6 things you might not know about your favourite Chinese New Year dishes

Every Chinese New Year comes with an overload of pineapple tarts. Understandably so, since the direct Hokkien translation of pineapple sounds just like the idea of “ushering in prosperity”. Fruits are also generally considered auspicious, and for the Hokkiens, the pineapple reigns as one of the luckiest fruits to have during the new year. 

While inherently Chinese, our rendition of pineapple tarts were inspired by the Straits Chinese or Peranakan folks: we won’t find these buttery bites in China. Now, when out visiting friends and family, don’t say no to another pineapple tart. Since we believe that eating sweet treats will lead to a sweeter life, it's only during the lunar celebrations that we get a free pass for devouring all things sweet.

Chinese New Year is all about prosperity, abundance, and really, just having an overwhelming load of luck. Since the word “fish” in Chinese sounds just like “abundance”, a whole fish is one of the luckiest dishes at your reunion dinner. It also comes served entirely whole, with the head and tail included, as this represents the togetherness of a family. But as delicious as having an entire fish is, make sure to leave at least some scraps for a truly abundant year – it symbolises that you’ll have more than you ever need.

If you like, you can even order two whole fish dishes. For a change from the traditional steamed fish, order from specialty fish restaurant Tanyu for tasty grilled fish. Here, fish is served whole (from $51.90) with flavours like green pepper, garlic, and spicy. You can also choose to add on other traditionally lucky ingredients like bamboo shoots and black fungus to this grilled whole fish platter.

Order from Tanyu and get free delivery with foodpanda’s subscription programme, pandapro.

Meat was once considered a luxury food, one that we’d only splurge on during festive celebrations like Chinese New Year. The tradition of gifting each other beautifully-packed boxes of bak kwa for good luck has since continued. It’s also the auspicious deep red hues of bak kwa that make these charcoal-grilled strips of meat one of Singapore’s most desired new year treats.

Mandarin oranges are all round lucky. They’re not only a vibrant orange (an auspicious colour), but they’re also round in shape – symbolising good luck and fortune. When exchanging mandarins, always present them in pairs with both hands. You can also conveniently order mandarin oranges through pandamart, foodpanda’s 24/7 grocery delivery service that delivers within the hour. Tip: As a pandapro subscriber, you can also get free delivery on all pandamart orders with a minimum spend of just $29.

Order from pandamart with a pandapro subscription for free delivery (minimum spend of $29).

We can guarantee this: all reunion meals during Chinese New Year will start with yusheng, a huge platter filled with shredded veggies, fresh sashimi, and sauces. All ingredients symbolise good fortune. More often than not, someone will also take the lead in reciting auspicious phrases like “nian nian you yu” (may your year be filled with abundance). 

While this good luck tradition has been instilled in us since we were kids, most of us just simply enjoyed seeing how high we could toss the yusheng together. For once, we wouldn’t get rebuked by our parents for making a mess. As it goes, the higher you toss the yusheng, the better our luck will be – we’ll figuratively be reaching greater heights. 

This is one of our favourite Chinese New Year traditions to adhere to: chowing down dumpling after dumpling to up our wealth for the new year. Rather than xiao long baos or wontons though, these dumplings have to specifically be jiao zi. These ingot-shaped dumplings, which are also known as shui jiao, are a symbol of wealth. Since jiao zi symbolise the turn of the year, these dumplings should also be served on Chinese New Year Eve to maximise your prosperity. 

Instead of spending the entire day folding these dumplings from scratch, simply order from Chinese restaurant Honguo via foodpanda. The jiao zi ($12.20 for six) have a generous pork filling, and come with a soy-ginger dipping sauce on the side. You can also head down to eat at one of Honguo’s outlets from now to January 20 to make the most of pandapro’s dine-in perk where you’ll get 15 percent off the entire bill as a pandapro subscriber. With every dine-in redemption, you’ll also get free Pau-Pau red packets and playing cards.

Get 15 percent off the total bill and score free red packets and playing cards when you dine-in at Honguo and Bali Thai as a pandapro subscriber.