Chinese New Year Nice Food

For most Chinese, new year is a celebration festival where we must have nice food as significance of having enough food for the whole year. Most of the new year food has its own symbolic of prosperity.

Aballon- Bao Hu in Hokkien (similar to "Bao Wu" in Hokkien- having for sure)
Arrowhead- Chiku in Cantonese (having children or to be exact: "son", during the old days)
Bamboo Shoots- Zhu Shun (similar to "Shun" Li in Mandarin, having a smooth year)
Black Moss Seaweed- Fat Choi in Cantonese (Having wealth)
Fish- Nian Nian You Yu in Mandarin (Having extra for every year)
Lime Orange- Kat in Cantonese (Means luck)
Lotus seed- Lian zi in Mandarin (Having large number of children)
Oyster- Hou in Cantonese (Similar to "hou" in Cantonese which means good)
Peanut- Fa Shang in Cantonese (Similar to "sang" in Cantonese which means longevity)
Prosperity Toss- Lou Sang in Cantonese ("sang" means longevity)
Rice Cake- Nian Gao (Increasing of prosperity every year)

~~ Others can be referred from Recipes.howstuffworks.com

This is our Prosperity Toss of the year.. It's put on a big plate with at least 50cm in diameter, but still we had to squeeze together while the whole family "Lou" the "sang" for this dragon year. I think next year we have to order a specially-made big plate just for the toss!

Chinese New Year: Prosperity Toss, Lou Sang

For me, Chinese New Year is a blissful occasion as it's the most happening time when the whole family member gather at the same place once in a year. Obviously, i can't resist the temptation of all nice food. I'm blessed that i have a chef-family. My mother can cook very well. All my aunties can cook well and fast. My own definition of delicious not necessary means expensive such as Aballon, shark-fin or tiger-prawn. It is as simple as: Taste of Home..Seriously i have gained not only happiness but also pounds of "real-physical-happiness" in that short period of a week.


What is our tempting nice home-cooked food?
I would say from A to Z, as long it's healthy and edible ingredients, all my magician-aunties-cum-mothers can transform it to tempting food.

I call this soup as New-Year Soup. It's combination of Chicken Soup, Fish Maw, belly (Zhu Tou), Straw Mushroom, Long Cabbage (wong nga bak), and sometimes abaloon slice.
Why is it New-Year soup? Since young from the day i know what is "Chinese New Year", i never miss this soup during every family new-year-eve reunion dinner.
It's normally boiled for at least 4 to 5 hours. So can you imagine how sweet and yummy is the soup?

Chinese New Year: New-Year Soup

As usual, Fish, prawn, meat..are meant for celebration!

So what did we have?
Sweet sour bone: This is Ah Yi's new recipe- Ribs. It's stewed ribs with sugar and vinegar until the bone itself is chewable..
Asam Prawn is simple, but it's really Bon-apetit! Just the sauce is enough mixing with rice to open your appetite.
Dried Bamboo Shoot is cooked with: Sea Cucumber, Chicken, Dried Mushroom, Dried Octopus and Chinese Red Dates (Jujubes) in salty black sauce.
Prawn with pineapple is another creative dish.
Eel with Ginger Black Sauce- a healthy dish.
Eel was purposely imported from Kelantan to Kedah by using family car!
Simple Curry Chicken without coconut milk. Every dish my aunty cooks, must be a favourite of someone.

Chinese New Year: Sweet Sour Bone

Chinese New Year: Nyonya Style Asam Prawn

Chinese New Year: Dried Bamboo Shoot with sea cucumber

Chinese New Year: Pineapple Prawn

Chinese New Year: Eel with Ginger Black Sauce

Chinese New Year: Curry Chicken

Every year, my parent's and Ah Yi's family will travel from Kelantan to uncle house in Kedah. This is the place we gather. My cousins are now working at different states in Penisular Malaysia: KL, Johor, Penang, Kuantan, Perak Anson etc..and even in oversea-Singapore.

That's how we have combination of different cooking style and each state's specialty.

Cha Hu is famous in Kedah, especially if you eat at Kuala Kedah, the harbour to Langkawi Island. I tried Cha Hu outside before but my aunty still cook the best!

Chinese New Year: Pan-fried fish, Kedah Cha Hu

My aunty's best cooking: Penang Har Mee (Prawn Noodle), Penang Laksa and Penang Otak-otak. She knows all of us love it, and i know she purposely cook for us.

Chinese New Year: Laksa Penang

Chinese New Year: Otak-otak Penang

Another special menu of this year- Satay Celup Malacca. My cousin bought packet sauce specially from Malacca, and we DIY all the Kushi/satay!

Chinese New Year: Satay Celup Malacca

Kao Jam, the green color mixed rice, which is famous in Kelantan, was traveled to Kedah. Of course my mother didn't import all the green rice from Kelantan, but only the green-color juice to cook rice.
It's mixed with: Fish meat, mixed raw vegetables and hearbs, Fried coconut, Fish Crackers, black pepper and "budu". I posted before Kelantan Trip: Nasi Kerabu Kao Jam in my previous post.

Chinese New Year: Kao Jam, Nasi Kerabu Kelantan

We also had BBQ, sponsored by my the other uncle. What i like the most? The grilled squid with Tomyam by my cousin.

Chinese New Year: BBQ night

Chinese New Year: BBQ night

For dessert, my cousin, who is guy, made this: Ice-Fire Mr. Red Bean.
It's hot red bean soup cooked with mandarin orange skin, mixed with cube Cincau, and a scoop of Vanila Ice-cream.
I admit, a guy can cook this better than me!

Chinese New Year: Dessert prepared by cousin

Every year in Kedah, we will eat the famous Miku (面龟). It's pao with red color skin, similar to tortoise shape. Surprisingly, it's plain without any filling, but it's famous that most people like it. I guess that's the taste of traditional-natural.

Chinese New Year: (middle) Stacked of Kedah Mi Ku

Why do we eat Ang Ku Kuih (红龟糕) during Chinese New Year? It's a shape of Red color Tortoise, which represents long live. It's rice cake, similar to Mochi skin, with Bean's filling. Not only Chinese New Year, Ang Ku Kuih is also used to for worship god, and distributed during baby's full moon celebration.

Chinese New Year: Nyonya Ang Ku Kuih

So now you understand why i gain "happiness" whenever i'm home? Who can resist eating nice food? I'm the most "Xing-fu" person! I'm touched that all the food was prepared with passion and love. That's what make it the best food in the world!