Sabbatical @ Happy Valley: Gong Xi Fa Cai

Can't believe it! Next week, it's Chinese New Year. It seems like we have just celebrated the New Year, and here we are, … celebrating another new year! Anyway, my wife and I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone back home Gong Xi Fa Cai!

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How would one celebrate Chinese New Year in a foreign land? For us, we are planning to have a quiet dinner on new year's eve. A "must have" dish for the "reunion" dinner, though, would be rice cake as my wife is a Shanghainese. We will probably supplement with a steam fish dish and leave most of the cooking to the 3rd day, when we will be having an open house. We've invited some colleagues over for lunch. It would be a good chance to share with our guests (12 - 14 adults plus 5 children) some of the Chinese New year delicacies and customs. For a start, in our invitation e-card, we have requested our guests not to bring any gifts,

but if they wish, they could bring two tangerines or oranges :) . My wife has also prepared "ang pau" for the children. We also bought some "love letters" and not forgeting our stockpile of Bee Cheng Hiang's prawn rolls and bakwa. She will also be baking fresh pineapple tarts.

We have yet to finalize the menu for the day, but what is definitely confirmed on the menu will be yu sheng. We both thought that the best and fun way to start the meal would be to lo hei (salad tossing)! As it will be our first time making the dish at home, I combed the internet for the recipe and was surprised that the most detailed one actually came from an old Hawaiian press article on how Singaporeans celebrate Chinese New Year!

Recipe for Yu Sheng:

You'll notice the instructions below are atypical for a recipe.

2 fresh pomelos that we bought yesterday

carrots, daikon, cucumbers, green onions, red chili peppers (finely julienned), pomelo sections, finely sliced raw (or smoked) salmon, 4 calamansi limes (halved), 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 2 teaspoons minced pickled ginger, 2 tablespoons minced pickled leeks, 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper, 1/4 teaspoon five-spice powder, 2 tablespoons cooking (or olive) oil, 3/4 cup Chinese plum sauce, 3/4 cup coarsely ground roasted peanuts, 2 tablespoons roasted sesame seeds, and 3/4 cup fried wonton strips

Arrange vegetables in sections in a deep platter. Top with green onion and chili peppers. Divide salmon into five portions and arrange around edges of platter. Place remaining ingredients in small bowls around platter.

Yu Sheng is assembled at the table and the host or server is expected to call out good wishes as each ingredient is added, to seal in the prosperity.

When presenting the dish, say: "gong xi fa cai" and "wan shi ru yi" (wishes for riches and smooth sailing).
Squeeze lime juice over salmon and say "da ji da li" (to be auspicious; a wish for favorable circumstances).
Place salmon on top of vegetables and say "nian nian you yu" (for wealth, literally "a surplus every year") and "long ma jing shen" (for health).
Sprinkle vegetables with salt, sugar, ginger, leeks and pomelo. Sprinkle with pepper and five-spice and say "yi ben wan li" (for a flourishing business).
Pour 2/3 of oil and plum sauce over vegetables and say "you shui duo duo" (another wish for business success).
Sprinkle with peanuts; say "yin man wu" (for abundant wealth).
Then add sesame seeds; say "sheng yi xing long" (one more time, for good business).
Then, the wonton strips; say "man di huang jin" (again, for wealth).
Give all guests chopsticks and have them toss the salad as high as possible in the air, while shouting "lo hei!" (for prosperity).