Happy Chinese New Year! Khiung Hee Fat Choy! 恭禧發財 Gong Hay Fat Choy! On January 29, 2025, we welcome the start of the Lunar New Year of the Snake. Celebrate the Chinese New Year with a feast. Gather family and friends around the table filled with foods that symbolize auspicious messages: wealth, luck, success, unity, growth, and longevity.
As I plan the menu for our family’s new year feast, I look through The Hakka Cookbook for ideas. I like our family meals to be a cooperative effort, sort of an organized potluck plus cooking lesson. It’s easier and more fun to share the cooking duties and hopefully everyone can learn something new.
For my grandchildren, who are now teenagers, I like to include one cooking activity. In the past, we made won tons, dumplings, and pot stickers. This year we may make Stuffed Tofu. It’s a Hakka classic and not too difficult. The Hakka invented stuffed tofu when they could not find wheat flour in their new home in the south to make the dumplings they ate in their former home in northern China.
There are many variations of Stuffed Tofu (釀 豆 腐 Hakka: nyiong tiu fu; Mandarin: niang dou fu). In the basic Hakka version, the filling starts with ground pork. When the Hakka migrated to coastal areas, they might add shrimp or salted fish, or fresh fish paste. The seasonings vary depending on the cook. Common ones include garlic, ginger, green onions, cilantro, soy sauce, dried tangerine peel, and dried mushrooms. This versatile filling can also be used to fill vegetables such as eggplant, chilies, mushrooms, or bitter melons.
The tofu may be cut in different ways. For the simplest way, cut the tofu into thick squares or rectangles. Then dig out a shallow cavity in the center to hold the filling. Or if you’re dexterous, cut the tofu in thick triangles, then carve a slot-like pocket into the long side to cradle the filling (as pictured at left.)
The stuffed tofu can be cooked in different ways: steamed, pan-browned and braised, poached, and deep-fried. Look for different variations: Uncle Henry’s Tofu Triangles (recipe on page 31), Natalie Com Liu’s Tofu Topped with Pork (pictured below, recipe on page 33), Braised Fried Tofu with Pork (page 76), Fah’s Stuffed Tofu Triangles (page 215), and Stuffed Tofu Soup (page 216.)
To add more luck to the meal, we’ll probably add some green vegetables for growth such as the Chinese Broccoli in Sweet Rice Wine (page 230 ), Stir-fried Chinese Lettuce and Wine Rice (page 50), Lettuce with Garlic and Black Beans (pictured below, page 57), or Iceberg Lettuce with Garlic (page 27).
Noodles represent long life. Choose from the dark, umami-rich Noodles with Mushroom Pork Sauce (page 104), the lighter Garlic Noodles and Shrimp (pictured below, page 193), or the dark Sweet Soy Chow Mein (page 178). Fish is a must-have on Chinese New Year table. The fish brings surplus and abundance to the new year. I like the Steamed Fish with Green Onions (page 39) or the Braised Fish in Black Bean Sauce (page 137).
Possibly we may cook the famous Hakka Salt-baked Chicken (page 64) or the easier Salt-Poached Chicken (page 226). Or maybe we’ll buy a Chinese roast duck.
For me, Chinese New Year is about food and family. Khiung Hee Fat Choy 恭禧發財! Happy New Year!!