for example, just aim for dumplings and maybe the noodles and/or fish for example!
Anyway, I hope you have an amazing Lunar New Year!
And let me know in the comments what your Lunar New Year traditions are!
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