Food

At Lao Defang with AC members

Yu Sheng 




As in the video, before the diners start to "toss for good luck" the service staff will be wishing
the patrons all sorts of good wishes.  You may want to learn those good wishes from the video.


Instant Yu sheng 

Yu Sheng packages galore are found in various shopping centres & markets around this time of the
year. 

Yu sheng is noted for it's colour & the various sauces, as shown in the video.  Within the
packages you'll find coloured, pickled stuff that come in green, yellow, red (shown in video).
Those stuff are "sickly" sweet, so sweet that you won't be able to identify what they are.
I therefore give them a wide berth

In the package, you'll also find sauces in little plastic containers, corn cereals & spices.  Buy some freshly
sliced salmon & a pack of mixed, sliced vegetables (again these are sold aplenty, only around this time of the year only) & you are all set to toss your yu sheng.

My Yu sheng recipe

I don't like the coloured, pickled stuff.  It's high sugar content & colourings, meant "chemicals" to me

Instead, I rather employ the natural colours of the different vegetables to make the dish

Ingredients: !50 gm each of the following (A)
Purple cabbage,
Radish,
Carrot,
Green carrots,
Cucumber (please get the Japanese type which is slender, firm & has very little seeds)
Turnip

(B) One Beet-root -- small to medium size
(C) A fistful of corn cereals
(D) A pc of ginger -- thumb size (abt 3 cm)
(E) 4 bulbs of pickled leek
(F) 2 red chilly (optional)
(G) Remove the pulps of 2 slices of pomelo & break them into small pieces

(H) Slice your choice of fish/seafood: (parang, Salmon, abalone...)
       Omit (H) if you want a vegetarian "yusheng"

Sauces & spices:
1 bottle of plum sauce
2 dessert-spoon of Soya sauce
3 table-spoon of oil with fried shallots
3 tea-spoon of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of fried white sesame
300 gm of ground, roasted peanut
1/3 small teaspoon of Pepper

A pinch of 5 spice powder
A few shakes of sea salt (optional)

2-3 small lime cut into half
Chopped spring onions & Chinese parsley for garnishing

Method

Slice (A) into long thin strips with a slicer, soak the sliced vegetable in ice water for about10 minutes, squeeze dry & keep in the fridge. 

Most slicer can't handle (B), (D), (E) & (F).  So you need to slice manually.  Keep in the fridge, after slicing.

Just before dinner, take (A) out of the fridge.  Lay out the all the sliced radish flat, on a large plate.
Next, place 3/4 of the the sliced carrot on top of it, in a slightly raised circular, mound.  Do not cover all the radish with the carrot, but leave a circumference of about 3 -4 cm uncovered.


Divide the turnip, cucumber, carrot, beetroot & purple cabbage into 3 portions each.
Imagine that the plate has 3 sections. Distribute one portion of the turnip, cucumber, carrot, beetroot & purple cabbage in that order within one section, covering the radish circumference on the plate. 
Repeat that in the other 2 sections on the plate. 
Divide the ginger, pickled leek & chilly into 3 portions.
Place the ginger & chilly on top of the turnips & the leek on top of the beetroot.
Sprinkle the grounded peanut, pomelo,fried shallots, roasted sesame, chopped spring onions & parsley  evenly over the arranged vegetables.

At the table:

Squeeze the lime over the fish (not necessary if it is abalone) & watch it "cooked"
Pour the fish onto the vegetable
Scatter the corn cereal on top
Add the sauces & spices according to your personal preference.

Invite everyone to toss the yu sheng together & wish everyone with the various well wishes before
you tuck in.

Happy Chinese New Year

Fatt ah!!



The evolution of "Yu Sheng"

"Yu Sheng" is a special, new year dish served by every restuarant & almost all food stalls in the coffee shops; during Chinese New Year period.

It originated in Singapore & was created by the "coolies" out of necessity.

"Coolies" are odd job labourers.  In the bygone days of yesteryears, they worked at the quays, loading & unloading goods from boats. 

The "coolies" came from China to escape from the calamities (flood/famines..) & oppressions from the landlords in their homeland. 

Life in Singapore was tough, but better!

They lived thriftily -- shared rooms, ate simple food which were bought from the road- side stalls by the quay.  They scrimped & saved so as to remit money to their families in China.

Their only rest days fell on the first 3 days of the Chinese New Year (CNY) period.  The road-side stalls were closed.  The "coolies" got together to prepare food which did not require cooking for consumption.  They created "Yu Sheng" which consists finely sliced fish & a variety of vegetables.

They jointly tossed & mixed the ingredients of the "yu sheng" ("yu" = fish, "sheng" = raw) as they shared their dreams.  The sharing spinned off
to mutual well wishes for the new year.

Slowly, the tossing of "yu sheng" with well wishes amongst a group of "coolies" evolved.

It is no longer a dish local mixed vegetables with local fish ("parang").

A serving of "yu sheng" ranged from $18 in the coffee shop, to a few hundred
dollars in fancy restuarants, 

Instead of the humble "parang", a certain hotel, served a plethora of salmon, tuna, abalone slices plus baby abalone sprayed with gold, in their "yu cheng".  The vegetables was arranged into a beautiful picture of a rabbit (This year is the rabbit year)  with plum blossoms, on an equally beautiful, painted, gigantic tray.  Extra, extra, long chop-sticks were used to facilitate tossing the "yu sheng" to great height.  ("Gao sheng" = great height = high status in life or good promotion)

The well wishes & especially "Fatt ah, fatt ah!"  (Prosper, prosper) rang round the resturant, in waves after waves; as the dish was served. 

Prosper indeed -- for the resturant!!