Hong Kong Chinese New Year Foods

Chinese New Year is a time for me to binge. You may notice that I have a fasting blog and if you read this post, you're sure that I can recover speedily after binge eating.

During the new year holidays, we visit relatives and the gatherings are all about eating. Here I'm going to share with you some of my favourite new year foods.  And if your planning a visit soon make sure you find the best cheap travel offers out there.

New Year Puddings

Turnip Pudding is one of my must eats. If you've ever read about my health rules in my fasting blog, you'll realise that I enjoy eating fresh and natural. If you don't have the experience of eating turnip pudding freshly from the steamer, I'll suggest your learning to cook it. Here's Anna's turnip pudding recipe. Every year, me and my sister work together to make our own turnip pudding and eat fresh. Woo, yummy! Once you've tried eating fresh, you would never want to eat the re-heated ones, neither pan fried, steam or micro-wave.

My Home-made Turnip Pudding 2012 蘿蔔糕

Water Chestnut Pudding 馬蹄糕
This is a very popular Cantonese dessert year round. But we eat a lot of it during the new year. Little bit sticky but very delicious. We seldom make this at home, but eat at restaurants.

Sticky Nan Gao (New Year Pudding)
My sister-in-law made it at home and served us during our home visit. It is very sticky and chewy, but nice. We had two flavours: vanilla and coconut. It is so sticky that during pan frying, we had to add some egg solution so that the pieces won't stick together.

Home-made Nan Gao 年糕,年糕, 年年高!

In Cantonese, Gao (pudding) sounds like Grow, therefore Gaos are very popular foods during Chinese New Year.

Fa Cai (lucky money) Hao Shi (good business) Da Li (lots of profit) Dumplings 發財好市大利燒賣 - Fa Cai - is the black hairy vegetable; Hao Shi - is the dry oyster; Da Li - is the pig's tongue. This dumpling trio is a must eat when we have our family dim sum lunch gathering on the first day of Chinese New Year. All these foods are given good names and with valuable meaning in Chinese.

發財好市大利燒賣

After our home visit to my brother's house, he took us to a restaurant in Shatin for dinner. There was some unexpected pleasure as he ordered a few old Hong Kong dishes that reminded me of my childhood.

Stir Fried Kale with Preserved Meats 芥蘭炒臘味

This dish looks simple but few restaurants serve it nowadays. And we can only taste in cold winter days. It was really well done with 'heat of wok'. Do you see the smoke (top left corner of the photo)?

Stir Fried Kale with Preserved Meats芥蘭炒臘味

Pork's Knuckle in Hot Pot 梅子豬手煲

There are plums and pineapples in this dish. So it is a little bit sweet and sour however won't conflict the overall knuckle's flavour. Few chefs use this recipe nowadays. Again, very well done, though the waiting time is a bit long (roughly 40 minutes), but we all love it!

Pork's Kunckle in Hot Pot 梅子豬手煲

Stir Fried Goose Intestine with Pepper and Pickles 味菜炒鵝腸

Does this look like flat noodle? Nope. It may be difficult for you to imagine, it is goose intestine. Again, few restaurants serve this dish nowadays. Only some Chiu Chau restaurants do. It is quite time consuming in preparing the goose intestines. But the chef did a great job. It was not fatty at all and very crunchy. If you were to mention some rare foods that Chinese eat, would you include goose intestine?

Stir Fried Goose Intestine 味菜炒鵝腸

Hong Kong Food Blog - Chinese New Year Foods