Chef Ching-He Huang shares her predictions for the Year of the Tiger and the best dishes for Chinese New Year

Virgin Radio

31 Jan 2022, 13:48

Chinese New Year is almost here, and while chatting on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, food writer and chef Ching-He Huang revealed just what 2022, the Year of the Tiger, will mean for all of us. 

If you are looking for a quiet year following on from two years of a pandemic, then Ching-He has some great news for you. 

When asked what this year, the Year of the Tiger, means, she explained: “The tiger is the most auspicious animal. It's powerful, it's strong, it's got the eye of the tiger. You don't want to mess with the tiger, one look and you’re gone. 

“This is a very fast-paced year and a good year for everybody, but sometimes even though the tigers are fluffy, furry animals, it's obviously quite aggressive. You have to be careful, you don't want to mess with the tiger, so chill this year, good chilled vibes."

Chinese New Year is a way to reunite with family and friends after the last 12 months, and an opportunity to feast on delicious food. 

It is not just the day that is symbolic but also the food served too, according to the chef, who provided Chris and the team with some delicious bao buns to start the day off right.

When it comes to what food holds some symbolic meaning, Ching-He revealed: “You have to have vegetables at Chinese New Year. When you have vegetables, it not just good health, it's also prosperity. The [bao] buns around, surround means uniform and completeness.

“Everything on the table is full of symbolism. You have a whole fish from the head to the tail, that means unity and completeness and abundance. You'll have the veggies that means prosperity. You'd have dumplings because they'd look like little ingots of gold, so eveything is all about, go through the year as you mean to go on.”

The Chinese New Year feast isn’t a new phenomenon, as Ching-He also explained how the tradition has gone on for ‘thousands of centuries’.

She added: “It's because food was scarce. So scarce so you bring the best to the table at that particular time. You might not have anything for the rest of the year but on that day, you bring the best.”

Meanwhile, Ching-He is still celebrating the huge success of her latest cookbook Asian Green, which landed on the Sunday Times Bestsellers list last year.

When asked about the inspiration behind her plant-based book, she responded: “I love Asians, greens and healthy food and it's all about looking at plant-based food. I live with an ethos that you are what you eat, we've got to have balance, and I think we were going a little bit too far when everything was all meat based. I think it's good to balance it out. The yin and the yang, you've got to have the planted-based options as well and I think Asian Green is just my nod to the plant-based world.”

The 2022 Chinese New Year (Year of the Tiger) takes place tomorrow (Tuesday 1st February). Ching He Huang’s cookbook Asian Greens is out now.

For more great interviews listen to The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.