Today is the beginning of the Lunar New Year. As we bid the Year of the Dragon farewell, let’s prepare to enter the Year of the Snake in all its sinuous (and wise and passionate) glory. Dishes and traditions vary widely by region and by family, but the holiday is often ushered in with dumplings to represent prosperity and good fortune, and noodles to symbolize longevity. If you’re looking for ideas and inspiration, Genevieve Ko has curated a fantastic collection of recipes for the Lunar New Year, a celebration that can last for a couple of weeks.
The diverse population of Singapore, comprising many distinct culinary traditions, serves a wide selection of dishes to ring in the new year, including biryani. Shila Das, a second-generation Singaporean of Indian and Vietnamese descent, always makes a big batch of her colorful cashew- and raisin-topped nasi biryani to serve to friends. The dish is actually a twofer, because nestled in the blanket of savory rice are pieces of stewed, spiced chicken from a heady pot of chicken curry enriched with coconut milk and pandan leaves. Naturally, you could just make the curry and serve it over plain basmati rice. But if you don’t mind spending a little time in the kitchen enveloped in aromatherapeutic steam, this stunning meal makes the effort well worth it.
Featured Recipe
Singaporean Chicken Curry
We’re also halfway through New York Times Cooking’s Dumpling Week, and Hetty “Take a Bao” Lui McKinnon gets us over the dumpling hump. Her gok jai (vegetable crystal dumplings) are a vegetarian take on a specialty of Zhongshan, a city in the Chinese province of Guangdong. But instead of dried shrimp and pork, she uses tofu, mushrooms and pickled mustard stems, all stuffed into a translucent dumpling skin made with tapioca and potato starches to give a pleasing, bouncy chew. There’s an excellent video, too, where Hetty shows off her gok jai tattoo — in addition to demonstrating the recipe, of course.
Need ideas for the rest of the week? Andy Baraghani’s beefy, citrusy pepper steak and celery stir-fry with lemon can be on the table in 30 minutes. Or go meatless with Christian Reynoso’s roasted eggplant with crispy chickpeas and cashew sauce, which is creamy, crunchy and delicate all at once.
For seafood lovers, Sue Li’s lemony shrimp and bean stew infuses the flavors of scampi into its garlicky, buttery sauce, and the addition of canned white beans adds a velvety texture and some heft. Serve it with crostini for a crunchy contrast.
It’s peak citrus season right now, a perfect time to whip up Samantha Seneviratne’s whole-orange snack cake for dessert. Using an entire orange — pith, zest, flesh and all — gives the cake a complex flavor with a marmaladelike tang, which is balanced by a sweet-tart orange glaze. Cut it into squares and serve it straight from the pan; forks are purely optional and, anyway, they’d only slow you down.
