It’s one of my favorite times of year: Lunar New Year. It was only recently that I started celebrating Lunar New Year. As fourth generation Asian American (half Chinese, half Japanese), my family is pretty Americanized and we don’t typically do anything big for Lunar New Year. But after many years of not feeling deeply connected to my cultural roots, I decided to take small steps to learn more about my heritage, traditions, and recipes.

Note: I use Lunar New Year to refer to the overall celebration of the New Year according to the Lunar calendar. Lunar New Year is celebrated amongst a variety of Asian cultures (Vietnamese, Korean, Indonesian, and more), therefore Chinese New Year refers to specific traditions within the Chinese culture. It’s just worth noting that Lunar New Year is a very diverse celebration and each cultural group has its own unique way of ringing in the new year.

In celebration of Lunar New Year, I decided to host a dumpling making party with friends. I’ve made dumplings before with my mom and after watching Crazy Rich Asians, I was inspired to share the tradition of making dumplings with my friends for the first time.

Part 1: A Visit to Chinatown

On Saturday, my friend Jackie and I went to Chinatown to find decorations and try on traditional dresses called cheongsam, also known as the qipao. It’s been years since I’ve been to Chinatown and I was excited to wander through the shops and food stalls to find things for the party. Chinatown is nearly an indescribable experience. You have to be there and experience the richness of it all for yourself. From the assortment of exotic fruits peddled by street vendors to an endless alleyway of shops selling everything from jade jewelry, clothing, and curious trinkets, there’s something for everyone in Chinatown you just need to have an open mind to take it all in.

Red envelopes are probably one of the most iconic symbols of Chinese New Year. As a kid, I used to get a few red envelopes known as lai see from aunts and uncles. Typically, lai see are given to children or unmarried people to grant them good fortune and happiness. Traditionally lai see contains crisp dollar bills. The crisp-ness of the dollar bills is SUPER important. There are many reasons and traditions thought behind this but I think that the crispness or newness of the dollars given out during new year is important because it shows care and attentiveness to the person you are giving the lai see to.

Even though lai see is more for kids, I love handing out red envelopes to my friends and family as a way to let them know that I’m thinking about them and wishing them a joyful new year. Also, I typically fill my envelopes with candy or stickers which I think is a festive surprise for anyone whose lucky enough to get a lai see. Since this is the year of the tiger according to the Chinese zodiac, a lot of red envelopes and other decorations have a tiger represented on it.

For decorations, I just wanted to find a few banners to hang for the party. Known as New Year couplets, these banners are meant to represent good wishes and prosperity for the new year. Though there are many core values to Chinese New Year, the five most common are:

Good Fortune
Prosperity
Longevity
Abundance
Harmony

Nowadays there are lots of versions and types of cheongsams. In the past, I’ve worn my mom’s old cheongsams made from silk but this year I really wanted to find a red cheongsam because red is thought to be the color that brings in good fortune for the new year. The dress that I ended up buying is a fairly cheap version of what traditional cheongsams look and feel like. Since silk is a luxury material, traditional dresses can be very expensive. Knowing that I’d be handling food and running around, I was satisfied with simply finding a well fitted red cheongsam that I would be comfortable in.

Part 2: The Menu

The process of making my dumpling filling was a fun experiment. I’ve never tried to make a variety of dumpling fillings before, so I was excited to try some new recipes. I’ll share my full dumpling filling process and recipes in a separate blog post coming soon!

For now, here’s the full menu for my Lunar New Year Party:

~ Mains ~

Chicken, Beef, and Veggie Dumplings

Veggie Egg Rolls

Chicken Fried Rice

Pork Steamed Baos

Beef Chow Mein

~ Dessert ~

Satsuma Oranges

Taiwanese Sun Cakes

Beard Papa’s Cream Puffs

Matcha Choco Pies

Almond Cookies

~ Drinks ~

Tea Assortments

Sparkling Juices

Many thanks to my friends who brought cupcakes, cookies, tea, bubbly, and other goodies to share! We definitely had plenty of dishes to pick from.

I picked out these pork baos from H Mart. Steaming is one of my favorite cookings methods that I’ve only learned recently. I love how inviting and fluffy the baos look once they’re steamed and ready to eat.

To help save on time, I bought some dishes from Seafood Port , a popular Chinese restaurant in the South Bay. They have a large assortment of dishes to choose from and their a la cart potion sizes are perfect for sharing.

You haven’t truly lived until you’ve had a fresh cream puff from Beard Papa’s. Originally started in Japan, Beard Papa’s mades the most crave-worthy cream puffs in flavors like s’mores, matcha, strawberry, and chocolate. My friend, Jackie brought these to the party to share :)

Part 3: The Party

Now for the moment you’ve been waiting for, dumpling party! My vision for the party was to invite all my dearest friends and experience the joys of making dumplings together. With three different fillings, I wanted to make sure there was something for everyone to enjoy.

First, I shared a few themes about Chinese New Year: the symbolism of the food, red envelopes, and dumplings themselves. Dumplings represent prosperity. It is believed that making dumplings and eating dumplings will bering abundance and wealth to those participating. Then I gave a short tutorial (see the video one of my friend’s took below) on how to fold the dumplings themselves. Since I already made the filling, all we had to do was gently fill, fold, and crease the dumplings to the desired shape. After everyone made their dumplings, each person had the option to cook their dumplings and eat them or take them home to eat during the week. Since Chinese New Year can last up to sixteen days, there’s plenty of time to eat dumplings and indulge in other traditional foods.

I was really impressed with everyone’s thorough effort to make the perfect dumplings. With a total of fourteen guests, we made over two hundred dumplings together! The dumplings turned out super delicious and they really are the most perfect food to share with friends. Needless to say, we were all FULL with dumplings by the end of the day.

Many thanks to all my beautiful friends who took the time to celebrate Lunar New Year with me! It brings me so much joy to share my culture with such a diverse group of friends and I hope everyone had the best time. Cultural identity is a journey. Though I still feel like I know very little about my own traditions and culture, I hope that by trying new recipes, celebrating cultural traditions, and staying curious about my heritage in general I eventually define what being Asian American means to me.

My heart is so full after such a celebratory weekend. Even though I’m running on little sleep these past few days (it’s nearly 1am as I’m finishing this blog post), I couldn’t be happier with how everything turned out. There’s nothing that makes my heart fuller than the joys of doing something wholesome like cooking with my friends.

I wish you all a prosperous Lunar New Year and if you have any questions regarding Lunar New Year, let me know in the comments section down below or send me a DM on Instagram.

Since the LNY celebrations are only just beginning, I do have a few more blog posts in mind to share with you for the festivities. Stay tuned!

xx

Kiana