It’s Chinese New Year! You know what that means: It’s time for the traditional family reunion dinner. Why don’t you skip the line and celebrate the big day at home this year? The booze is truly bottomless, the dishes don’t have crazy markups and you can chill with your family in your pajamas. Forget about the stereotypical oily and salty Chinese dishes, this year, I am going to post some healthy, yummy Chinese New Year recipes.

Soon you won’t be asking, where should we go for dinner? – Instead it’ll be, what should we make for dinner? Let’s say so long to the Year of the Goat and welcome the Year of the Monkey!  Let’s get started with Steamed Pearl Rice Balls. 

Ingredients: ground pork, sticky rice, ginger, gou qi zi, corns, peas, shiitake mushrooms

Soak shiitake mushrooms for 20 minutes, finely mince ground pork and ginger, soak sticky rice

Soak gou qi zi, mix all ingredients together

Take out bamboo steamers and drain sticky rice

Use hands or ice cream scooper to make round balls from mixture

Roll the ball in sticky rice until all covered

Place the rice balls in containers

Steam for 20 minutes

I hope enjoyed making this dish. Feel free to share how your families and friends liked it. Let me know if you have any suggestions or comments. For more homemade dishes and recipes, follow me on Instagram! Happy Chinese New Year!