More festive cheers
around the corner and this time it’s Chinese New Year! Ushering in the year of
the Red Fire Monkey, I thought I prepare a dish fondly eaten during this time. Yee
Sang or Yu Sheng, a Malaysian Chinese favorite, it’s a dish that
symbolizes abundance. Originated from China, the dish was more favorited by
Malaysians, Singaporeans and Indonesians rather that the Chinese from China.
Depending on the Chinese race, each yee sang differs from others. However, the
basic principal rules applies on finely shredded fresh vegetables, pickled
vegetables, nuts and seeds together with a sweet and tangy sauce is tossed with
thinly slices of raw white fish at the tableside from all the diners for
abundance of prosperity, health and luck.
Today’s chefs get to put
on their thinking hats and create their own versions of yee sang. Diners too
are more adventurous and open to try creative touches on yee sang. One can
savor traditional yee sang or modern ones that have added fruits and other
ingredients. Raw white fish is slowly disappearing while the creamy lush salmon
seemed to have taken over the favorite spot in the yee sang. Of course one can
even go lux and enjoy a yee sang amped up with premium abalone, scallops, surf
clams, soft shell crab and many more seafood.
In honoring this coming
festive, I decided to also put a spin on yee sang. Making yee sang sounds more
intimidating but it is actually quite simple as most of the work is on focus on
the cutting and preparation of it. There is hardly much cooking involve and
even some of the preparation can be completed a few days earlier. The
ingredient list may seemed long but it’s really up to one’s preference on how
many ingredients you want in your yee sang. I used scallop because I found a
good deal on US Scallops but you can substitute scallops with of your preferred
choice of seafood like salmon, prawn, clams, soft shell crab, jelly fish and
more. Even the fresh vegetables and fruits can be easily substitute if you
don’t like my list below.
Once all these are
prepared, just make sure to chill the vegetables and fruits for a fresher and
vibrant bite and flavours. A large platter will be handy as one needs the space
to toss the yee sang. Honestly, the ingredients is endless. For the sauce, who
would have thought that LINGHAM’s Chili
sauce with Ginger would work so well on yee sang? LINGHAM’s Chili sauce is actually really delicious on its own
already but I added some extras to heighten the sweet, tangy and spicy flavours
to new heights.
My Yee Sang with LINGHAM’s Chili Sauce with Ginger has
lots of fresh bright flavours of lightly spicy, sweet and sour notes. The
subtle hint of chili turn out great because it creates an addictive luscious
note. The many textures from all the vegetables, fruits, peanuts and sesame
seeds gave this dish a delicious bite. One may think that all these flavours
may drown the scallops but it actually went really well, enhancing the
sweetness of the fresh scallops. If you use the toasted dried squid, it also
gave the dish another depth of unctuous flavours that is really delicious. The
dried squid is the savory ones that you can buy at the snack section at grocery
stores. Else you can substitute this with crispy crackers or Pok
Chui (also now available at some grocery stores) or deep fried wanton
skins or deep fried fish skins.
By using LINGHAM’s Chili Sauce with Ginger, your
sauce is already deliciously flavourful. I only added a little palm sugar for a
richer sweetness and lots of lemon rinds and juice to brighten up extra tangy
notes. Haw flakes candy is something I love a lot and reminds me of my
childhood days. Adding crush haw flakes to the sauce also added a depth of
flavours from my childhood memories. The result is a concoction of robust
sweet, sour and very lightly spicy flavours. Once everything is tossed
together, the spiciness is actually very mild in the dish.
Whatever your yee sang
have, it should always have plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits to give the
dish a vibrant and fresh flavour and bite. The best part of the dish is the
tossing part with all the other diners too! May this Chinese New Year bring you lots of Huat Ah….
Yee
Sang with LINGHAM’s Chili Sauce with Ginger
Ingredients
10
Scallops (poached)
3 Dried Squid (toasted
till crispy) - optional
½ Radish (finely shredded)
½ Carrot (finely
shredded)
1 Japanese Cucumber
(finely shredded)
½ Red Apple (cut into
matchsticks)
½ Snow Pear (cut into
matchsticks)
1 Mango – ripe (cut
into matchsticks)
1 bunch Seedless Grapes
(cut into halves)
Handful Red Coral
Lettuce (torn in small leaves)
Handful Coriander
leavers
Handful Honey Roasted
Peanuts
3 Tbsp Toasted Sesame Seeds
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
Sauce Ingredients
5 Tbsp LINGHAM’s Chili Sauce with Ginger
1 Lemon (need the lemon rind and juice
separately)
1 Tbsp Palm Sugar or Brown Sugar
2 Pkt Haw
Flakes (crushed)
Method
Lightly poached scallop
till cooked and set it to cool.
If using dried squid
(those you can buy in the snack section – savory), lightly toasted in pan till
crispy.
Prepare all vegetables
for shredding, clean in running water, squeeze dry and set to chill in fridge.
Cut apple, snow pear and
mango into matchsticks and squeeze some lemon juice over them so they won’t
turn brown and chill in fridge.
Prepare the remaining
ingredients – grapes, lettuce leaves and coriander.
Mix all the Sauce
Ingredients and adjust according to your taste. Add more lemon juice or sugar.
When ready to serve,
arrange all the vegetables and fruits in a large platter individually.
Serve the Yee Sang with
the side of Honey Roasted Peanuts, Sesame Seeds, Olive Oil and Sauce.
Pour in everything and
toss for good luck!
Extra
Notes and Tips
·
Substitute
scallops with salmon or white fish, abalone, jelly fish, soft shell crab and
many more seafood of your choice. While the fish can be served raw, it must be
very fresh for consumption. Other seafood may need to be cooked.
·
Substitute
dried squid with crispy crackers or Pok Chui or deep fried wanton skin or deep
fried fish skin
·
Substitute
honey roasted peanuts with regular roasted peanuts or toasted almond or any
other preferred nuts and seeds.
·
Other
fruits which can be served are berries, melons, peaches, dragonfruit, mandarin
orange segments, pomelo and more.
·
Other
vegetables which can be served are purple cabbage, cabbage, lettuce, turnips,
pickled ginger, spring onions and more.
·
Lemons
can be substitute with limes or calamansi limes but these are less sour that
lemons.
