Ingredients Pasta + Noodles Asian Noodles Chow Mein Noodles 9 Recipes to Celebrate Lunar New Year By Food & Wine Editors Published on February 1, 2022 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: Photo by Greg DuPree / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen The Year of the Tiger starts February 1, when the Lunar New Year is celebrated in Chinese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Tibetan, South Korean, Indonesian, Singaporean, and Malaysian communities around the world. Not surprisingly, food is one of the most popular ways to celebrate the holiday, especially with dishes like dumplings, spring rolls, noodles, and whole fish and chicken that symbolize good luck and fortune in the year ahead. Here are a few recipes to help you ring in the Year of the Tiger. 01 of 09 Shrimp and Pork Spring Rolls © Michael Turek Designer Zang Toi's supremely crispy spring rolls are filled with a mix of marinated shrimp, ground pork and a handful of colorful julienned vegetables, like carrot, jicama and beans. The fried shallot rings add alluring flavor and crunch to the spring rolls, too, but they're optional. Toi even makes his own chile sauce to serve as an accompaniment. Get the Recipe 02 of 09 Steamed Shrimp Dumplings with Chinese Chives © Abby Hocking At the Manhattan outpost of the Michelin-starred dim sum house Tim Ho Wan, these shrimp dumplings are a top pick. Making the wrappers might take a little extra time, but it is simple to do and well worth the effort. Get the Recipe 03 of 09 Tteokguk Jennifer Causey Tteokguk is a Korean soup of chewy-soft rice cakes cooked in steaming translucent broth and a good-luck dish that carries symbolic significance. The white color of the rice cakes signifies purity, so the soup represents a way to start the year off fresh. And traditionally, when you enjoy your New Year's bowl of rice cake soup, your age increases by one year. Though the soup can be made with chicken, pork, pheasant, or seafood, these days it's typically made with beef. Get the Recipe 04 of 09 Singapore-Style Noodles with Roast Pork © Jonny Valiant This traditional Singaporean dish is a savory mix of tasty noodles, Chinese broccoli and pork. Add more vegetables if you prefer to make this heartier without additional meat. Get the Recipe 05 of 09 Chilled Sesame Noodles Emily Kordovich There's good reason to believe that cold sesame noodles were first brought to New York 40 years ago by chef Shorty Tang at Hwa Yuan in Manhattan's Chinatown. Since then, chilled sesame noodles have been a ubiquitous part of Chinese takeout. 2021 Food & Wine Best New Chef Lucas Sin has been serving these noodles at New York City's Junzi since it opened, a favorite thanks to a deeply flavorful, carefully layered sesame sauce made of pure sesame paste, aromatics, and fermented tofu. Finish off the dish with chile oil and it's a classic—but not like one you've had before. Get the Recipe 06 of 09 Whole Fish Drizzled with Hot Ginger-Scallion Oil Photo by Greg DuPree / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen The Chinese word for fish (yu) sounds similar to the Chinese word most closely translated to "abundance," so for her Lunar New Year celebration, Lucky Chow producer Danielle Chang serves fish to usher in prosperity and abundance in the new year. Chang uses light soy sauce in this dish, as it is lighter in color and higher in salt than dark soy sauce, making it ideal for imparting flavor in steamed seafood. Get the Recipe 07 of 09 Hakka Salt-Baked Chicken Greg DuPree This whole chicken baked in hot salt is the most famous dish of Hakka, in southeast China. Chinese culture scholar and cookbook author Barbara Tropp says that Hakka cooks have one hand in the north and one in the south; the northern hand reaches for garlic, ginger, and an extra shot of rice wine, while the southern hand opts for light-colored sauces and favors steaming over stir-frying. This chicken, while baked in salt, emerges exceedingly juicy and not at all salty. It is served with bold dipping sauces, including a northern-style one made with plenty of fresh ginger. The quality of the bird is what makes or breaks this dish — seek out the best you can find. (Rose-scented rose dew liqueur, mei kuei lu chiew, is available in Chinese liquor stores, but the dish can be made without it.) In 2018, Food & Wine named this recipe one of our 40 best. Get the Recipe 08 of 09 Yin-Yang Tang Yuan (Sweet Sticky Rice Balls in Soup) Photo by Greg DuPree / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen This soothing, sweet Chinese dessert soup of rice flour dough balls stuffed with black sesame seeds in a rock sugar–sweetened broth is typically served during reunions because the round rice balls symbolize harmony and togetherness. Lucky Chow producer Danielle Chang likes to make it as a sweet treat for her Lunar New Year celebration. To keep the dough moistened throughout the assembly process, cover it with a damp towel. Get the Recipe 09 of 09 Microwave Bánh Deo (Mochi Mooncakes) with Black Sesame–Chocolate Filling Photo by Antonis Achilleos / Prop Styling by Christina Daley / Food Styling by Ali Ramee Pastry chef Doris Hô-Kane of Ban Bè in Brooklyn uses a microwave to make both the chewy mochi skin and rich black sesame–chocolate filling of her beautiful Bánh Deo (Mochi Mooncakes), which are a fun, festive project for Tết, the Vietnamese New Year celebration. Hồ-Kane's mochi mooncakes use a combination of black tahini and chocolate to create a nutty, smooth, and creamy filling. Black tahini is especially nutty in flavor, but in a pinch, regular tahini will do. You will need a wooden mooncake mold that measures about 1 1/2 inches in diameter for this recipe. Get the Recipe Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit