Chinese New Year Party for Kids Foods

To bring good fortune and happiness to your home in the new year, serve and eat as many of the traditional Chinese lucky foods as you can.  Consider adding noodles, dumplings and mandarin oranges to your New Years party.

Noodles are a traditional food for the Chinese New Year as their length symbolize longevity.  That's longevity for the people at the party, not for the sweet, salty dish, which definitely won't last around pasta-loving kids.


Recipe for Sesame-Soy Noodles

8 ounces of Chinese egg noodles or pasta noodles, such as linguine
3 T dark sesame oil
3 T low-sodium soy sauce
2 T rice vinegar
2 T honey
1/8 t ground ginger
Dash of salt and pepper
1 medium red bell pepper, very thinly sliced
1/2 cup coarsely shredded carrots
2 medium scallions, very thinly sliced

Sesame-Soy Noodles Cooking Instructions

Bring a medium pot of water to boil over high heat.  Add the noodles whole and cook through until tender, about 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally to separate.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, ginger, salt and pepper.  When the noodles are done, drain and transfer them to a serving bowl.  Add the sliced bell pepper, shredded carrots, scallions, then pour in the sauce and toss everything to coat.  Serve noodle mixture warm or chilled.  Serves 6.

Dumplings

In China families also will feast on meat-filled dumplings.  You can prepare a batch at home or order some from your favorite China restaurant.  In some locales dumplings will also be found in the frozen food case of your neighborhood grocery.

Beverages

A traditional choice for a beverage would be to serve tea - hot or iced.  If your guests might not enjoy Chinese tea, substitute orange juice (oranges represent good luck and abundant happiness) or red cream soda (red is the color of happiness).  Or consider punch - a refreshing red punch would be perfect for the occasion.