#lohei

In Singapore and Malaysia, Renri (人日) has evolved into families and businesses celebrating by tossing Yu Sheng (鱼生) or raw fish salad to symbolize prosperity, longevity, and wealth. Yu Sheng or Prosperity Toss (捞起) meaning “raw fish” in Chinese, is a salad 🥗 dish comprising thin slices of raw fish 🐟 and various seasonings that are mixed together as diners toss the ingredients. It is a dish usually eaten during Chinese New Year. Traditionally a simple dish with few ingredients, the yusheng recipe has evolved over the decades and now comprises a wide variety of ingredients.

Sis bought the Good Luck Yu Sheng (开运鱼生) from Sushi Express (争鲜). It is beautifully presented in an auspicious Prosperity Ingot–shaped Packaging - a symbol of wealth, abundance, and luck all year long. Also included in the bundle are a Deck of Cards and pack of Hong Bao 🧧 (红包). In case you are clueless on what to say when adding the ingredients, printed on the packaging is a set of auspicious sayings you can follow. After carefully placing the salmon sashimi 🐟 and mock abalone slices, it’s time to toss the yu sheng. Huat ahhhh!

As the Chinese meaning of yusheng represents raw fish, salmon is the focal point of the dish and is served uncooked and cold alongside other ingredients. Arranged on a very large circular plate, an important feature of the dish, Yusheng (鱼生) is one of the most colourful cuisines of all Chinese New Year food. It is made up of shredded carrot, green and white shredded radish, pickled ginger, crushed peanuts, pomelo, cinnamon, pepper, golden pillow crackers and is accompanied by a variety of condiments.

The present Qi Cai Yu Sheng (七彩鱼生) or seven-coloured raw fish salad was developed by four master chefs from Singapore in the 1960s who were inspired by the Cantonese tradition of consuming raw fish strips during Chinese New Year. The chefs added new ingredients and entwined symbolic significance into the dish and presentation. Yusheng has become iconic in Singapore remaining unchanged for 5 decades, recently gaining popularity in Malaysia and other Chinese communities. For modern day convenience, many supermarkets have introduced ready-made yusheng kits to be brought home for consumption that strictly maintain the traditional ingredients.

The custom of having Yusheng (鱼生) on the seventh day of the Chinese New Year, also known as Renri (人日), was brought to Singapore with the migration of Cantonese and Teochew people from China in the 19th century. It is believed that the Chinese from Jiangmen, Guangdong province, were the first to start selling the dish in Singapore, which comprised raw fish slices tossed with ginger slices, spring onion, coriander, sesame seeds, lime juice and oil.

Today’s ritual of eating yusheng or Prosperity Toss during Chinese New Year involves all the people at the table tossing the salad and uttering auspicious phrases. The dish is deemed auspicious because of the homonymic meanings behind its ingredients, which suggest blessings and good fortune for the new year: yu is a homonym for “fish” and “abundance”, while sheng means both “raw” and “life”. Together, yusheng implies “abundance of wealth and long life”. In the Cantonese dialect, the dish is known as Lohei (捞起), where lo implies “tossing up good fortune” and hei means “to rise”, again a reference to a prosperous business and thus its popularity with businessmen during the new year celebrations.