CNY Lo-Hei Yusheng

Happy Lunar New Year to all Chinese readers!Its only the 2nd day of the Lunar New Year and I've already had 2 Lo Hei Yushengs (Chinese Raw Fish Salad). I shouldn't complain. This is better than a particular year when I had almost 25 servings of this dish for the 15 days of Chinese New Year (I had 2 servings of Yushengs on certain days). I felt like I had Yusheng coming out of my ears and it didn't help that I'm not a huge Yusheng fan. However, the Singaporean tradition seems to dictate that we should partake of this prosperity salad.I find the prepping of the salad at any major Chinese restaurant particularly fascinating. Why? It's because they have an auspicious Chinese saying to recite at almost every step of the way. It became a challenge over the past few years for me to learn how to say the "auspicious sayings" at family gatherings. As my parents & brothers can't speak Mandarin to save their lives, I have been designated the "Chinese Scholar" though my command of the language is at best, mediocre. Friends of mine reading this entry must have fallen off their chairs but not before typing "ROTFLMAO". I suppose the only explanation for this is "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." :P This dish is usually eaten on the 7th day of the Lunar New Year (this year it falls on 13 Feb 2008), known as Renri (Human's Day). The pic below shows the Yusheng that I had at New Majestic Restaurant last year.

Here's some information that I found while researching on Yusheng (with minor changes). ------------------------------------

History of Renri (from Wikipedia):

Renri (人日, literally Human Day) refers specially to the 7th day of zhengyue(正月, the first month in the Chinese calendar). According to Chinese customs, renri was the day of creation of human beings. It is celebrated not only in China, but also other regions influenced by Chinese culture. In Chinese myths, nüwa (女媧) is the godness who created the world. She created the animals on different days, and human beings on the seventh day after the creation of the world.

History of Yusheng (from Wikipedia):

Fishermen along the coast of Guangzhou traditionally celebrated Renri, the seventh day of the Chinese New Year, by feasting on their catches. In Malaya's colonial past, migrants imported this tradition; porridge stalls sold a raw fish dish which is believed to have originated in Jiangmen, Guangdong province that consisted of fish, turnip and carrot strips, which was served with condiments of oil, vinegar and sugar that were mixed in by customers.

Modern-Day Yusheng (from NLB's Infopedia):

Today's colourful version of Yusheng and the practice of eating it on the seventh day of Chinese New Year appears to be unique to Malaysia and Singapore. Four local chefs are credited for developing Yusheng as we know it today. They named the dish "Lucky Raw Fish" and popularised it as a New Year delicacy. The chefs are Lau Yeok Pui and Tham Yui Kai, master chefs at Lai Wah Restaurant along Jalan Besar, and their good friends Sin Leong and Hooi Kok Wai. They had previously been colleagues at the Cathay Restaurant at Cathay Building.

Ingredients

Arranged on a large serving plate, the colourful array of ingredients include raw fish which is traditionally ikan parang or "mackerel", shredded green and white radish drained of liquid, shredded carrots adding a bright orange tinge to the dish, pickled ginger, crushed nuts and pomelo. The ingredients are topped with various condiments including deep-fried flour crisps, crushed peanuts, sesame seeds, cinnamon, pepper and other spices. All at the table would then jointly toss the salad with a generous portion of plum sauce and cooking oil to add sweetness and taste.

Rituals and Meanings

Yusheng plays on the homonyms where yu means "fish" but enunciated appropriately, it also means "abundance"; and sheng means literally "raw" but enunciated appropriately, it means "life". Thus Yusheng implies "abundance of wealth and long life". In Cantonese it is known as lo sheng with lo also meaning "tossing up good fortune". The tossing action is called lo hei, which means to "rise" (hei), again a reference to a thriving business and thus its popularity with businessmen during the New Year.

Step 1: All at the table offer New Year greetings.

Words: Gong xi fa cai meaning "Congratulations for your wealth" or Wan shi ru yi meaning "May all your wishes be fulfilled".

Step 2: Fish, symbolising abundance or excess through the year, is added. Words: Nian nian you yu 年年有馀 and You yu you sheng.

Step 3: The pomelo is added over the fish, adding both luck and auspicious value. Words: Da ji da li.

Step 4: Pepper is then dashed over the ingredients in the hope of attracting more money and valuables.

Words: Zhao cai jin bao.

Step 5: Then oil is poured out, circling the ingredients to increase all profits 10,000 times and encouraging money to flow in from all directions

Words: Yi ben wan li and Cai yuan guang jin.

Step 6: Carrots are added to the fish indicating blessings of good luck. Words: Hong yun dang tou.

Step 7: Then the shredded green radish is placed on the fish symbolising eternal youth.

Words: Qing chun chang zhu.

Step 8: After which the shredded white radish is added - prosperity in business and promotion at work.

Words: Feng sheng shui qi and Bu bu gao sheng.

Step 9: Peanut crumbs are dusted on the dish symbolising a household filled with gold and silver. As an icon of longevity, peanuts also symbolise eternal youth.

Words: Jin yin man wu.

Step 10: Sesame seeds quickly follow symbolising a flourishing business. Words: Sheng yi xing long.

Step 11: Deep-fried flour crisps in the shape of golden pillows is then added with wishes that literally the whole floor would be filled with gold.

Words: Pian di huang jin.

Step 12: All toss the salad an auspicious 7 times with loud shouts of "lo hei" and other auspicious New Year wishes.

Words: Lo hei which is Cantonese for "tossing luck".

The ingredients are mixed by pushing them toward the centre, an encouragement to push on the good luck of all at the table.

Hope you'll have fun tossing the salad! :)