Eat your way to good fortune

Lucky Noodles to start the year right

You are what you eat, so if you want to be lucky, then eat your way to prosperity.

The celebration of the Lunar New Year will never be complete without noodles as part of the spread. It has long been a tradition to partake of noodle dishes, as they symbolize and attract good health, long life, and rising prosperity.

My dear friend, the late geomancer Master Aldric Dalumpines, prescribed that uncut noodle dishes be served as part of your Chinese New Year meal or 15 days before or after the fete.

Here is my 2025 Lunar New Year Lucky Noodle recipe. I created it based on auspicious ingredients. I love how tasty yet light and easy to eat this noodle dish came out. May all that the ingredients signify be yours. Here’s wishing you a peaceful, prosperous and healthy year of the Snake. Kung Hei Fat Choi!

Get to know which ingredients bring good tidings. This is a short list that Master Aldric shared with me years ago. Use it as a guide to making your own lucky noodle recipe.

Sesame seeds are a symbol of good fortune and prosperity. Though small, they have great potential for growth.

Garlic is said to bring protection and good health to those who eat it.

Cilantro is for compassion.

Spring onions are for renewal, “spring,” new beginnings, and continuous growth.

Carrots when sliced look like pennies, believed to bring luck.

Hair seaweed (fat choy) with dried oysters (ho see) sound like the Chinese words for “wealth and good business.”

For happiness, add shrimps or prawns, “as the term for it in Chinese sounds like laughter or hahaha!” Master Aldric said.

Shredded fresh lettuce, in Mandarin, sounds like “growing and blooming wealth.” Add shredded lettuce to garnish your pancit for freshness and crunch. I added torn lettuce tossed in soy, vinegar, and sesame oil to garnish my seafood noodle.

The word “cabbage” in Chinese sounds like the phrase “a hundred riches.” Eating cabbage is believed to bring financial gain.

Vegetables symbolize freshness, thus lasting fortune. Mixed vegetables bring harmony in the family.

The round shape of fish (yu-wan) balls and meat (jou-wan) balls symbolizes “reunion” and “togetherness.”

Mussels and clams symbolize wealth. Their shells are also said to bring protection.

Lucky Noodles

1 400-g pack Excellent Egg Noodles

1 Tbsp sesame seeds

1 Tbsp spring onions

1 cilantro, leaves coarsely chopped, stems chopped fine

Bring a pot full of water to a boil. Cook noodles until al dente only, as we will toss it later in a little sauce. Check doneness after 4 minutes.

Drain, wash egg noodles in cold water, and toss noodles in a little sesame oil, toasted sesame seeds, and chopped cilantro.

Put the noodles on a serving plate. Set aside.

Vegetables and sauce

2 Tbsp oil

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 medium red onion, chopped

80 g carrots, thinly sliced

1 c cabbage, sliced

1 can button or fresh mushrooms

2 Tbsp rice wine

3 cups seafood stock made from boiling shrimp heads, clams and mussels, leeks, celery, onions

2 Tbsp oyster sauce

2 Tbsp light soy sauce

2–3 Tbsp sugar

15–20 grams sea moss (soak in water for 30 minutes, rinse well, drain)

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil. Add onions and garlic. Cook until onion is translucent. Add carrot, cabbage, and mushrooms. Add rice wine and cook until vegetables are half cooked. Remove from wok and set aside.

Pour stock and seasonings, including sea moss in the wok. Simmer. When simmering, adjust seasoning to taste. Cook seafood. Turn off heat.

Pour hot liquid onto noodles, adding just enough to coat the noodles lightly.

Reserve the sauce and serve on the side. If the noodles absorb all the liquid and you want your noodles wet and not dry, pour a little more sauce.

Seafood

2 Tbsp oil

4 shallots

1 tsp pounded garlic

100 g shrimp, peeled, tails left intact—marinate in 1 tsp light soy sauce and 1 tsp xiao xing wine for 15-20 minutes.

1 small squid, sliced—marinate exactly as you did the shrimp