This a recipe for making the classic Yee sang a Southeast Asian Chinese New Year starter dish. It’s not available elsewhere but in Malaysia and Singapore. It has origins of Nyonya influences a bit like Kuih Kapit which has evolved over the years. Some said it was invented in the 1950s or ’60s. It is great to serve as an appetizer to accompany a meal or after dinner as a snack. Do eat while it’s fresh s as to retain the crunchiness.
Yee sang it means raw fish. It also means a joyful spiritual time for the new year. It’s a get-together starter dish during the festive Chinese New Year season. Besides fish and jelly fish, the rest of the ingredients are all vegan-based. I use smoked salmon as it is so much easier to get hold off compared to fresh raw fish. It is possible to use raw sashimi fish-like salmon instead. However, the sashimi fish is sliced much thicker than the traditional yee sang.
It is so easy to make Yee sang, much fresher and much cheaper than shop-bought ones. It is possible to substitute with other ingredients if you like but each ingredient has a meaning in this dish. Fish/ seafood is a must during Chinese New Year. Mainly components of yee sang are the colours as I have found. It is a great dish eaten as a starter during the Chinese New Year period.
In supermarket-bought (in Malaysia)/ shop packs there is a packet of deep fried crisps called ‘pok choi’. Many recipes substitute that with fried wontons instead.
Yee sang classic home made recipe
Recipe makes about 4 persons.
Equipment
- big flat serving dish
- vegetable grater
Yee sang Ingredients
- half medium pomelo
- half medium white radish (daikon/ mooli)
- 1 medium carrot
- 1 medium cucumber
- 3 tbsp chopped coriander
- pickled ginger
- 100 grams smoked salmon
- ! packet jellyfish (optional)
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds roasted
- 2 tbsp peanuts roasted without skin on
- half tsp five spice powder
Homemade fried taro strips
- 1 small Taro peeled and cut into strips
- some green and red coloring to color the taro
- (note if you find a struggle to find taro just use sweet potato orange or purple will work as well)
- 1 tbsp cooking oil for frying
- 5-10 wonton skins cut into small pieces
Dressing
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- One tbsp plum sauce
- 1 juice of lime
Instructions
Prepare and cook the fried taro
- after peeling and cutting the taro into strips. Seperate them into two bowls and add red and green colour in each of them. Then fried them seperately over hot oil. At the same time fry the cut up wonton skins. Drain them over kitchen paper.
Perepare the yee sang salad
- Peel and grate the ingredients like daikon, carrot. Seperate the peeled pomelo. arrange them on the big serving dish. Arrange the rest of the ingredients around the dish. Then add the salad dressing. When ready have the guests around the dish with their chopsticks mixed and serve into small plates individually.
Thank you very much for reading and dropping by. Do have a look at my other Chinese New Year recipes like Kuih Kapit and German butter cookies.
Yee sang
How to mae this chinese new year festive dish
- half medium pomelo
- half medium white radish (daikon)
- 1 medium carrot
- 3 tbsp chopped coriander
- 50 grams pickled ginger (about 10 slices)
- 100 grams smoked salmon
- 1 packet prepared jelly fish (optional)
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds toasted
- 2 tbsp chopped roasted peanuts (without any skin on)
- half tsp five spice powder
Homemade fried taro strips
- 1 small taro peeled and cut into strips
- some green and red colouring to colour the taro
- If no taro available just use orange or/ and purple sweet potato
- 1 tbsp cooking oil for frying
- 5-10 wonton skins cut into small pieces
Dressing
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1-2 tbsp plum sauce
- 1 juice of lime
Prepare and cook the fried taro
after peeling and cutting the taro into strips. Seperate them into two bowls and add red and green colour in each of them. Then fried them seperately over hot oil. At the same time fry the cut up wonton skins. Drain them over kitchen paper.
Perepare the yee sang salad
Peel and grate the ingredients like daikon, carrot. Seperate the peeled pomelo. arrange them on the big serving dish. Arrange the rest of the ingredients around the dish. Then add the salad dressing. When ready have the guests around the dish with their chopsticks mixed and serve into small plates individually.
