1. Roasted Pork Belly with Wakame Seaweed Pesto (Good Luck and Prosperity with Wealth & Fortune)
I know what you’re thinking. Seaweed (Wealth & Fortune) Pesto?? Yes. Roasted Pork (Good Luck and Prosperity) belly goes good with sauce. So we thought, what would be a good substitute for the traditional sauces? Well, Seaweed Pesto came to mind. If you haven’t yet tried it with Seaweed Pesto, you don’t know what you’re missing!
2. Steamed Pork with Rice, Muskmelon, and Grapefruit: (Good Luck, Prosperity, Hope and Wealth for you and your Family)
If the first dish is a little too “Out of the box” for your taste buds, we recommend a more traditional dish – Steamed Pork (Good Luck and Prosperity) with Rice (Wealth). And to add a contrast taste to the meal, why not have some Muskmelon and Grapefruit (Family, Hope, Wealth and Prosperity) as a side dish. Or if you’re wanting to try something a little different with the main dish, try mixing in the Muskmelon and Grapefruit into the pork and rice. Who knows, you might like the sweet addition that it adds to the dish.
3. Pork & Dumplings with Tofu and Lotus Seeds (Good Luck and Prosperity with Wealth, Happiness, Fortune and Blessings for a healthy family and many children)
I know what you’re thinking, “Don’t you mean Chicken & Dumplings (Wealth)?” Well – No. It’s the year of the pig, not the chicken. So we suggest substituting the chicken for the pig. We also suggest adding some Grilled Tofu (Happiness and Fortune for the entire family) to soak up all of the wonderful seasonings and flavors. And for a vegetable dish, we recommend adding Lotus Seeds to the dish, which like it says above, symbolizes “Blessings for many children and a healthy family”. So if you have any single friends or family members over for dinner, make sure they eat plenty of those!
4. Fried Pork Strips and Eggs with Noodles (Blessings, Prosperity, Happiness, Longevity, and a Big Healthy Family)
This list wouldn’t be complete without Noodles (Happiness & Longevity) – especially for Chinese New Year. We also recommend adding some Fried Eggs (Big Healthy Family) into the noodles and pork. And if you’re a fan of mushrooms, top it off with some Poria Mushrooms (Blessings and Fortune), which are very good for your digestive system and offers many more health perks.
5. Nian Gao with Tusu Wine (New Year Cake with The Emperor’s First Drink)
Dessert and Tusu Wine (The Emperor’s First Drink) can’t be a meal, right? Well – that couldn’t be the furthest from the truth. It really depends on who you’re asking. And if you ask us, we’ll tell you that it classifies as a meal in our cookbook. We suggest adding something along with it – Peach sauce. Yes, take some Peaches (Longevity) and mix them together until you form a sauce, and then pour it on top of the Nian Gao Cake （年糕）(New Year Cake). You can’t knock it if you haven’t tried it, right? Trust us!
There You Have it!
We hope that these suggestions will serve you well for this Chinese New Year! Let us know if you try one and what you think. From all of us at 1-StopAsia, we would like to wish everyone a very Happy and Prosperous New Year! And we hope that your celebration will be filled with much joy, laughter, and excitement as you celebrate it with family and friends!
Xīnnián hǎo! （新年好！）