Lunar New Year, or Tet in Vietnamese, is one of the biggest events in our family’s calendar. This is the time where we all come together, give and receive lei si (lucky money) and set our minds to the year ahead. Of course no big family celebration would be complete without food. In this blog post you’ll find lots of inspiration for your Lunar New Year menu – from very traditional dishes to the big crowd pleasers that are pretty much a hit at any party. We hope you enjoy!
Our Top Family Favourites for Lunar New Year (Tet) Recipes
These are a mix of traditional and non-traditional tet recipes that we love and have nearly every year!
- Thit Kho (Vietnamese Braised Caramelised Pork) – a traditional dish of caramelised braised pork belly with hard boiled eggs. This is normally served with rice and pickles such as Fermented Cabbage, Pickled Bean Sprouts (Dua Gia) and Pickled Chillies.
- Sticky Fish Sauce Wings in Air Fryer – air-fried chicken wings covered in a sticky fish sauce glaze that will have everyone licking their fingers.
- Crispy Roast Pork Belly in Air Fryer – you’ll need to remember to start this the day before, but other than that this is a super easy recipe with serious wow factor.
- Sup Mang Ga – Chicken and Asparagus Soup – canned asparagus, tender pieces of chicken and quail eggs in an egg-drop soup.
- Vietnamese Honeycomb Cake (Banh Bo Nuong) – a delicious cake with an unusual honeycomb-like structure. Our recipe has a pandan and brown sugar flavoured variation.
Traditional Lunar New Year (Tet) Recipes
Serving the same special food each year is a great way to keep traditions alive between generations and family members we can no longer visit. It’s nice to always have these dishes to look forward to each year.
- Fried Spring Rolls (Cha Gio) served with Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Mam Cham). We also have a Vegan Fried Spring Rolls recipe.
- Red Coconut Sticky Rice – Xoi Gac (Cheat Version) – glutionous rice flavoured and coloured with baby jackfruit. Made using our minimal soaking/microwave method.
- Layered Pastry and Mung Bean Cake (Banh Pia) – similar to a moon cake. Mung bean filling wrapped in both a savoury and sweet flaky pastry.
- Mien Ga (Vietnamese Chicken and Glass Noodle Soup) – made-from-scratch chicken stock, chicken pieces, glass noodles and black fungus.
- Vietnamese Bitter Melon Soup (Canh Kho Qua) – bitter melon (bitter gourd) hollowed out and stuffed with pork mince, black fungus and bean thread noodles. Serve this soup with rice.
- Vietnamese Candied Coconut Ribbons (Mứt Dừa) – fresh coconut dry-fried into candy. Recipe includes pandan, coloured and non-coloured variations.
Finger Foods / Sharing Plates
These can be served as appetisers or entrees, and are great to bring along for potluck-style new year dinners.
- Vietnamese Savoury Pastries – Banh Pate So – also known as “pate chaud”. Puff pastry filled with pork mince, chicken liver pate and black fungus.
- Sticky Fish Sauce Wings in Air Fryer – air-fried chicken wings covered in a fish sauce glaze.
- Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls – Goi Cuon – this is a traditional version using pork belly and prawns. We also have Vegan Rice Paper Rolls using tofu and Budget Rice Paper Rolls using pork only.
- Vietnamese Turnip Cake – Banh Bot Chien/Lo Bak Gao – a savoury turnip cake thickened with rice flour and tapioca flour, flavoured with dried shrimp and lap cheong.
- Vegan Fried Spring Rolls – filled with tofu, cabbage, sweet potato, mushrooms and bean thread noodles.
Rice Dishes
Place these dishes in the middle of the table and let your guests help themselves.
- Crispy Roast Pork Belly in Air Fryer – our most popular recipe! This pork belly has SUPER crispy skin, and is a very easy recipe.
- Sticky Char Siu in the Air Fryer (Chinese BBQ Pork) – a Chinese takeout classic. Pork belly is cooked in the air fryer and covered in a glaze of soy sauce, hoisin sauce and Chinese cooking wine.
- Vietnamese Caramelised Ginger Chicken (Ga Kho Gung) – a very fragrant dish. Chicken wings are coated in a caramel sauce then simmered with lots of fresh ginger.
- Vietnamese Savoury Sticky Rice – Xoi Man (Cheat Version) – a cheat version using the microwave and no overnight soaking. The sticky rice includes lap cheong, dried shrimp and preserved turnip.
- Sweet Coconut Sticky Rice – Xoi Nuoc Dua – made using our minimal soaking/microwave method. This recipe includes variations for yellow, green and purple sticky rice.
Soups
Our family likes to get the feast started with a nice hot bowl of soup. Put out some small bowls and a ladle and let your guests serve themselves either before or with the main meal.
- Vietnamese Hot and Sour Soup – also known as clear soup. Chicken stock, silken tofu, shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots and egg drop.
- Sup Mang Ga – Chicken and Asparagus Soup – chicken stock, canned asparagus, tender pieces of chicken and egg drop.
- Quick Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup – chicken stock, chicken breast/thigh, creamed corn and egg drop.
Sweets
Every celebration has to end with something sweet. So make sure to have a few of these recipes up your sleeve to end your new year feast!
- Vietnamese Rainbow Che (Che Suong Sa Hat Luu) – a chilled dessert with mung bean paste, aloe vera jelly, coconut sauce, faux pomegranate seeds and canned asian fruits.
- Banh Flan (Vietnamese Creme Caramel) – a sweet, silky and firm custard topped with bitter caramel.
- Vietnamese Snowballs – Banh Bao Chi – coconut/mung bean filling, wrapped in a glutinous rice flour dough and coated in desiccated coconut.
- Vietnamese Honeycomb Cake (Banh Bo Nuong) – an iconic Vietnamese cake with a honeycomb-like texture. Recipe includes pandan and brown sugar variations.
- Pressure Cooker Sweet Red Bean Soup (Hong Dou Tang) – red adzuki beans cooked in a sweet soup flavoured with dried tangerine peel.
Chúc Mừng Năm Mới!
From everyone here at the Scruff & Steph team, we hope this year will bring you peace, love, hope and prosperity. Happy Lunar New Year!
Scruff & Steph
Lunar New Year (Tet) is the time where we all come together and celebrate the incoming new year with a massive feast!