CNY 2021

6 Chefs & restaurateurs share the Chinese New Year dishes that warm their hearts

Master Chef Chan Hwan Kee, Min Jiang, Goodwood Park Hotel

Chinese New Year family traditions in Kuching

“Our family would usually gather to prepare the food together for the Chinese New Year reunion meals. We enjoy the bonding time. Every dish is hearty and packed with ingredients, including dumplings which we would make ourselves. Another staple is comforting, clear soup.”

CNY food inspiration: Min Jiang’s Double-Boiled Abalone Soup & Eel Fish Maw

Eat well with Min Jiang’s hearty Chinese New Year menu, which includes the Double-boiled Abalone Soup & Eel Fish Maw with Handmade Prawn Dumplings & Minced Pork Balls ($248).

Containing popular CNY ingredients such as fish maw and homemade dumplings, this dish is part of Chef Chan’s many fond memories of his hometown. He feels that a nourishing, flavoursome soup completes a hearty family meal. This version bears the same comforting flavours of the soups he used to enjoy with his family but using more premium ingredients.

Each ingredient goes through a laborious, multi-step cooking process that makes sure each flavour is developed and infused into the broth. Australian 10-head abalone, eel fish maw, handmade prawn dumplings and minced pork meatballs are combined in a chicken broth that has been simmered for three hours. Dried sole fish and white radish are also tossed in. The meatballs are made by mixing hand-minced pork belly, black moss, chopped red carrots as well as flour. The mixture is beaten till smooth before being shaped into bite-sized orbs to be steamed. The meatballs are then deep-fried to bring out its aroma.