Homemade Yee Sang or Yu Sang for Chinese New Year

Homemade yee sang, or yu sang.

Yu sang, or yee sang, is the familiar dish every family "lou" or toss thoroughly during Chinese New Year before consuming, hence it is also called "lou sang". This colourful dish, which is eaten after a hearty toss by everyone with a pair of chopsticks bears auspicious meaning, promising a smooth sailing year ahead.

Commercialized yu sang, or yee sang. The lou sang from my reunion dinner last year.

While most restaurant serves this dish with either raw or smoked salmon and other types of fishes, and even jellyfish, I normally shy away from having the restaurant version because they contain a lot of junks that are made by fried coloured dough. Very unhealthy, and hard to stomach. Similar version of lou sang could be bought conveniently from the supermarket, but nothing beats the healthy, homemade version of this auspicious dish, and I am very fortunate that every year ever since I could remember, AuntieSyl would make this this for the whole family to savour, and I am going to write down the recipe based on what I could remember.
Prior to serving, gather everyone around. Spread the toasted sesame seed, chopped peanuts and crackers onto the raw vegetable. Drizzle the sauce generally, and let everyone take part in tossing.

Happy Chinese New Year! Gong Xi Fa Cai and have a prosperous year ahead!

Recipe for home made yu sang or lou sang:
Ingredients:
Cut into thin strips or grate:
1 radish
1 cucumber
2 carrots
2-3 red chillies

Peel and separate the sacs of:
1/4 red pomelo or 1 grapefruit
1/4 white pomelo

Prepare the garnishing:
white sesame seed - toasted
peanuts - deskinned, toasted and chopped (include other nuts such as almond, walnut, etc if fancy)

Home made crunchy, crispy crackers ingredients:
flour
margarine
cold water
a pinch of salt

Raw ingredients (optional, omit for vegetarian option):
jellyfish, cleaned and seasoned in lemon juice, and cut into thin strips
raw or smoked salmon, cut into thin strips

The sauce:
One bottle of plum sauce
Juice of 1/2 a lemon (use the leftover from the lemon used to prepare the jellyfish)
A dash of sesame oil

Method:

Grater, and teamwork. Be creative! Include other colourful vegetables and fruits!

Clean and grate the radish, cucumber and carrot. They must be in thin strips, like those thin cucumbers strips in the temaki. Arrange them nicely on a big platter.


A grater makes your life very much easier.


Red and white pomelo

Separate the red and white pomelo from their skin, and separate them sac by sac. Arrange together with the grated/sliced/julienned ingredients.

For the crackers, skip if using store-bought. Otherwise, the instructions are:

Add the salt into the flour. Rub the margarine into the flour and add cold until a workable dough is formed. Flatten with rolling pin and cut into the strips. Heat up sufficient oil in wok and deep fry until the crisps are golden brown. Dish and drain on kitchen towel.