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khiemtranThe Yee Sang is a Malaysian-Singaporean tradition for Chinese New Year.
Basically, it's a raw fish salad. The theory goes that "raw fish" sounds like "increasing abundance" in different dialects and so it's good for prosperity to eat it at the new year.
The real fun though is that everyone gets to mix and toss the salad together with chopsticks, making as much noise as possible to encourage good luck.
Here are some of the salad ingredients being readied at the table. It's typically quite sweet, with also sour and savoury elements. As you can see, there's no much room for the actual fish (salmon in this case).
Adding the sauces.
There seem to be lots of different recipes. The fried crackers at the top are Liem's favorite.
After the tossing (the "Loh Hei"). No pictures of the toss itself, unfortunately. I tried to get a picture of one of the other tables doing it, but I couldn't get a good angle. And when it was our turn, I had my own prosperity to think of...
And now, time to eat...
Basically, it's a raw fish salad. The theory goes that "raw fish" sounds like "increasing abundance" in different dialects and so it's good for prosperity to eat it at the new year.
The real fun though is that everyone gets to mix and toss the salad together with chopsticks, making as much noise as possible to encourage good luck.
Here are some of the salad ingredients being readied at the table. It's typically quite sweet, with also sour and savoury elements. As you can see, there's no much room for the actual fish (salmon in this case).
Adding the sauces.
There seem to be lots of different recipes. The fried crackers at the top are Liem's favorite.
After the tossing (the "Loh Hei"). No pictures of the toss itself, unfortunately. I tried to get a picture of one of the other tables doing it, but I couldn't get a good angle. And when it was our turn, I had my own prosperity to think of...
And now, time to eat...
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Date: 2012-01-26 09:22 am (UTC)My father and I welcomed the New Year with a fried rice of the anything-goes variety - in this case sausage, bacon and chicken. My parents were in Singapore/Malaysia in the 50s and a fried rice of leftovers was our regular tuesday meal, monday being cold meat with bubble 'n squeak!
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Date: 2012-01-26 09:55 am (UTC)Out here, CNY is a fifteen day affair, that is starting on the new moon and ending when it's full. Although only the first two days are public holidays. Most of the Chinese restaurants are either closed or offer only banquet menus for the first few days, so the joke is that everyone is hanging out for simple food once the hawkers get back from their holidays.