4 easy meals ideas for Chinese New Year

Some families start preparing for Chinese New Year a month in advance. If you're stuck for ideas but still want to celebrate, here are four authentic dish ideas to inspire you.

Many of the dishes served during Chinese New Year represent the hope for wealth, prosperity and fertility.

• According to some legends, the more dumplings you eat at Chinese New Year, the wealthier you'll be.
• Dumplings are often pinched together to look like crescent-shaped Chinese ingots.
• If you make pot sticker dumplings using store-bought gyoza wrappers, you'll only need to chop up the ingredients for the filling, wrap them and fry them.
• Dumpling fillings can have beef, chicken or seafood variations. Vegetarian pot stickers include carrots, tofu, bok choy and bamboo shoots, another symbol of wealth.
• Of course, if you don't have the time for chopping, you can also buy frozen dumplings and heat them up.

Long noodles represent a long life. While there are plenty of lo mein recipes that require a dozen or so ingredients, the recipe for pan-fried noodles only needs three: noodles, sesame oil and cooking oil.

• You may want to stir-fry some other ingredients such as meat and/or vegetables separately and fold them in when the dish is almost done.
• Starting with the noodles, though, makes this dish an easy addition to your lunar new year meal.

The Chinese word for catfish sounds like the word for a "year surplus," once again suggesting an abundance in the year to come.

• The eight-ingredient version or catfish with black bean sauce is easy to prepare and uses ginger, tomatoes and green onions to season the fish.

Chicken is a symbol of happiness and marriage. The three-ingredient version for chicken wings requires dark soy sauce, green onions and chicken wings.

• You'll need to marinate the wings for at least 15 minutes, but once you do so, you only need to saute them with the onions to finish.

Displaying and eating tangerines and oranges during the Chinese New Year may bring good fortune for the year to come, according to Chinese folklore.

• The Chinese words for "gold" and "orange" sound alike, suggesting that oranges bring the possibility for wealth.
• The word for "tangerine" is reminiscent of "luck," which also suggests a good year ahead.
• Tangerines and oranges are also often offered as gifts during the holiday.

There are plenty of other symbolic foods that can be featured in a Chinese New Year meal, such as lychee nuts, peanuts, spring rolls and more. Of course, if you want to make your life even easier, you can always order takeout.