Tradition is a funny thing and when, like me, you come from a mixed cultural background (Chinese, Filipino, Australian etc.) it gets even funnier – not in a ha ha way.

In our house on New Year’s Eve it is our tradition to have noodles and also a Pinoy (Filipino) dessert called pinaltok which is Mum’s speciality. I guess this is drawn from the Filipino tradition which involves celebrating New Year’s Eve in the company of family and close friends by hosting a midnight meal (Media Noche) where typically there will be noodles and lechon (roast pork) combined with the tradition of wearing clothes with circular patterns. The circular patterns apparently represent money. None of us have clothes with polka dots so I guess by having the pinaltok Mum has created a substitute for the dots. Noodles also have meaning in Chinese culture as representing long life and to get the most fortune from them you should never chop them up.

Tonight we had all of the above via my Dad who cooked the most gorgeous Lechon (see the top of the picture to the right) and some delicious bihon (rice noodles) plus a steamed whole fish. A perfect meal.

And closer to midnight we had our dessert – pinaltok. Pinaltok, which is basically a coconut soup with balls, has many names depending on what you put into it including ginataang (coconut) bilo-bilo (glutinous rice balls) and ginataang halo-halo (fruits). With coconut milk and sugar forming the base of the soup you can mix in all sorts of ingredients such as sago, langka (jackfruit), tapioca, banana, taro, ube (purple yam), kamote (sweet potato) and of course the rice balls for taste and texture. We like to keep it simple and stick to just the sago, langka, tapioca and rice balls. The pinaltok can be eaten hot or cold.

The ball making	The cooking	The finished product

I’m hoping that I ate enough balls to bring good fortune to all! 🙂