For the uninitiated, yusheng, meaning raw fish in Chinese, is a colourful salad that is usually eaten during the Chinese New Year, for good luck and prosperity.
The dish is traditionally made with sliced raw fish and shredded vegetables such as carrot, white and green radish, cucumber and coriander, as well as coloured pickled ginger, deep-fried flour crisps, crushed peanuts, toasted sesame seeds and pomelo. Thin strips of abalone can also be used in place of raw fish.
Our yusheng tonight was vegetarian as we had neither raw fish nor abalone on hand.
Just before eating, we added prepacked plum sauce mix, deep fried flour crisps, toasted sesame seeds and crushed peanuts, as well as home-made deep fried wonton strips for extra crunch.
The act of mixing/tossing the salad with chopsticks before eating is called "lo hei", (Cantonese for "scoop up"). Meaning that you are scooping up good luck, wealth or whatever it is that your heart desires for the new year.
All at the table will toss the salad together, while calling out auspicious New Year greetings and wishes. It is believed that the higher you toss, the better your luck will be in the new year. When we eat this dish at home during the Chinese New Year, we stand on chairs, tossing the salad as high as we can, at the same time wishing everyone abundant happiness, good health and prosperity in the new year!
