To celebrate Chinese Lunar New Year, gather friends in your kitchen and teach them how to wrap dumplings: sip on green-tea infused champagne punch while you press, fold, and steam three different varieties of dim sum together. 

Regent's Punch

This tea-infused champagne punch makes an elegant centerpiece for any festive occasion.

Get the recipe: Regents Punch

Image Credit: Landon Nordeman

Chinese Tea Eggs

Cooked in a flavorful marinade of soy sauce, star anise, and cinnamon, these tea-stained eggs are a Lunar New Year staple and a favorite everyday snack in China.

Get the recipe: Chinese Tea Eggs

Image Credit: Todd Coleman

Boiled Chicken Dumplings

Li Duanduan makes this recipe with "seasoned chicken paste" a finely chopped mixture of chicken and shitake mushrooms available at Chinese butcher shops, but ground chicken makes and excellent substitute. If you can't find dried shitake mushrooms (or don't have time to re-hydrate them overnight) you can use fresh for a similar flavor.

Get the recipe: Boiled Chicken Dumplings

Image Credit: Anna Stockwell

Shrimp Dumplings

These delicious dumplings stuffed with minced shrimp, scallions, water chestnuts, and bamboo shoots are easy to make with store-bought gyoza (pot-sticker) wrappers.

Get the recipe: Shrimp Dumplings

Image Credit: Todd Coleman

Pork and Chive Dumplings

To keep the wrappers from tearing while making these dumplings, we suggest finely chopping the scallions and grating the ginger. These classic snacks—which are boiled, not steamed or fried—were featured as part of Matt Gross's feature story on Taiwanese cuisine, "Taipei, Family Style" (April 2010).

Get the recipe: Pork and Chive Dumplings

Image Credit: Todd Coleman

Smashed Cucumbers with Ginger

This easily made pickle is a great side dish for both Asian and Western courses.

Get the recipe: Smashed Cucumbers with Ginger

Image Credit: James Oseland

Stir-Fried Iceberg Lettuce

This fragrant stir-fry, a version of one in The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen (Simon & Schuster, 1999) by Grace Young, is a popular Chinese New Year dish.

Get the recipe: Stir-Fried Iceberg Lettuce

Image Credit: André Baranowski