Tiny Urban Kitchen

Exploring Food from Boston to Hong Kong and Beyond

  • About
    • About Me
    • Tiny Urban Kitchen’s Favorite Equipment
    • Press
  • Recipes
    • Recipe Index
    • Asian
      • Chinese
      • Taiwanese
      • Thai
      • Malaysian
      • Japanese
      • Korean
    • Appetizers
    • Soups
    • Salad
    • Pasta
    • Noodles
    • Rice
    • Vegetarian
    • Meat
    • Sweets
      • Baking
      • Ice cream
      • Cookies
    • Misc
    • Kawaii (Cute)
  • Travel / Restaurants
    • United States
      • Boston
        • Jen’s Picks
        • Boston
          • Allston
          • Back Bay
          • Brighton
          • North End
          • South End
        • Cambridge
          • Kendall Square
          • Inman Square
          • Central Square
          • Harvard Square
          • Porter Square
          • North Cambridge
        • Somerville
          • Davis Square
          • Union Square
        • Greater Boston
          • Brookline
          • Arlington
          • Belmont
          • Watertown
          • Newton
          • Lexington
          • Concord
          • Burlington
          • Natick
        • Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, Berkshires
      • Vermont
      • Maine
      • New York
      • Washington DC
      • Philadelphia
      • Orlando
      • Chicago
      • Las Vegas
      • California
        • Los Angeles
        • San Francisco
        • Napa
        • Sonoma
      • Seattle
      • Hawaii
    • Canada
      • Montreal
      • Canadian Rockies
      • Toronto
    • Argentina
    • Europe
      • United Kingdom
        • London
        • Oxford
      • Italy
        • Rome
        • Piedmont
      • France
        • Paris
        • Bordeaux
      • Spain
        • Madrid
        • Barcelona
        • Catalonia / San Sebastian / Girona
      • Germany
      • Belgium
        • Brussels
      • Switzerland
      • Greece
      • Finland
      • Norway
      • Denmark
    • Japan
      • Japan Guide
      • Tokyo
      • Osaka
      • Kyoto
    • China (Mainland)
      • Beijing
      • Chengdu
      • Shanghai
      • Shaanxi
      • Shenzhen
      • Xiamen
      • Yunnan
    • Singapore
    • Hong Kong
    • Malaysia
    • Taiwan
    • Thailand
    • Australia/New Zealand
  • Michelin
    • Formerly had a star
    • Michelin Recommended
    • 1 Star
    • 2 Stars
    • 3 Stars
  • Jen’s Eating Guides!
    • Boston Restaurants
    • Boston Dishes
    • Tokyo
    • Hong Kong
    • Las Vegas
    • Napa / Sonoma
    • Taiwan (night markets)
    • Taiwanese (casual eats)
    • Street Foods of Bangkok (Part I)
    • Street Foods of Bangkok (Part II)
    • Kitchen Equipment
  • Trip Reports
    • All trip reports
    • Around the World Trip Report
    • New England
    • New York
    • Washington DC
    • Las Vegas
    • California
    • Canada
    • Europe
    • Florida
    • Japan
    • China

Happy Year of the Tiger!

February 11, 2022 by Jennifer Che

  • Chinese New Year 2022

Happy Year of the Tiger!

恭喜發財!The Lunar New Year is one of the biggest holidays in China. During normal, non-Covid times, everyone make the long journey back to their hometowns to see their family. This is the time when relatives gather together to enjoy numerous massive meals. Parents bug their single children about getting married, and nudge newly married couples to have children. Here in Hong Kong, the culture of handing out red envelopes, called “laisee”, is ubiquitous. Always make sure to carry a couple envelopes in your bag, just in case you run into service people, kids, or others to whom you should give a pocket of blessing.

This year, for the first time, we decided to go all out, embracing the local traditions. We hosted a traditional Chinese New Year dinner. We invited friends who were “family-less”, unable to go home for the holidays due to long, burdensome, and restrictive quarantine requirements.

Decorating for Lunar New Year

First, we went crazy with the decorations. I went to the local outside market and picked up various beautiful paper-cuttings, cute door signs, plush oranges, and a traditional candy tray.

An Authentic Lunar New Year Meal

We asked our Chinese teacher for tips on what to have for New Years Eve, also called 除夕夜. She began to tell us about how her family celebrates the New Year.

Round or Spherical Foods

She told us round or spherical foods symbolized wholeness and perfection. So, I boiled some fish/seafood balls and also prepared a chili lotus root salad.

We ordered a Poon Choi 盆菜, a very local Hong Kong specific dish that arose from the villages in the Hong Kong countryside (aka New Territories). Families make poon choi by filling a large pot with abundant amounts of seafood, meats, and root vegetables. They put the pot under a fire and it is then cooked for a long time, developing rich flavors over time. The thick brown sauce is the intensely flavorful, and truly makes the poon choi special. We ordered ours from Lei Garden. It came with abundant types of seafood and a seaweed called fat choy / fa cai 髮菜, which sounds similar to 發財, or “make a fortune”. Gong xi fa cai! 恭喜發財!

My friend also brought a turnip cake 蘿蔔糕, another traditional Chinese dish to eat during the new year. The words for radish in Hokkein or Taiwanese sounds like “cai tou” which also sounds like good fortune. Again, yet another double meaning good luck dish! We pan fried these and they were delicious!

Meat + Fish

Fish is one of the most important foods to have on the New Years Eve table. The phrase 年年有餘 means “surplus every year”. The word for surplus sounds the same as fish, and thus people associate fish with overflowing abundance. We ordered some simple fish from a restaurant (not pictured), just to make sure we fulfilled this important staple of a CNY meal!

Meat is also important. A friend brought a delicious 紅燒肉 (braised beef) and we ordered a whole crispy chicken with grapefruit from a nearby restaurant called The Yuan 原汁原味。

Long Foods and New Year Cake

Long foods symbolize long life. I stir fried some hollow heart vegetable (空心菜) which comes with long stems, and also served some marinated jellyfish (also long strands!). A friend originally from northern China brought dumpling skins and filling, and we wrapped dumplings by hand.

Finally, I stir fried some rice cakes with garlic scapes and Chinese bacon (臘肉蒜苗炒年糕). The word for rice cakes (niangao) 年糕 sounds like 年高, meaning “higher by the year”. This could be wealth, business growth, health, prosperity, or more!

For dessert we ate Mandarin oranges, and had red bean soup with more rice cake (niangao) 年糕. The word for kumquat in Cantonese 金桔 is pronounced “gam1 gat1”. 金 is gold (“gam1”) and 桔 (gat1) has the same pronunciation as 吉 (gat1) which means good luck. 

I have two Instant Pots (a British plug version and a US plug version). They actually both came in handy as I used one to make the red bean soup and the other to make a simple but comforting carrot, corn, and pork bone soup. I never thought I would use both at the same time!

I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed such a festive, authentic, and traditional Lunar New Years Eve dinner. It was really fun and special.

The entire Lunar New Year holiday spans 15 days. During this time Hong Kong is filled with festive decoration. People hand out red envelopes all around, and it’s natural to wish others a happy new year when you see them.

This year has been a bit different because Hong Kong started to see a massive rise in Covid cases right after the start of the new year (likely due to increased gatherings during the holiday). As a result, the second week of the extended Chinese New Year holiday has felt a bit muted. Public gatherings are restricted to two people only. Restaurants close at 6PM and are limited to two diners per table. Many flights to Hong Kong are still banned. Many people (us included) are working from home. They are even encouraging people not to hand out physical red envelopes (laisee), but instead use digital laisee 紅包 🧧。

Despite the muted festivities, we still feel really blessed to be able to enjoy such a culturally rich Lunar New Year this year. We’re very thankful to the many friends who helped us brainstorm, plan, prepare, and experience this very traditional holiday.

Happy New Year of the Tiger!

Filed Under: Hong Kong, World Travel

« MÍRAME Beverly Hills – Modern Mexican
Playa Amor Los Angeles »

Recent Posts

  • Arbor Hong Kong May 25, 2022
  • Mono Hong Kong May 23, 2022
  • Summer Palace Iconic Wine Lunch – Hong Kong April 29, 2022
  • Lucciola – Italian food at The Hari Hotel in Wan Chai March 22, 2022
  • Studio City by Cali-Mex Causeway Bay Hong Kong March 17, 2022
  • Petrus Hong Kong March 8, 2022
  • Ichiran Tonkotsu Ramen Hong Kong March 6, 2022
  • James Suckling Wine Central – Hong Kong March 2, 2022

Latest Chinese recipes!

Welcome to Tiny Urban Kitchen!

JenChe

Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am a Boston to Hong Kong transplant, born and raised in Ohio with parents from Taiwan. Feel free to head on over to the About page if you want to learn more about me, or just explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Archives

Categories

Awards

Saveur
PFB

BostonGlobe

Most Recent Posts

Arbor Hong Kong

Arbor Hong Kong

Mono HK

Mono Hong Kong

Summer Palace Hong Kong Iconic Wine Lunch

Summer Palace Iconic Wine Lunch – Hong Kong

Lucciola The Hari Wan Chai

Lucciola – Italian food at The Hari Hotel in Wan Chai

beef quesadilla

Studio City by Cali-Mex Causeway Bay Hong Kong

Petrus Hong Kong

Petrus Hong Kong

Ichiran Hong Kong Ramen

Ichiran Tonkotsu Ramen Hong Kong

James Suckling Wine Central Hong Kong

James Suckling Wine Central – Hong Kong

Roganic Hong Kong

Birthday at Roganic Hong Kong

Caprice Hong Kong

Caprice Hong Kong – Four Seasons

France!

Restaurant Le George Paris
Yam'Tcha Paris
David Toutain Paris
Divellec Paris
Breizh Cafe Paris

Kawaii! (Cute)

Norway!

logo
Food Advertisements by

Chinese Recipes

Okra with Chicken
logo
Food Advertisements by

Shop & Support us!

Spain!

Girona Spain
Amelia San Sebastian

Japan!

Bulgari Il Ristorante Luca Fantin
Sukiyaki Imafuku Tokyo
Sushi Ishimaya Tokyo
Disney Sea Tokyo
Tempura Fukamachi Tokyo
Shinjuku Gyoen

Cambridge restaurants

logo
Food Advertisements by
Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2022 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress