Tossing food at the table might be the behaviour of childish brats
involved in a food fight, but during the Chinese New Year (CNY),
the motion of “lo hei” gains special importance,
since it literally means “mix upwards”, which sounds
like prosperity and progress in Cantonese.
We’re referring to none other than the colourful
and popular raw fish salad dish more commonly known to the Chinese
as yu sheng.
While this has become an indispensable tradition,
surprisingly most still haven’t the faintest idea why they
actually have to toss the yu sheng. Yet being typical kiasu
[afraid to lose out in Hokkien] Singaporeans, they will gladly follow
this custom in the hope of receiving more blessings and all things
good.
Origin of Yu Sheng The
origin of this CNY delicacy can be traced indirectly to Guangzhou,
China. Legend has it that the Goddess Nu Wa spent 6 days
shaping different livestock out of mud and creating humans out of
her own appearance on the 7th day. To honour this occasion, the
seventh day of the first lunar month was known as Ren Ri,
Day of Mankind. According to tradition, Man were not allowed to
kill animals for food on Ren Ri instead 7 dishes representing
as many different good signs are prepared. These vegetables include
leaf mustard for thriftiness, celery so one will be hardworking,
garlic for lots of money to count, Chinese leek (lasting forever)
and Chinese kale (for things to go one’s way).
From its Motherland, this beliefs swam to Singapore,
following the footsteps of the migrants and was brought alive by
the 4 heavenly chefs of the 1960s, Than Mui Kai, Sin Leong, Lau
Yoke Pui and the owner of Dragon Phoenix Restaurant Hooi Kok Wai.
They invented the yu sheng by combining
the ikan parang (wolf herring) with different vegetarian
ingredients and topped it off with a sweet and sour plum sauce.
Over time, this prosperity and longevity dish has evolved to become
a household name, being served everywhere and not only during CNY
either.
Made With Love
Served on a bed of vegetables, the multi-coloured raw fish salad
is normally made up of 14 different ingredients such as preserved
cucumber strips, red and yellow ginger, pickled leek, sliced jellyfish,
salmon slices and Mandarin orange peel. The mixture is drizzled
with peanut oil and plum sauce to achieve a rich and flavourful
taste. Over the years, the main ingredient has become more elaborate
and exotic; the ikan parang was replaced by salmon, and
sometimes tuna, sashimi.
Eating yu sheng at restaurants can be quite costly, what
with prices that range from $30 to $68 per dish. Budget constraints
and convenience have made the heading to the supermarkets for pre-packed
boxes of D-I-Y yu sheng more attractive over the years.
Others would leave of the mass-produced kits and do it from scratch,
after all yu sheng is rather simple to make once you know
what the ingredients are. Remember that even though it’s home
made, it does not mean that it will not look or taste as good as
those sold in restaurants.
Food consultant and celebrity chef Violet Oon, 54, shared a few
tips in The Sunday Times on how to achieve that top grade delicacy.
Her secret to getting crunchy strips of vegetables is to wash them
first in tap water and dry them with kitchen towels to get rid of
the sticky juice after being grated. For extra flavour, she would
roll a piece of kaffir lime leaf, slice it and sprinkle on the dish.
When it comes to presenting the dish, Oon suggests arranging the
salmon slices like flower petals, and placing vegetable strips in
a triangle and cutting carrots in the shape of stars.
Madam Loh Gek Eng, 48, a civil servant, also makes her own yu
sheng. “The idea is actually to have the fish raw but
I don’t like the taste and for hygiene reasons I prefer to
use smoked salmon. I also use other vegetables to add to the taste
and colour,” she said.
The younger and adventurous ones won’t even mind adding jellyfish
and abalone. To cater to the diversity of taste, certain restaurants
prepare the fish like Japanese sashimi. However, one should always
pay extra attention when handling raw food, as yu sheng
can pose as a health risk if the raw fish is not handled, stored
and sold in the proper chilled condition. Bacteria can grow rapidly
in raw fish when sold in the open, and the contamination can lead
to food poisoning.
Eight Steps to Prosperity
When dining at Chinese restaurants, it’s a treat to see waiters
presenting the yu sheng while reciting auspicious phrases
that signify prosperity and longevity. The 1st step is to greet
customers by wishing them ‘Gong Xi Fa Cai’
(congratulations, may wealth come your way) and ‘Wan Shi
Ru Yi’ (may everything go smoothly) when placing the
yu sheng on the table. Then when adding the lime juice, they will
say ‘Da Ji Da Li’ (good luck and blessing).
While placing the fish on the shredded carrot and radish, they say
‘Nian Nian You Yu’ (abundance wealth) and ‘Long
Ma Jing Shen’ (enjoy good health).
The next phrase is ‘Hong Yun Dang Tou’ (good
luck at your doorstep) and is usually said when sprinkling pepper
and 5-spice powder, also known as the spice of life to the yu sheng.
When it comes to pouring the golden peanut oil, the waiter will
say ‘Rong Hua Fu Gui’ (wealth and prosperity).
‘Sheng Yi Xing Long’ (a flourishing business)is
said when sprinkling the sesame powder and plum sauce. Lastly, when
adding the ‘Pok Chui’ crackers, they finish
off by saying ‘Man Di Hung Jin’ (gold at your
feet). The final part is fun as it signals to everyone to stand
and ‘lo hei’ as high as possible while saying ‘Yue
Lao Yue Qi, Lao Dao Feng Shen ShuiQi (toss
higher and higher for a prosperous year) or other good wishes.
International Cuisine
This beautiful dish is not only limited to our shores. It has since
evolved into different varieties and is now available in countries
like Indonesia, Vietnam and even London. Packets of yu sheng
are on sale at the DFS (Duty Free Shop) store at Changi airport
for both locals and tourists to buy as gifts.
In New York there are a few Singaporean restaurants that serve the
yu sheng during CNY, and the dish is also sold in Chinese
restaurants in Australia. As it is mainly patronised by the Chinese
families there, the dish is not common fare and can get quite expensive.
In Shanghai and Hong Kong, yu sheng has only just caused a ripple
in the food scene. It is not readily available and can only be found
in certain upmarket eating-places, even Singapore/Malaysian restaurants
don’t usually sell this dish.
At the different stopovers the yu sheng undergoes a makeover
and takes a bit of that country’s food culture with it. The
Thai version of the yu sheng uses a mixture of fish and vegetables
with pomelo, lemongrass, green papaya, mango and Thai herbs. Their
sauce is a combination of Thai chili powder, chili-garlic sauce,
Chinese lime and basil leaves.
What should we try?
You could also improvise and do it the European way; this reinvention
can be found at the One-Ninety restaurant, Four
Seasons Hotel Singapore. To achieve the Asian-Western fusion,
the yu sheng is a blend of fish roe, wasabi caviar, butternut
squash, enoki mushrooms and baby spinach with a sauce base of cherry
vinegar and soy sauce. These ingredients were chosen not just for
their flavour, but for their symbolic meaning. The fish roe represents
the hope for an offspring and the baby spinach signifies a new beginning.
Prima
Tower offers another twist to this dish- smoked chicken. To
represent vitality and vibrancy, the yu sheng is made spicy with
the addition of ma la sauce concocted from Szechuan chili padi,
Guilin chili sauce and other ingredients.
Supermarket yu sheng is also getting a revamp to draw more customers.
Chng Kee’s Chef Chen Green Tea Yu Sheng has vegetables and
condiments packed neatly in a box with their green-tea-flavoured
sweet sauce.
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
170 grams salmon fillet
170 grams firm white fish fillet, such as sea bass
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 cup chopped roasted peanuts
1 green onion, slivered
Getting Ready
Peel melon and cut into crescents. Segment grapefruit by cutting
away the peel and white pith; cut and lift out segments. In a bowl,
combine melon, grapefruit, ginger, carrot, and jicama.
Combine dressing ingredients in a small bowl.
Place sesame seed in a small frying pan over medium heat; cook,
shaking pan continuously, until lightly browned, which should take
3 to 4 minutes. Immediately remove from pan to cook.
Remove skin and bones from fish. Thinly slice fish across the grain
to make pieces about 1 by 2 inches. Fan slices on a serving platter,
alternating pink and white fish. In a small bowl, combine lime juice,
oil, and white pepper.
Putting it together
Drizzle lime juice mixture over fish. Mound salad mixture in centre
of fish. Spoon dressing over the salad. Garnish with peanuts, sesame
seed and green onion.
Copyright 2002-2004 "The
UrbanWire.com" Ngee Ann Polytechnic Singapore
The
origin of this CNY delicacy can be traced indirectly to Guangzhou,
China. Legend has it that the Goddess Nu Wa spent 6 days
shaping different livestock out of mud and creating humans out of
her own appearance on the 7th day. To honour this occasion, the
seventh day of the first lunar month was known as Ren Ri,
Day of Mankind. According to tradition, Man were not allowed to
kill animals for food on Ren Ri instead 7 dishes representing
as many different good signs are prepared. These vegetables include
leaf mustard for thriftiness, celery so one will be hardworking,
garlic for lots of money to count, Chinese leek (lasting forever)
and Chinese kale (for things to go one’s way).