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Chinese Year of the Tiger arrives on Valentine’s Day this year. 14th of February will therefore be doubly special to us. Although we are in the UK and regrettably do not get the days off as public holiday, us Chinese living away from home still make sure we celebrate our New Year in true style.
We make time to clean and decorate the house, sort out the red money packets (handing them out if you are married – us singletons get to ask for them instead), meet up with families and friends, or visit China Town nearby and immerse in the atmosphere.
Businesses set off a few mini-firecrackers and organise lion dances outside their shops for good luck. The key element in the celebrations, however, is food.
The New Year food marathon begins a couple of days before New Year’s Day, just like you would for Christmas when you prep the turkey, make Christmas pudding and mince pies and mulled wine in advance.
We do the shopping, get the house ready, put out sweets and snacks, buy traditional New Year plants such as cherry blossoms, water lilies and (small) clementine trees for the house, and roll out the Mahjong tables, game consoles and karaoke machines.
Since we get 3 days of public holiday in Hong Kong, when I was young, New Year’s Eve was reserved for my parents and me. A small, peaceful meal in front of the TV watching fireworks in New Year Gala programmes. On New Year’s Day we would head off to my dad’s side of the family, and then to my mum’s side the day after.
My grandmothers and aunts would start preparing in the kitchen at the crack of dawn: marinade the meat, gut and clean fish, soak/chop/grind/roast/mix all sorts of herbs and spices, get that big pot of chicken soup boiling, wash tons of vegetables, and then dig out that 10-people sized rice cooker…
So, what do we eat? As you know Chinese are all for names and numbers that are phonetically lucky. Why should the New Year dishes be any different? I have listed some traditional Chinese New Year dishes below. If you know of any exciting ones please share their details on the web page!
New Year cake ‘Nin Go’  It is made of glutinous rice flour, wheat starch, water, pinch of salt and sugar, and steamed for a few hours. The type of sugar determines the colour of the cake: white with caster sugar, light brown with cane sugar. Some people make the cake in a special mould in order to get a New Year-themed shape: goldfish, gold coin etc.
‘Nin’ in Chinese is ‘year’, and ‘Go’ is ‘cake’ whilst being phonetically equivalent to ‘high’. ‘Nin Go’ means ‘a prosperous year’, as higher is definitely more!
Pig trotters stew ‘Wang Choi Jau Shau’
 The pig trotters are stewed with Chinese mushrooms and ginger in soya sauce, oyster sauce, clove and Chinese Five Spice for hours. This is a great dish that goes well with anything – rice, noodles, or buns (‘man tao’).
Pig is a symbol of a good farming year as there won’t be any livestock when you are having a bad time. In Cantonese, ‘Wang Choi’ means ‘accidental fortune’; ‘Shau’ in Chinese is ‘hand’ (this is why trotters are used) and ‘Jau Shau’ is a Cantonese slang for ‘within easy reach’. In whole the name of the dish is ‘accidental fortune within easy reach – pretty good if you end up winning the lottery from eating this comforting dish!
Dried black moss and oyster casserole ’Fat Choi Ho See’
Black moss is used as a vegetable in Chinese dishes – ‘fat choi’ in Chinese literally means ‘hair vegetable’. It is a dark-green algae and we use the dried form which looks just like black hair/black vermicelli.
Right, so it doesn’t sound that appealing no matter how much I try to put a positive spin to it. Looks can be deceiving, however. Dried black moss is actually quite tasty when you add it to a casserole as it absorbs all the flavours, just like you would with thin noodles.
To make the casserole, wash and soak dried oysters and black moss in warm water for a few hours. The oysters are put first into the casserole dish containing a broth of soya sauce, oyster sauce, Chinese mushrooms (also washed and soaked) and stewed for a few hours to ensure everything is soft to eat.
Black moss is added 20 minutes or so before you want to serve your casserole, as leaving it in too long will cause the vegetable to disintegrate. Iceberg lettuce leaves are also added close to the end of the cooking process to bulk up the dish.
‘Fat Choi’, when written in their phonetic equivalents, means ‘getting rich’, ‘Ho See’ means ‘good business’. ’Fat Choi Ho See’ is a saying to wish people a good business and a fulfilling year.
Steamed fish with ginger and spring onions ‘Nin Nin Yau Yu’  Let’s have a quick quiz to see if you have been paying attention to my article – what does Nin mean?
Common New Year fish used are carp and sea bass but any moderate-sized fish will do. The whole fish is steamed with ginger and spring onions. Before serving, soya sauce is added generously and then piping hot oil is poured all over the fish.
‘Yu’ in Chinese means ‘leftover’ or ‘underspend’ and is phonetically equivalent to ‘fish’, therefore ‘Nin Nin Yau Yu’ means ‘every year there are leftovers’ - to have any leftovers you must have more than enough to start off with, so this dish is truly lucky.
Braised extra-long noodles with dried scallops ‘Cheung Shau Noodles’
When you order noodle soups in a Chinese restaurant, the noodles are usually cut roughly with scissors to make sure they aren’t too long to eat. Otherwise you’ll forever be struggling with your chopsticks or forks trying to reach the end of your noodles!
Have you ever attempted to snap your dried spaghetti in front of an Italian? It’s suicide. Same rule applies for Chinese New Year: don’t break your noodles. The longer they are the better. In fact, you can buy ‘extra-long’ noodles which are probably 3 – 5 inches longer than the normal type. Just boil them as you would normally and mix in sesame oil, soya sauce, spring onions, ginger and some dried shrimps or scallops.
Long noodles represent a long life: ‘cheung shau’. Noodles are a common part of our diet and having an endless string of noodle symbolises an eternal life.
Final words I just checked the calendar and it appears Chinese New Year/Valentine’s Day is a Sunday this year. Looks like I am getting a day off after all. Fantastic! I hope you all get to spend it with the people who love you and whom you love. May your Year of the Tiger be the best year ever! Kung Hei Fat Choy/Gong Xi Fai Chai/Happy New Year!
Joey Kwong
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