Kung Hei Fat Choi!
Three indispensable ingredients for a Cantonese New Year, at least in my home:
(1.) Pan-fried loh bak gow, or Chinese daikon cake. Made from grated daikon and rice flour, and studded with goodies like dried shiitakes, tiny dried shrimp, and fragrant Chinese sausage, it undergoes a preliminary steaming before being seared in slabs and served with oyster sauce. It’s super-laborious but not difficult per se. This is the second year I’ve been making my own, and I think I might have cracked the code.
(2.) Pussy willows, and (3.) A lacquered “treasure chest” filled with the best candies, to usher in a sweet new year.
