Lunar New Year Recipes

In addition to its impressive high-gloss appearance and savory taste, this Chinese barbeque pork is quite easy to make at home--even without a fancy ceramic grill.

If you like fish or even anything about Chinese food you'll love this recipe.

Banh Tet and banh chung (the square cake version) are available year long and for the Lunar New Year in Vietnam. It's a sticky rice cake with various fillings, some are sweet and some are savory. Mung beans, pork, and sticky rice are the core ingredients. Raffia string is usually used to tie the cakes but I've used kitchen twine. Also, traditionally these are more elaborately trussed than tied, like I did here to simplify. I wrapped the cakes in foil, that's Andrea Nguyen's move. Once the cakes are cooked you can wrap them in gold or red plastic ribbon for luck in the new year.

This is my family's version of lion's head soup and for me it is the best type of comfort food! It is best served with white sticky rice, and wonderful enjoyed on a cold winter day.

This is a recipe I have perfected on my own through the years. I am one who never measures, so take the measurements as a guide, not as law. This recipe is one that my family members beg me to make all the time! Enjoy!

Quick and Easy! There are many variations of Jian Bing, a.k.a. Chinese Crepe; this is only one. I use scallions and cilantro in this recipe, but others use different ingredients, such as sunflower seeds. Instead of crackers one can also use Chinese fried dough (You Tiao). Enjoy!

After several experiments, I created this cross between a bread and pastry dough that works perfectly for making filled buns. I generally fill with a BBQ filling, but you can be creative.

This is a common cold noodle salad in Japan, and always great to eat when the weather is hot. Enjoy!

A delicious brunch snack that can be found in many Chinese breakfast shops. Its various names include 'cong you bing,' 'jiu cai bing,', 'scallion pancakes,' 'green onion pancakes,' etc. This particular recipe is passed down through my mother's family, and brings back many good, yummy memories! Can serve with hot-sour sauce, or your favorite Chinese sauce.

Steamed pork-filled wontons and steamed vegetables make a hearty and satisfying soup.

These fun-to-make flatbreads are a common fixture on menus in China, and while they all feature the same few ingredients, they come in a variety of thicknesses. The thinner you make these, the crispier they'll be, but you won't get that nice, layered, oniony inside. On the other hand, if you make them too thick, they can be a little doughy inside, so I try to shoot for something in between.

People throw out the term "melt-in-your-mouth" pretty casually, but these meatballs really are. Some people think the name comes from their large size, while others believe eating these gives you the strength of a lion, but the actual answer is not quite as mythical. The look of this crinkled-up napa cabbage reminded the inventors of this dish of a lion's mane.

These almond cookies are what you would typically find in Chinese dim sum restaurants in Hawaii. A lot of these neighborhood dim sum stores/restaurants have closed down recently, so it's nice to be able to still enjoy these cookies from your own kitchen. If you enjoy the flavor of almonds, you'll love these cookies. This is a simple recipe and is a favorite in my family. Give it a try!

This simple mixture of five spices commonly used in Chinese cooking works great as a rub or in a marinade. The ingredients may be a little more difficult to obtain, but the effort is well worth the result. This is probably one of the easiest recipes to assemble. I hope you enjoy.

Thinly-sliced vegetables are stir-fried in a garlic and sesame sauce.

Easy and delicious stir fry recipe, served over chow mein noodles or rice.

Shui Zhu Yu is one of the most common Sichuan fish dishes. 'Shui Zhu' is also one of the most famous Sichuan cooking styles. Its essential ingredient is Sichuan bean sauce. 'Shui' means water. 'Zhu' means boil. You might have also heard about 'Shui Zhu Niu Rou' which uses beef in place of fish. You may use 2 cups of soy bean sprouts to substitute for the celery and Napa cabbage stem. Cod is also a good substitute for basa. Enjoy the fish and I wish you 'Nian Nian You Yu'--Happy New Year!

This is a sweeter rice dish, with lychees and raisins adding a pleasant and refreshing sweetness, balanced with salty cashew nuts. Maggi sauce is a German savory sauce popular in Thailand.

These appetizers are an explosion of flavor with turkey, crisp veggies, and the zing of chili paste.

On Lunar Chinese New Year, we usually like to have meatballs or sweet dumplings. Ball in Chinese is 'wan,' sweet dumpling in Chinese is 'tang yuan.' Their shapes are both round. So we use a meatball dish and/or sweet dumpling dish to emphasize the Chinese expression 'He Jia Tuan Yuan.' 'He Jia' means the whole family. 'Tuan Yuan' means 'all be together' ('yuan' also means circle, round as well, which connects with the shape of the meatballs and the sweet dumplings). This tofu ball dish is easy to make, and it is a great soup for your Lunar New Year meal.

Pineapple baked rice uses a pineapple skin as a bowl, stuffing it with fried rice. After you bake it for 15 minutes, the pineapple flavor will go into the rice and your whole house will be filled with pineapple aroma! This is great for kids. It has vegetables and a light, sweet taste . You may add cheese on top of the rice if you like. I personally don't like to add cheese, I want to keep the dish simple and original. I serve it as a main course for Chinese New Year.

A Thai-inspired dish consisting of chicken served with a spicy peanut sauce over spaghetti noodles.

This traditional Chinese cake is so moist and indulgent. You can substitute adzuki beans with mung beans, lotus seeds, chestnuts, mixed nuts, dried fruits, etc. Once cool, these are ready to be served or wrapped as gift. They will be even more moist if you leave them at room temperature for 2 days. For a more authentic shape, press the cakes into a mooncake mold, small cake tins, cookie cutters, even muffins tins after they have been rolled in flour.

Carp and Mandarin oranges are traditionally served at Chinese New Year for good luck, this is an excellent way to get both in!