Features
Tuesday, 02 February 2010 03:02
Written by Hailey Meng & Justin Fischer

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Figuring out your New Year’s feast

When you sit down to a Chinese New Year dinner you’re not just eating a meal; you’re really interpreting a poem. Each dish is rife with allusion, wordplay and symbolism. Every ingredient, every preparation technique, has a deeper meaning intended to bring wealth and good fortune. The variations on the New Year’s dinner are as diverse as the culinary traditions throughout the country. And, of course, every family has its own recipes that have been handed down from generation to generation. But there are some dishes that will be on nearly every table each year. With help from Chef Ryan Tang Ying Kit of the JW Marriott hotel we’ve put together the definitive New Year’s feast to ensure fortune and prosperity in the Year of the Tiger.

The JW Marriott Hotel’s Wan Hao restaurant will be featuring all of these dishes in a special dinner on Chinese New Year’s Eve. For bookings, call 5359 4969 ext 6436.

Jiao ma bang bang ji 椒麻棒棒鸡
Chicken with spicy peanut sauce. The Chinese often refer to the peanut as changsheng guo, or ‘nut of longevity,’ so we guess eating this dish is a must for those of us who want to add a few years to our lives. After all, one day we’ll be no spring chickens.

Fei cui bai ye juan 翡翠百页卷
Tofu vegetable rolls with one very special ingredient: malantou. There was a time when this herb only grew in the wild and was nearly impossible to find. So today it’s a symbol for diligence – a worthwhile virtue in these tough economic times!

Suan la ningmeng xia qiu 酸辣柠檬虾球
Hot and sour lemon shrimp balls. There’s nothing figurative or metaphorical about the name, but the shrimp glimmer like crystals and are served with jade green stalks of celery. You can guess the meaning – more riches. Noticing a trend here yet?

Sixi kaofu 四喜烤麸
No New Year’s dinner in Shanghai is complete without this wheat-based classic. ‘Si xi’ means ‘four joys.’ The joys in this case are four auspicious ingredients: peanuts, bean curd, wood ear mushrooms and day lily. We’re feeling happier already…You can learn how to make this right here.

Ruyi jixiang 如意吉祥
Sometimes having just the simple things is all we need. This dish signifies just that, everything we need. In this case it’s stir-fried mixed vegetables – nothing more and  nothing less. We wouldn’t dream of asking for anything else.

Hong yun dang tou 鸿运当头
In Mandarin, chicken is pronounced ‘ji,’ which is also a homophone of the Chinese word for ‘lucky.’ But wait, there’s more! Different parts of the chicken have different auspicious meanings. The wings symbolize flight, i.e. success. The talons invoke an image of grabbing money. And the head means to come out on top. If that lot all comes true we’ll be cock-a-hoop.

Nian nian you yu 年年有鱼 
A steamed whole fish is the centerpiece of the New Year’s banquet. The name is a clever double entendre. In Chinese it means ‘every year there will be fish.’ But the word for fish, yu, is a homophone for the word for surplus. Zhende!

Jinyu man tang 金玉满堂
In Mandarin, this dish’s name means ‘fill your home with gold and jade.’ We can’t guarantee that’ll happen when you eat it. But we’re pretty sure you’ll enjoy filling up on its delicious mix of stir-fried chicken, cuttlefish, celery and pine nuts.

Jinyin man wu 金银满屋
Its name literally means ‘fill the room with gold and silver,’ which seems a rather opulent name for what is essentially a plate of fried rice. But with this dish, it’s all about the presentation. The egg whites and yolks are fried separately and remain intact when mixed among the rice: Drink loads and loads of baijiu and squint really, really hard and they look like gold and silver pieces.

Cai yuan gun gun 财源滚滚
This dish takes its name from an old Chinese proverb that means for money rolling in. In keeping with that theme, balls of shrimp are rolled around in breadcrumbs and then deep-fried. They come to the table looking like balls of gold. You see, all that glitters...

Nian nian da li 年年大利
The meaning behind this dish of pork tongue with lotus is kinda complicated, so read carefully. The word for lotus is lian. Lian rhymes with nian, which in Mandarin means year. Put two nians together and that means ‘every year.’ Clever, huh? Now, pork tongue (da li) is pronounced jyu lei in Cantonese, which sounds a lot like the Chinese word for ‘profits.’ One bite and hear those cash tills ring!

Huanle yuanyuan 欢乐圆圆
Finally, dessert. And rather than being some indirect plea for wealth and material comfort, this one symbolizes what is perhaps the most important concept in Chinese culture: family. Sweetened red beans are cooked in a soup with glutinous rice balls known as tangyuan. The word ‘tangyuan’ sounds similar to the word ‘tuanyuan,’ which is Mandarin for ‘reunion.’ Aw, group hug… 

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