Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival or the New Lunar Year, marks the beginning of the Chinese Lunar Calendar and involves a 15-Day long celebration, which is full of festivities, food and parades.

Important traditions

The most notable of the traditions revolve around preparing food and the house for the New Year’s Eve banquet. Families and friends are invited to huge banquets. The banquet features some of the best desserts which are an important part of the tradition. Or also known as the Chinese New Year desserts. Let us take you down step by step through the important traditions:

• Spring cleaning

People like to welcome the New Year by cleaning the house thoroughly, to get rid of any bad luck and bad spirits. The sentiment is to welcome the new year in a ‘clean’ slate. This also means settling any disputes or any unfinished business.

• Preparing banners & gifts

Banners with New Year good luck messages are prepared in advance, as are gifts, flowers and red envelopes with money.

• Food Prep: putting away the knives

Food preparation is extremely important as no Chinese should welcome the new year with knives in use. Putting away the knives on the first day of the new year is necessary, as the traditions dictate this can “cut away” the good luck, this also means the need to prepare food in advance.

Traditional Chinese desserts

Some of the must try desserts include:

1. Tang Yuan (Rice dumpling): These sweet rice dumplings are consumed during the 15^th day of the celebration. Families set aside a special time and cook these dumplings together made from glutinous flour made of rice, served with sweet syrup.

2. Candied lotus seeds: Dried lotus seeds covered in sugar and candy, cooked in syrup, are known as the “lucky food” that ensure a long line of offspring.

3. Kamquats: Kamquats are a special fruit for the Chinese, and are known to bring prosperity and riches to the families. This is why kamquats served with coatings of sugar are given as gifts.

4. Eight treasure rice: This chewy rice pudding has a lot of surprises and treasures inside, including red bean, peanuts, prunes and dried apricots.

5. Rice cakes: The Chinese homophone for rice cakes means prosperity. These sweet rice flour cakes are crispy in texture and may be offered with bean paste.

Candied lotus seeds recipe

Here’s a traditional dessert recipe for you to try for the Chinese New Year:

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 cup dried white lotus seeds (rinsed and drained)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup sugar for coating
• 1/4 cup of water
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. 1. Fill half a saucepan with water, and put in the baking soda. Bring to a boil and add dried lotus seeds. Bring to a boil for 3 more times, removing pan each time when water boils and bringing it back to burner again. Then drain the seeds.

1. 1. Rinse the seeds repeatedly and remove bits of skin. Remove green centres if desired.

1. 1. Add 1 cup sugar to a ¼ cup of water in a saucepan. Bring to boil, add lotus seeds and vanilla extract. Simmer for 20 minutes until seeds turn brown and translucent. Cook until little liquid is left.

1. 1. Remove from stove and put seeds on baking sheet. Let them dry.

1. Roll in powdered sugar and allow to dry. Serve with sugary syrup if desired.

There is a huge population of people across Asia and there is a dessert place almost everywhere. Many people in Asia consume desserts, both hot and cold. Different country holds a different culture and taste buds differ from one another. This is what makes the Southeast Asia region a unique place when it comes to their food and desserts. Here are some of the most common desserts in Southeast Asia where people from all around the world would travel to get a taste of.

Pineapple cakes

Pineapple cakes are among the popular cakes that you can find all over Asia. It sets it origin from Taiwan where they answer to these sweet and charming cakes. Soft and moist, expect to experience a burst of savoury sweet pineapple filling when you take a bite at the dessert.

Khanom chan

Khanom chan originates from Thailand. It is made up from a variety of components such as arrowroots, rice, tapioca, coconut milk and sugar. With a texture like a jelly, it is physically presented through layers of colours, making it colourful. Similar to the Singapore’s version of Kueh Lapis, Khanom Chan has more flavours to it. You should note that this dessert is light and sticky, so do take caution when you are consuming it.

Khanom thungtag

Khanom thungtag is similar to the Singapore’s version of a peanut pancake from Thailand. It’s presented by a thin layer of pancake almost like a crepe which comes with different types of filling ranging from meat, fruits and even ice cream. If you looking for alternatives to crepe and pancake, you may want to give this a try when you are in Thailand!

Fried sesame balls

Originally from Vietnam and China, the fried sesame ball is a soft and sweet dough, fried to perfection topped with sesame seeds. You can get the similar kinds here in Singapore typically in the night market or in some food courts.

Fried banana cakes

Fried banana cake is the staple food in Vietnam. You could have heard about it. It has a sweet taste and crunchy at the same time. Often called the banana fritters here. Depending on the recipe used by individuals, most of the fried banana cakes’ texture are not too soft or hard and is crunchy when it is still hot after frying. Often fried in deep oil, it can get unhealthy if you consume it on a daily basis. Give it a try when you are in Vietnam.

Ube halaya

It is known by many names, but what makes it stand out? You will discover that the name suggests that the dessert is made from Yam. It is a popular Filipino dessert which can be found all over Asia. It also has other ingredients such as coconut milk, condensed milk and evaporated milk. In 50 minutes, it usually ready to eat!

Mochi

The mochi a soft dessert often enjoyed with glutinous rice or ice cream. It is usually served cold and can be found in many parts of Southeast Asia country. However, it originated from Japan. There are many flavours available from strawberry, coconut and much more.

Red bean soup

Another popular soup in Vietnam, China, Japan, Korea and Thailand is the red bean soup. With a refreshing and attractive fragrance of the soup, it is almost impossible to not want it.

Have you been out there trying to determine which are best desserts? You will find that there are numerous Chinese desserts available here in this tiny island.  But do you know which are the most prominent ones? You should understand that most desserts are made with sugar and they are exceptionally sweet. The following is a list of ten of the best and most popular Chinese dessert.

Tanghulu

This is an amazing old dessert originally from Beijing. The dessert made up from crab-apples are attached to a skewer and served to the public. They can easily be found by the roadside.  Many people who visit China have really had a moment with this attractive dessert. If you are planning to visit China, make sure you have a taste of this!

Pumpkin pancake

The pumpkin pancake is a common dessert during the winter made up of properly deep fried pumpkin. The dessert consists only contain 3 ingredients namely sugar, pumpkin and flour. It is usually covered with some roasted sesame seeds and this makes the dessert sweet and crunchy at the same time. You wouldn’t miss this dessert at any Chinese restaurant.

Tang yuan

Tang Yuan is a common dessert usually eaten during the festive session such as the Dongzhi festival. The family usually gather during this festival to enjoy this festive and sweet balls soup dessert. More often now, the softballs come in different colours to attract children to eat. It will definitely be a memorable moment for starters once you have a taste of this dessert.

Almond jelly

A common dessert all over the food outlets is none other than the almond jelly. The almond jelly is usually made of apricot kernel. It is soaked, grounded in water, and all the milk extracted from it will form the almond jelly. It is best-served cold. Almonds have its health benefits and on top of having almond jelly, it helps to reduce heatiness.

Red bean bun

Red bean bun is the version of the popular Baozi and it is popular in many dessert places. The red bean paste, often mixed with rock sugar helps to bring the sweet flavour of the red bean to the next level. You will definitely like the taste that comes with this bun. You can still purchase the dessert in supermarkets.

Dragons beard candy

The dragon beard candy originated from the Han dynasty and it is one of most traditional Chinese dessert that you ever can find. It is made up from a lot of sugar and it’s very sticky. This dessert is widely known to attract tourist.

Deep fried durian

The deep fried durian is the infamous dessert thanks to its strong smell. Though it smells bad, the fruit has a really good taste. It is more common in summer as this is when it is usually on a season. However, a word of caution, durian is known of its heatiness. Hence, remember to drink plenty of water once you have eaten this particular dessert!

Grass jelly

The grass jelly or some call it as herbal jelly is popular in almost all the countries across Asia. It is a sweet dessert made from the Platostoma palustre tree has plenty of health benefits. It is usually served chilled and it comes with other toppings of your choice like fruits or even peanuts.