It's time to feast and ring in the Year of the Wood Dragon with our best Lunar New Year dishes.
Feb 04, 2024 7:00pmIn 2024, communities across the world will be celebrating Lunar New Year on 10 Febrauary. Although commonly known as Chinese New Year, the annual celebration marks the beginning of the year according to the lunisolar calendar, and is celebrated over a number of days in countries such as China, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore, as well as those diasporic communities in living Australia.
Lunar New Year involves visiting family and friends, paying respects to ancestors, giving (or if you're lucky, receiving) packets of "lucky money", and dining on banquet-style feasts. Whip up some noodles for long life, fry up some crisp spring rolls, or try Kylie Kwong's twist on the Cantonese classic dish, sweet and sour pork. Plus, we have recipes for mango pancakes, festive trifles and Indonesian layer cake to end on a sweet note.
Here are our favourite Lunar New Year recipes for the Year of the Dragon, from dumplings and mushroom noodle stir-fry to a rice cake recipe and dishes of crispy duck and pork.
What are the lucky foods for Chinese New Year? Read our guide to the celebratory dishes eaten during Lunar New Year.
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How to make kek lapis (Indonesian layer cake)
Photo: James Moffatt
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Duck sang choi bau recipe by Alvin Quah
Photo: Ben Dearnley
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Best fried rice recipes
Photo: Kara Rosenlund
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Best dumpling recipes
Photo: Ben Dearnley
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Fast mango pancakes
Photo: Alicia Taylor
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Malaysian-style spicy roast chicken (Ayam percik)
Photo: Ben Dearnley
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Victor Liong's Southern rock lobster with Cantonese garlic butter and longevity noodles
Photo: Mark Roper
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Victor Liong's rose tea and red fruit trifle with vanilla cream and osmanthus
Photo: Mark Roper
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PS40's Lunar Eclipse co*cktail
Photo: Kristina Soljo
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Restaurant Anchovy's Vietnamese spring rolls with mustard leaves and herbs
Photo: Ben Dearnley
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Aunty 5's rice cakes with tiger prawns and pork floss
Photo: Ben Dearnley
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Vietnamese rice paper rolls
Photo: James Moffatt
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Victor Liong's three sliver salad
Photo: Alicia Taylor
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Tony Tan's eggplant and broad beans with soy-sesame dressing
Photo: Ben Dearnley
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Tony Tan's cucumber salad
Photo: Alicia Taylor
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Sichuan sliced pork with garlic and chilli sauce
Photo: Greg Elms
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Victor Liong's white-cut chicken, aromatic chilli oil and peanuts
Photo: Sharyn Cairns
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Chiu chow raw fish salad
Photo: Anson Smart
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Victor Liong's cold silken tofu with peanuts, salted daikon, coriander and black vinegar
Photo: Alicia Taylor
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Cloud-ear salad with tofu and soy beans
Photo: Anson Smart
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Kylie Kwong's prawn dumplings with organic tamari and chilli dressing
Photo: Alicia Taylor
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Steamed pork buns with Shanghai chilli vinegar
Photo: Sharyn Cairns
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Lau's Family Kitchen's salt and pepper whiting
Photo: Mark Roper
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Black pepper crab
Photo: Rob Shaw
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Kylie Kwong's stir-fried blue swimmer crab with salted black bean, chilli and native basil
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Dan Hong's mud crab with XO sauce
Photo: Ben Dearnley
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Singaporean Chilli Crab
Photo: William Meppem
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Victor Liong's masterstock-braised meats and tofu
Photo: Alicia Taylor
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Tangerine duck by Lau's Family Kitchen
Photo: Mark Roper
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Malay fried chicken with curry leaves
Photo: Alicia Taylor
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Chinese-style roast chicken
Photo: Ben Dearnley
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Kylie Kwong's deep-fried chicken with finger-lime sauce
Photo: Ben Dearnley
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Butter prawns (nai yow ha)
Photo: Chris Chen
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Vietnamese yellow curry
Photo: Greg Elms
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Chinese barbecue pork with pickled watermelon rind
Photo: Ben Dearnley
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Bah H's suckling pig with roast fennel and warrigal greens
Photo: William Meppem
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Kylie Kwong's sweet and sour pork with Davidson's plum
Photo: Ben Dearnley
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Cheong Liew's pork hock and wood fungus
Photo: Chris Court
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Braised pork belly with soy sauce
Photo: Alicia Taylor
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Steamed snapper with coriander and ginger
Photo: John Paul Urizar
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Steamed barramundi, chilli black beans and pickled mustard greens
Photo: Sharyn Cairns
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Soy-roast duck with mandarin
Photo: Ben Dearnley
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Lau's Family Kitchen's scallops stuffed with prawn mousse
Photo: Mark Roper
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Dainty Sichuan's fish-fragrant eggplant (Yu xiang qie zi)
Photo: Mark Roper
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Good Luck Pinbone's Sichuan chilli eggplant with wood-ear fungus
Photo: Ben Hansen
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Char kway teow
Photo: Alicia Taylor
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Minced pork tossed noodles (Zhajiang mian)
Photo: Chris Chen
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Braised Yi-fu noodles
Photo: Anson Smart
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Shanghai-style chilled noodles
Photo: Ben Dearnley
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Stir-fried gai lan
Photo: Greg Elms
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Sesame doughnuts with custard (jin deui)
Photo: Sharyn Cairns
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Spice Temple's custard buns
Photo: Rob Shaw
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Louis Tikaram's mango pudding with lime tapioca and coconut ice-cream
Photo: Kara Rosenlund
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Prosperity salad (yusheng)
Photo: Ben Dearnley
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