Food for Wealth
What we eat for Chinese New Year could make us rich

In Chinese culture, traditional New Year foods are extremely symbolic – either the foods have names that are homonyms for fortune and luck, or their shapes recall ingots (obviously associated with wealth) or spheres for prosperity and harmony. Everyone wants to be healthy, wealthy and wise, so bc searched out the top 10 traditional New Year foods, in the hope that we can all be Bill Gates by the end of the year of the rat.

1. Nin Gou (New Year’s cake)
Nin Gou must be top of the list of New Year’s food. The tradition of the New Year’s cake can be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty, about 3,000 years ago, at harvest time. The word ‘Nin’ alludes to the idea that ‘the crops ripen only once in a year’, so ostensibly people eat Nin Gou to celebrate a great harvest, with the name Nin Gou intended to connote that ‘a more productive year coming up’. The cake is made of glutinous rice but comes in many varieties, the most common being white, with coconut flavour, and dark orange, which is sweetened by brown sugar. The cakes are usually circular to signify the unity of family, though recently a fish-shaped Nin Gou has been very popular as it signifies having more than enough resources to spare every year. Nin Gou can be either steamed or pan-fried depending on whether one prefers a sticky, soft texture or a crispy one. While Gou by itself in Chinese means ’high’, other kinds of Gou like Lo Bak Gou (turnip cake), water chestnut cake and taro cake are believed to also foreshadow a more productive year ahead. But whatever Gou takes your fancy, don’t forget to sip a cup of Chinese tea after eating the cake to help digestion.

2. Fat Choy Ho See (dried black moss with oysters in a casserole)
Fat Choy Ho See literally means ‘successful businesses in the New Year’. Chinese being a tonal language, Fat Choy, the name of the black moss, also can mean ‘struck it rich’ and Ho See, the oyster, also signifies ‘good market’. As a dish, Fat Choy Ho See is black moss and preserved oysters, usually served in a casserole, with lettuce as a base and black mushrooms as a cover. However, Fat Choy’s fortunate meaning makes the dried black moss a most sought-after ingredient for many New Year dishes. In its natural state, the moss is a fertilizer but it has become so popular in China that over-harvesting has led to degeneration of grasslands and desertification. That hasn’t stopped the intense demand in Hong Kong, which is unfortunate: we must ask ourselves whether we can afford to continue following this ‘good old tradition’ at the expense of the environment.

3. Ho Nin Chyun Hap (tray of togetherness)
The round candy box filled with various kinds of traditional snacks is a common sight during New Year and is meant to wish auspiciousness on one’s guests. Usually calligraphy on the box is of the character for ‘fuk’ (pronounced as ‘fook’) which means ‘lucky‘, and two tangerines are stuck on the box’s cover to symbolize happiness and luck. Inside the box, apart from coin-like candies and chocolates, one will find traditional snacks, such as melon seeds dyed red and signifying good fortune, sweetened lotus seeds signifying excellent health, sweetened lotus roots promising an abundant harvest and pistachio nuts pointing to happiness. For candies and snacks, the sweeter the better is the key, because no one wants to face a bitter year ahead. Guests are usually invited to reach for the melon seeds first, as if they are grabbing fortune and great opportunities in the New Year.

4. Jin Deui (deep-fried sesame dough)
Jin Deui is a ball of glutinous rice flour as big as a fist, deep fried, usually with sesame seeds scattered on the crispy outside. Jin Deui can be hollow or filled with red bean paste. The tradition of eating Jin Deui during Chinese New Year started during the Tang Dynasty, but was reserved for royal families only. A Chinese saying goes, “Stacks of Jin Deui will bring in stacks of gold and silver,” because of its golden colour signifying wealth and the ball shape representing something that keeps on rolling and never stops.

5. Wang Choi Jau Sau (pork knuckles and tongues)
Pork knuckles and tongues are magical ingredients to make you a ‘windfall profit for little effort’, which is what Wang Choi Jau Sau literally means. Pig’s tongue – Dai Lei in Chinese – is a homonym for ’great profit’ and, along with the knuckles, meaning ‘the great profit already in hand’, it symbolizes that, even without much effort, unexpected fortune will eventually come. In this dish, the knuckles and tongues are braised and served with a heavy gravy, and sometimes with marinated tofu. Braised long enough with sugar, soy sauce and spices, the knuckles and tongues will become soft and very chewable.

6. Tong Yun (Chinese dumpling)
On the fifteenth day of Chinese New Year, also known as the Lantern Festival, Tong Yuan is something one must eat because its ball shape resembles the full moon in the sky that night and symbolizes the unity and harmony of the family. The pastry is made of a glutinous rice flour mixture filled with black bean or sesame paste or chopped peanuts and is served with a sweet soup. Sometimes, people put a coin into one of the Tong Yun and whoever lands up with that dumpling will, it is believed, earn the greatest fortune in the coming year.

7. Pau Yu (Abalone)
Pau means ‘to bag’ in Chinese, and so in relation to the New Year it symbolizes that one will be able to ’bag’ anything one wants in the coming 12 months. Abalone can be served with gravy or sliced and served with vegetables or bean products. When braised with peas and lettuce, the abalone dish comes up with a great name, Sang Choi Ho Bau, meaning that money will automatically appear in the magic wallet. Though you have to spend a fortune on the abalone to first get the magic wallet, it still seems like a fair deal to many.

8. Bat Bau Fan (Chinese Rice Pudding)
Bat Bau Fan literally means ‘eight treasure rice pudding’, and, as the name suggests, it is a steamed glutinous rice pudding with eight dried toppings. These can be fruit or nuts, like raisins, walnuts, hawthorn, plums, almond and even sesame seeds. Bat Bau Fan is often stuffed with black bean or sesame paste. Eight is a lucky number and means ‘fortune’. The dish not only symbolizes that, due to that lucky number, you will have everything you want, but also that sharing the round rice pudding with family and friends you will have both harmony and a future reunion.

9. Lei Yu (Carp)
Fish, yu, in Chinese literally means ‘abundance’ and to maintain a huge harvest every year, people will always have fish during Chinese New Year, sometimes even leaving it on the table untouched to preserve its meaning. Lei Yu, the carp, in particular, is lucky: a Chinese myth tells how a carp once jumped off the end of the world and evolved into the dragon! Carp can either be steamed or roasted and served with spring onions, Chung in Chinese, which also can mean ‘cleverness and talent’; but the two must be served as a whole to symbolize completeness and togetherness.

10. Jai Choi (Lucky Plants)
Here are some exclusive picks for vegetarians. Eating Jai Choi, ie being vegetarian, on the first day of Chinese New Year is a way of showing respect in Buddhism but it is also nowadays a healthier alternative to more greasy traditional New Year dishes. Some of the lucky edible plants are Sang Choi (lettuce) which also means ‘money making’, Kan Choi (Chinese celery) which means ’diligence’, Chung (spring onion) meaning ‘cleverness’, Ho Lan Dau (peas) which also indicates a ‘full wallet’, and Jiu (hot chili) also meaning ‘attracting (money)’. Above all, the key criteria in plants for the promise of good fortune are sharp colour and a round shape.