Source: Happy New Year Diary

Traditional Chinese New Year foods include whole fish, dumplings, noodles, chicken, spring rolls, fruit, and glutinous rice cake. Chinese New Year 2020 begins on Saturday, January 25, 2020 and preparations for the two-week celebration are in full swing all over the world. Many traditions surround Chinese New Year including cleaning your house to rid it of bad spirits and eating certain foods because of their symbolic meanings, based on their names or appearance.

Popular Chinese New Year Foods

Living in Orange County where there is a sizeable Asian population and living only a few miles from Little Saigon (Westminster, CA) which has the largest Vietnamese population in the U.S., I always do a Chinese New Year or Tet Festival post and have compiled quite a collection of Chinese New Year foods and recipes. The most popular are Tea Eggs, Cucumber Salad, and Grilled Whole Red Snapper.

How to Make Tea Eggs for Chinese New Year

Tea Eggs for Chinese New Year ©Priscilla Willis

Tea eggs are easy to make and have a subtle umami taste that is unexpected and addictive. My friend Anita who is Chinese from Hong Kong shared her recipe, or method, for making tea eggs.

Tea Eggs for Chinese New Year

This is more a method than a recipe but the result is beautiful, unique, and delicious!

Course: Appetizer, Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine: Chinese

Keyword: Chinese tea eggs

Servings: 12

Ingredients

1 dozen eggs
1 cup strong black tea
Star anise, cinnamon, soy sauce for egg bath

Instructions

First, make hard boiled eggs as you normally would. After they have cooled, make cracks in the shell, being careful not to have the shell come apart.
Make a tea bath: the amount of tea used is really up to you. I use enough tea leaves to make 1 cup of strong tea and then multiply that amount for a bath large enough to soak all the eggs so they are covered completely. Dark soy sauce -- ratio is about 1 TBSP soy sauce to 10 cups water.
Star anise - a little goes a long way (I used 5 stars this year).Cinnamon stick -- I used 1 stick this year for a 3-gallon pot. Salt to taste.
Make sure the tea egg bathwater is a little saltier than you'd like, bring to a boil, then carefully immerse the eggs into the bath. Bring to a boil and then lower temperature to a gentle simmer. The amount of time needed depends on how flavorful your bath is. Of course, the more it reduces, the saltier/more flavorful it will get. I simmered about 4 hrs this year and then left to sit in the bath for the rest of the day.

Whole Fish for Chinese New Year

Fish is a must for Chinese New Year as the Chinese word for fish (鱼 yú /yoo/) sounds like the word for surplus (余 yú). Eating fish is believed to bring a surplus of money and good luck in the coming year. Many Americans get queasy seeing fish served with the head on but that is the norm in many cultures, not just in Asia. Fish eyes are considered a delicacy in much of Asian and are generally served to the guest of honor.

Easy to prepare, this recipe for Grilled Red Snapper with Ginger Soy Sauce is great at any time of year.

Spring Rolls

Spring rolls (春卷 Chūnjuǎn) are another traditional Chinese New Year food. They are called Spring rolls because they are popular during the Spring Festival especially in East China: Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Fujian, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, etc. Spring rolls are a Cantonese dim sum dish where the dough wrappers are filled with vegetables, meat, or something sweet and deep-fried. In the U.S., Chinese and Southeast Asian restaurant menus offer deep-fried Egg rolls while Spring rolls are the “healthier” option because they are filled and wrapped in the same manner but not deep-fried.

You can make (or order) either Spring Rolls or Egg Rolls for your Chinese New Year celebration. They aren’t difficult to make and you can find egg roll wrappers in the refrigerated deli section of most supermarkets. Years ago, I developed a recipe for Baked Salmon Egg Rolls which gives you that desirable crunch with fewer calories.

Red lanterns on a street in Shanghai ©Priscilla Willis

Chinese New Year – Year of the Rat

2020 is the Year of the Rat (also called the Year of the Metal Rat and Year of the Gold Rat) according to Chinese zodiac. The beginning of Chinese New Year varies from year to year, but always falls somewhere in the period January 21 to February 20, and is based on the lunar calendar vs. the solar calendar.

Chinese New Year, aka Spring Festival or Lunar New Year, is the most important traditional festival and an important celebration for families in China. I have had the good fortune to be in Hong Kong and Shanghai during Spring Chinese New Year. It is an official public holiday—children are off from school and most Chinese workers have 8 days off, much like our Christmas/New Year holiday. Generally, no business is conducted for the two-week period and it is the busiest time for travel in China.

South Coast Plaza Lunar New Year celebration

Year of the Dog celebration at South Coast Plaza ©Priscilla Willis

The Year of the Rat is the first zodiac sign in the Chinese zodiac cycle. According to the Chinese zodiac story, in the competition held by the Jade Emperor to decide the zodiac animals, the quick-witted rat asked the diligent ox to take him on a ride to cross the river and jumped down before the ox crossed the finish line, so the rat won the race and became the first of the zodiac animals.

Rats are quick-witted, resourceful, smart, versatile, and good at saving money but lack courage. With rich imaginations and sharp observations, they can take advantage of various opportunities well. If you were born in 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020 – you are a Rat. No offense 😉

In Chinese culture, rats represent working diligently and thriftiness, so people born in a Rat year are thought to be wealthy and prosperous. {Source: China Highlights}