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WITH just four weeks to Chinese New Year on Feb 7, the countdown to the Year of the Rat has begun.
The celebrations are a time for family and friends to come together, and there is no better way to do it than over food.
Kick-starting the non-stop moveable feast over the holiday is the reunion dinner held on Chinese New Year's Eve.
While traditions might not be strictly adhered to these days, there are New Year dishes that are peculiar to the various Chinese dialect groups.
We look at what's going to be cooking in the homes of some major groups here.
HOKKIENS
STEAMBOAT, or food cooked communally in a simmering pot of broth at the table, is traditional reunion dinner fare for Hokkiens, says a spokesman for the Hokkien Huay Kuan.
The meal is said to symbolise oneness among family members.
Essential ingredients in the steamboat include fishballs and meatballs, which signify harmony.
Radish is another must-have as its name in Hokkien, cai tou, sounds like the word for 'good luck' in Mandarin.
The soup base used for the steamboat varies according to personal preference although chicken broth is common. The cooked food is usually eaten without any dipping sauce.
On the first day of the Chinese New Year, Hokkiens also have mee sua, or Chinese vermicelli, with a hard-boiled egg as well as a sweet soup of red dates and longans.
The noodle dish symbolises longevity and good health in the year ahead.
TEOCHEWS
THE Teochew palate is characterised by simple, clean-tasting flavours, so it should come as no surprise that much of its Chinese New Year foods is steamed.
Mr Tan Koh Tiang, 65, executive secretary of the Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan, says steamed fish, chicken, pork belly and crab are requisite reunion dinner dishes because they symbolise abundance and good fortune.
But he is quick to add that the food, while simply cooked, is far from bland. The key lies in the condiments that are served with the dishes.
The pork belly, for example, is accompanied by a minced chilli, garlic and vinegar sauce. Crab, on the other hand, is best dipped in a tangerine sauce.
Teochew braised duck, stewed in dark soy sauce and sugar, is an exception to the steamed dishes.
For a honeyed year ahead, the traditional dinner ends with a dessert, oh nee, or sweet yam paste.
On the first day of the new year, tang yuan, or glutinous rice balls in a sweet soup, is eaten to symbolise family unity and harmony in the year ahead.
CANTONESE
WAY before yusheng became a ubiquitous Chinese New Year dish, the Cantonese were already tucking into the raw fish salad, albeit not strictly as a festive offering.
Introduced here in the 1960s, yusheng became a popular local Chinese New Year must-have among the Cantonese because of its auspicious name, which sounds like 'abundant wealth' in Mandarin, and the rousing act of tossing the salad.
Mr Ho Kwok Choi, 67, president of the Singapore Kwangtung Hui Kuan, says the fish used in yusheng is traditionally freshwater fish such as carp, but with changing tastes, salt-water fish such as salmon are now favoured.
Yusheng is traditionally eaten on the second day of the new year, although it is now commonly eaten throughout the festive period.
Other characteristic Cantonese new year dishes include roast suckling pig, braised pig trotters and stewed dried oysters with white cabbage and black moss. The latter's name means 'fortunate happenings and prosperity'.
HAKKAS
EIGHT main dishes plus a soup make for a complete Hakka reunion dinner.
Mr Lee Long Kong, 62, director of the Char Yong (Dabu) Association, one of Singapore's major Hakka associations, says a nine-course meal with eight dishes symbolises enduring prosperity.
Dishes that are distinctively Hakka include abacus seeds, made of mashed yam and flour, and yong tau foo, which typically features a minced meat paste stuffed in tofu, beancurd skin and bitter gourd.
Bitter gourd, however, is not used during the new year because of its inauspicious sounding name.
The Hakkas' stewed pig trotters use ingredients such as dried oysters, cuttlefish and dried chillies, while the soup is made from pig stomach, pepper and abalone.
On the first day, a rice-flour cake known as fa ban is eaten as it is
believed to help usher in a booming Chinese New Year.
HAINANESE
TYPICAL items served during a Hainanese reunion dinner include meat such as chicken, fish and prawn, but Mr Ngiam Seng Wee, 67, vice-president of the Hainan Hwee Kuan, says there is no fixed way of cooking them.
There are three reunion dinner dishes unique to the dialect group. The first is a stir-fried mixed vegetable dish comprising white cabbage, bottle gourd, black fungus and pig skin.
The second is stewed pig trotters cooked with red dates, black fungus and dried beancurd skin. The third would be a stir-fried dish of glass noodles, chives and dried squid, which symbolises lifelong wealth.
lijie@sph.com.sg
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