鱼生 pronounced as yu sheng (in Mandarin) or yee sang (in Cantonese). This dish has been well received by the Chinese and it is particularly significant to be served during the CNY period, specifically on the 7th day, for it's symbolic meaning - abundance of prosperity! Actually, now in the modern days, any day can be a good day as long as everyone is there to make a toss. My first impression of yu sheng, very long ago, was an instant kind where everything was pre-prepped, packed in sealed plastics, and nicely stuffed into a big, red box. All you have to do is just open them up, arrange them accordingly on a wide, flat plate, and drizzle the given condiments on top before the tossing fun begins. Frankly, I never really like it for the yucky aftertaste. Everything put into the mouth tasted artificial. And I don't even have an idea what the red and green strips are made of! That first impression just killed my craze for it. Not until this year, Zmei and I made our own healthier yu sheng from fresh vegetables, fruit, and anything that can be found in the kitchen.

Little did I know that each ingredients used in yu sheng has its corresponding greetings, either based on its name in Chinese, colour, or taste. Therefore, we tried our best in finding the healthy substitutes that kinda able to carry the meaning. Keropok ikan was used to replace the raw fish. Since we're amatuer in this and have never handle any raw fish as ingredient, we went for the cooked one. In this case, a deep-fried one. At the same time, it can be taken as the deep-fried flour crisp. Kill two birds with one stone, how bout that? Mind you to keep them in an air-tight container to maintain the crisp and freshness till it's served. I totally forgot about that and the keropok became stale by the time I discovered it. Grapefruit was used instead of pomelo/lime. Nevertheless, they're still of the same family. And it looks like raw tuna, doesn't it? Considering that I've a negative encounter with raw radish and to be on the safe side, I chose to use sengkuang and green bell pepper. And the red and yellow must come together as one. Ha! Peanut crumbs for sesame peanut brittle crumbs. Lastly, due to time constraint, we've Kewpie Dressing Roasted Sesame to the rescue as the final touch. Still, there are some ingredients which are just for aesthetic purposes 😁

My family and I had our yu sheng after dinner on the first day of CNY as a dessert instead as an appetizer. I took the chance to introduce each ingredient with their respective auspicious greeting to the table. By the reason of these being new to me, I guess they'll be impressed with what I've discovered too despite me fiddling my phone searching for the right phrase to go with the ingredient I'm pointing at. And not to forget I'm not really good with Chinese character so I got some pronunciation to be taken care of. The following was my script of the day.

恭喜发财 万事如意 gong xi fa cai  wan shi ru yi

年年有余 nian nian you yu (fish)

大吉大利 da ji da li (pomelo/lime)

招财进宝 zhao cai jin bao (pepper)

一本万利 财源广进 yi ben wan li  cai yuan guang jin (oil)

鸿运当头 hong yun dang tou (carrot)

青春常驻 qing chun chang zhu (green radish)

风生水起 步步高升 feng sheng shui qi  bu bu gao sheng (white radish)

金银满屋 jin yin man wu (peanut crumbs)

生意兴隆 sheng yi xing long (sesame seeds)

甜甜蜜蜜 tian tian mi mi (plum sauce)

满地黄金 man di huang jin (deep-fried flour crisps)

Translation:

Congratulations on your wealth, may all your wishes be fulfilled

Abundance through the year

Good luck and smooth sailing

Attract wealth and treasures

Make 10, 000 times of profit with your capital, numerous sources of wealth

Good luck is approaching

Forever young

Progress at a fast pace, reaching higher level with each step

Household filled with gold and silver

Prosperity for the business

May life always be sweet

Floor full of gold

Toss them up the air!

What a vibrant looking salad, right? And the taste was on point that you wouldn't turn down a bowl even with a full stomach. The tangy grapefruit and sweet, crunchy bell peppers made it served right as a dessert. I would definitely make one again next year, maybe can try out savoury one! And also get the introductory steps right 😂

Comment down below to share with me your lou sang moments! A photo of it would be great too for any extraordinary yusheng! Or if you have experience making one of your own, share with me some tips so I can be better for my next one. Maybe you would like to make something like mine, the recipe is down below. Remember to show me your final product!

*the ingredients are of a rough estimation

Weights & Dresses,
Zyin