9 Recipes for a Vibrant Lunar New Year Celebration

In our mid-20s my sister, Stephanie, and I threw our first Lunar New Year party for a handful of friends in Chicago. We were more into the MIDI karaoke setup than the cooking—our printed menu included “stir-fried vegetables” and “rice.” But it was the first time I tried to make party-worthy Chinese food for a crowd.

That celebration became an annual event, and my cooking got better and better. These days I can cook for a hundred instead of 20. My parties have featured a range of regional Chinese and Taiwanese fare, a lot of it inspired by the food I ate growing up in Houston, or my travels abroad—like vibrant Sichuan boiled fish and spicy mala peanuts. Each year is different. Sometimes it’s an intimate dinner. Other times it’s a rager cohosted with friends. I hang colorful decorations hand-carried from Hong Kong, raffle off bottles of baijiu, and karaoke to Fleetwood Mac until the late hours.

And each year I try to cook something new. That desire to discover is why I started Yun Hai Taiwanese Pantry, which imports high-quality products like small-batch chili crisp and stone-ground sesame oils for home cooks in North America. These characteristically sweet, sour, and funky flavors form the base of this year’s Lunar New Year menu. There are crispy five-spice pork cutlets whose brilliant crunch comes from sweet potato starch. Scallion-oil noodles are seasoned with soy paste, a Taiwanese condiment that’s like soy sauce with more body and tang.

Lunar New Year menus are traditionally defined by the symbolism—long noodles for long life, a whole chicken for togetherness. I don’t stick to that. I make what I want to eat. Whether stir-frying veggies or folding dumplings, Lunar New Year (which falls on January 25 this year) is just a great reason to throw a killer dinner party.