Tossing the Prosperity Salad
Happiness and prosperity. How we all long for them. Especially now, when the pandemic is threatening our way of life — nay, our very lives — happiness and prosperity seem to be so elusive.
Perhaps that’s why when the Lunar New Year comes along, we eagerly celebrate the promises it holds. Not just happiness, not just prosperity, but also good health, vitality, long life, harmony, safety, peace, progress, success, abundance, and other such desirables.
At the center of the celebration of Chinese New Year is the prosperity salad called Yee Sang. Meaning “raw fish” in Chinese, it’s really much more than that.
Yee Sang signifies hope, new beginnings, good luck and a much better life. It also gives new meaning to the term tossed salad, because this salad is tossed in more ways than one. With everyone at the table armed with chopsticks, the ingredients are tossed up in the air — the higher the better.
The point is not just to mix the ingredients but also to celebrate life and wish everyone at the table good luck. It’s believed that the higher the toss, the more good luck will come, never mind the resulting mess (neatness is definitely not an issue here).
Each of the ingredients in the salad symbolizes something: the raw fish for abundance, pomelo for smooth sailing, pepper for attraction of wealth, carrots for good luck, etc.
But more than just being a symbolic dish, Yee Sang is also delicious. The combination of textures makes each mouthful a carnival of the crunchy, the chewy and the smooth. The dressing is a piquant balance of the sweet, the sour and the ever-so-slightly spicy, not to mention the sheer variety of ingredients, which constantly surprise the taste buds.
Though it’s now considered an intrinsic part of a New Year feast, the practice of Yee Sang began only in the 1940s. Many say it started in Malaysia, but others claim Singapore to be the true origin. Not that it matters much because today Yee Sang is widely served during Chinese New Year in both countries, and in other Asian countries as well.
In Manila, one of the best proponents of the Chinese New Year celebrations is China Blue by Jereme Leung at the Conrad Hotel. Here, executive Chinese chef Eng Yew Khor has prepared festive dishes to welcome the Lunar New Year such as braised money bag of minced beef with fish lips and spring onions, braised abalone, steamed lapu-lapu, roasted suckling pig and dim sum platter. And of course, there’s the much-desired Yee Sang. All the dishes are available for pre-order or takeaway through Conrad’s e-store.
Here chef Khor shows how you can prepare your own prosperity salad at home.
Yee Sang Prosperity Toss Salad
(Based on the recipe of chef Khor)
You can use as much as you wish of these ingredients:
Wonton wrappers
Cooking oil (for frying)
White radish, cut into fine strips (you can use food coloring to color some of the strips green)
Carrots, shredded or cut into fine strips
Purple cabbage, shredded into fine strips and blanched
Pickled ginger
Pickled papaya
Seaweeds
Jellyfish
Smoked salmon and/or salmon sashimi
Pomelo, cut into bite-size pieces
Ground peanuts
Sesame seeds
Ground pepper
For the dressing:
1/4 cup plum sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon honey (optional)
2 tablespoons water
Cut the wonton wrappers into bite-size pieces. Heat the cooking oil in a wok and fry the wrappers until light golden brown and crisp. Remove from the wok and set aside. In the same oil, fry the radish strips until crisp. Remove from the wok and set aside. You can do this a day ahead. Store the wonton and radish in tightly sealed containers to keep them crisp.
To serve the Yee Sang, arrange the carrots, radish, cabbage, pickled ginger, pickled papaya, seaweeds, jellyfish, salmon and pomelo in a large dish (preferably round). Prepare the dressing by mixing together the plum sauce, sesame oil, honey and water. Drizzle on the ingredients. Sprinkle with ground peanuts, sesame seeds and ground pepper.
Let all the guests surround the table and, with the use of chopsticks, start tossing the ingredients up in the air. As they toss the ingredients they should shout auspicious phrases such as: “Joy is in the air!” “May you be rich and wealthy!” “May all your wishes come true!” “Happy New Year!” “May the star of fortune shine brightly upon you!” “Wish you good health!” “May peace and safety be with you year after year!” “Wish you good progress at work!”