Chinese New Year Foods

Enjoy yummy Chinese food is one the most important theme when visiting Hong Kong. The Chinese foods we eat around New Year time have very beautiful names and carry excellent meanings. Now let me introduce some of the dishes that almost every family cook at home or eating out.

New Year Pudding 年糕
Pudding 糕 sounds like 'gao 高' in Chinese, which means 'growth' and 'promotion'. We eat all kinds of puddings everyday, but this sweet sticky pudding is usually and specifically for new year time.Turnip Pudding 蘿蔔糕
This contains preserved Chinese sausages, pork and dry shrimps. This is my home-made turnip pudding. We don't usually make it at home, except at new year time, because it is quite time consuming. However this is quite a popular dim sum dish at any Hong Kong dim sum restaurants.

Lettuce Soup with Fish Cake and Pork 生菜鯪魚球湯

This is easy to make. Almost every housewife in Hong Kong can do it. Here is my home-made soup. Again it carries very good meanings. Fish - surplus; Lettuce - wealth. Pork is added to increase the flavour.

The followings are from my dim sum table.

Pork Dumplings with Dry Oyster, Pig's Tongue and Fa Cai (hairy vegetable) 發財好市大利

Oyster - sounds like 好市 in Chinese, which means 'lots of business'

Tongue - sounds like 大利 in Chinese, which means 'lots of profit'

Fa Cai - sounds like 發財 in Chinese, which means 'making lots of lucky money'

Stewed Pig's Knuckle 橫財就手

橫財 is lucky money, apart from money you make from work or business. 就手 means 'handy (easy)'.

Jian Dui - Deep Fried Seasame Balls 煎堆

煎堆碌碌, 金銀滿屋 - the shape of the jian dui resembles a rolling ball. Together with the golden color of the balls, it means 'treasure and wealth rolling towards your house'.

Getting to know the meaning behind the names, I am sure you will have extra fun eating these Chinese New Year foods in Hong Kong.

Want to view and get to know more about Hong Kong Chinese food? Take a look at my Hong Kong Food Blog.

Hong Kong Travel Blog - Chinese New Year Foods