If you haven’t ordered your whole pig ready for roasting yet – to encourage good luck and family unity for the coming year, of course – you’re clearly running a little behind.

Still, there are a few days left to prepare your typical Chinese feast in honour of the Chinese New Year festival, which runs into February.

Already the most important holiday in the Chinese calendar, this year it’s taking on mythical proportions as the propitious ‘dragon’ zodiac sign takes charge of our fates.

Beds in Beijing’s maternity hospitals are reportedly already booked up for summer, as Chinese mothers plan to bring a charmed child into the world who’ll benefit from the wealth, wisdom, courage and power represented by dragon.

In the kitchen, it also means turning up the heat on New Year celebrations. Steamed fish will be a common sight, as fish (‘yu’) has come to represent prosperity, and will be served with the head and tail attached to ensure a good beginning and end to the year.

Recipes will also include symbolic ingredients such as dried oysters, bamboo shoots, black moss and dumplings for wealth, long noodles for long life and seeds that represent having many children.

Luckily for those new to Far Eastern cooking, TV chef Ken Hom has recently published a book of easy to follow recipes. Here are five to help you celebrate the Chinese New Year deliciously…

Vietnamese soup with beancurd

(Serves 4)

100g lean, boneless pork chops, cut into 5cm-long thin slices

100g raw prawns, shelled and de-veined, tails on

5tsp fish sauce

2tbsp chopped spring onions (white part only)

450g silken or firm beancurd

1.2 litres home-made chicken stock or good-quality bought stock

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to garnish

3tbsp chopped fresh chives, to garnish

2 fresh red chillies, de-seeded and chopped, to garnish

In a bowl, combine the pork, prawns, two teaspoons of the fish sauce and the spring onions. Leave to marinate for about 10 minutes.

Gently cut the beancurd into 1cm cubes and leave to drain on kitchen paper for 10 minutes.

Pour the chicken stock into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Add the marinated prawn and pork mixture and simmer for two minutes. Add the beancurd and the remaining fish sauce and simmer for another two minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then remove from the heat and garnish with the chives and chillies before serving.

Steamed scallops with chilli and ginger

(Serves 4)

450g fresh scallops, including the corals

2 fresh red chillies, de-seeded and chopped

2tsp finely chopped fresh root ginger

1tbsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry

1tbsp light soy sauce

¼tsp salt

¼tsp freshly ground black pepper

3tbsp finely chopped spring onions

Place the scallops evenly on a round heatproof platter. Then evenly distribute the chillies, ginger, rice wine or dry sherry, soy sauce, salt, pepper and spring onions on top.

Next, set up a steamer or put a rack into a wok or deep pan and fill it with 5cm of water. Bring the water to the boil over a high heat, then carefully lower the platter of scallops into the steamer or on to the rack.

Reduce the heat to low and cover the wok or pan tightly. Steam gently for five minutes. Remove and serve at once.

Stir-fried pork with spinach

(Serves 2-4)

675g fresh spinach

450g lean pork fillet

3tbsp groundnut oil

2tbsp coarsely chopped garlic

1tbsp finely shredded fresh root ginger

1tsp sugar

1tbsp light soy sauce

2tsp dark soy sauce

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2tbsp coarsely chopped spring onions, to garnish

For the marinade:

2tsp light soy sauce

1tsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry

1tsp sesame oil

2tsp cornflour

Wash the spinach thoroughly and remove all the stalks, leaving just the leaves. Set aside.

Slice the pork into strips of 1cm x 7.5cm and put them in a bowl. Add all the marinade ingredients, mix well and leave to marinate for 10 minutes.

Heat a wok or large frying pan over a high heat. Add the groundnut oil and, when it is very hot and slightly smoking, add the pork and stir-fry for three minutes, until browned. Drain immediately in a colander set inside a bowl, leaving one tablespoon of oil in the wok.

Reheat the wok. Add the garlic, ginger and some salt and pepper, then stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the spinach and stir-fry for about two minutes to coat the spinach leaves thoroughly in the mixture.

When the spinach has wilted to about a third of its original volume, add the sugar, soy sauce and cooked pork. Stir-fry for two minutes, then transfer to a serving platter and garnish with the spring onions. Serve at once.

Spicy salmon

(Serves 4)

4 thick-cut boneless salmon fillets, each weighing about 100g, skinned

3tbsp groundnut oil

3tbsp finely chopped spring onions, to garnish

For the spice mix:

1tsp salt

1tsp freshly ground black pepper

2tsp chilli powder

1tsp five-spice powder

½tsp ground cumin

½tsp ground coriander

1tsp sugar

Lay the salmon fillets on a platter. Place all the spice mix ingredients in a small bowl and mix well before sprinkling evenly on both sides of the salmon fillets.

Heat a wok or frying pan over a high heat. Add the oil and, when the oil is hot and slightly smoking, add the salmon fillets and sear on one side for three to four minutes. Turn over and sear the other side for another three to four minutes.

Transfer the salmon to a warm platter. Garnish with the spring onions and serve at once.

Sichuan-style green beans

(Serves 4)

600ml groundnut oil

450g green beans, sliced if long; left whole otherwise

2tbsp coarsely chopped garlic

1tbsp finely chopped fresh root ginger

3tbsp finely chopped spring onions (white part only)

1½tbsp chilli bean sauce

1tbsp whole yellow bean sauce

2tbsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry

1tbsp dark soy sauce

2tsp sugar

1tbsp water

2tsp chilli oil

Heat a wok over a high heat. Add the oil and, when very hot and slightly smoking, deep-fry half the beans until slightly wrinkled, which should take three to four minutes. Remove the beans and drain them on kitchen paper. Deep-fry the second batch in the same way.

Transfer about one tablespoon of the oil in which you have cooked the beans to a clean wok or frying pan. Heat the oil, then add the garlic, ginger and spring onions and stir-fry for 30 seconds.

Add the rest of the ingredients except the green beans and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the drained beans and mix until they are thoroughly coated with the spicy mixture. Serve as soon as the beans have heated through.

• 100 Easy Chinese Suppers by Ken Hom is published in paperback by BBC Books, priced £7.99, or try the My Kitchen Table iPhone app, available from iTunes.