Kung Hei Fat Choi 恭喜發財

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! I wish you all a prosperous year恭喜發財, good health身體健康, and that all your wishes come true萬事如意!

How are you going to celebrate this 15 day long festival? With food! Before my grandfather passed away and before I moved to the UK, we used to go to his house for almost every meal during the Chinese New Year period. We would only eat vegetarian food on the first day of the New Year, probably because my grandfather believed in Buddhism. I remember he used to make a mountain of ‘Law Hon Jaai’ spring rolls, filled with Chinese mushroom, black fungus, carrot and bamboo shoots - full of crunchy delights that made grumpy little me forget they were meat-free.

I have not been back to Hong Kong for Chinese New Year since I came to live in the UK, and it has been more than 10 years now (I am not old, I just came to live here when I was REALLY young). As the years go by, I tend to make more effort to keep the traditions alive. I guess I am worried that one day I will not care about it anymore, and lose touch with the Chinese side of me. That would be very scary. So this year I followed the tradition to clean the house on the 28th of December (Chinese calendar), and bought some new stuff including pyjamas, socks and bedding to prepare for the New Year. I feel particularly proud of my candy box, obviously koala biscuits are the way forward.

My husband's side of the family was over for lunch on the first day of Chinese New Year. Apart from the must-eat dishes like Law Pak Go, Nin Go and Tong Yuen, I also made a few dishes that carry special greeting messages:

Law Pak Go (Chinese radish/turnip cake) – radish sounds like good fortune in Chinese.

Pork and chive dumplings – the dumplings look like old Chinese currency, symbolising prosperity.

Steamed whole grey mullet – fish sounds like leftovers in Chinese. It is good to have some leftovers every year, as it means we are not lacking anything.

Prawns with salted egg yolks – salted egg yolk give the dish a golden look, a good look understandably.

Clams in chilli sauce – fresh and lively clams give good motivation for the New Year.

Roast meat platter, braised whole chicken with spring onion and ginger sauce, and broccoli with beancurd and Chinese mushrooms – they appear in ALL Chinese festive meals by default.

Fried purple sweet potato mochi cake – no meaning, just something I wanted to make.

Nin Go (coconut and glutinous rice cake) – literally means gaining height every year.

Tong Yuen (black sesame glutinous rice balls) – the shape and the name give the meaning ‘reunion’.

Happy eating in the year of snake! Tssss…