New Year Fish Salad Singapore Yu Sheng

Serves 4 to 6

A Winning Toss

Besides being full of flavors and textures, yu sheng is loaded with
symbolic meaning.
The raw ingredients signify the renewal of life, and the sound of
the word for fish in Cantonese sounds like the word for prosperity.
The most important (and fun) part
of eating yu sheng is the mixing together of the ingredients.
To ensure good luck for the coming
year, everyone calls out "Lo hei!" - which means "to mix it up" but also
sounds like "to prosper more and more"-while they use their chopsticks
to toss the ingredients as high in the air as they can.
Now that's what I call a well-tossed salad!
No Chinese New Year feast is complete
without yu sheng, the colorful salad of raw fish and crunchy vegetables.

It's served in most Singaporean Chinese
restaurants throughout the lunar new year celebration. In recent years,
the
ingredients have become increasingly elaborate and exotic, including
jellyfish, preserved papaya, deep-fried yam sticks, pickled shallots, and
more.
You practically have to start making it
a whole lunar year ahead of time!
My version is light and flavorful and a lot easier to prepare. Use very
fresh
fish. As an alternative to salmon, tuna is also delicious prepared this
way.


Salad Mixture

1/2 cantaloupe or 1/4 honeydew melon
1 grapefruit
1/4 cup thinly sliced sweet pickled ginger
1 medium carrot, shredded
3-inch wedge (1/4 lb.) jicama, shredded


Dressing

3 to 4 tablespoons cooking oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
3 tablespoons plum sauce


1 tablespoon sesame seeds
6 ounces salmon fillet
6 ounces firm white fish fillet, such as sea bass
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 cup chopped roasted peanuts
1 green onion, slivered

Peel melon and cut into crescents.
Segment grapefruit by cutting away the peel and white pith; cut and
lift out segments.
In a bowl, combine melon, grapefruit. ginger, carrot, and jicama.
Combine dressing ingredients in
a small bowl.
Place sesame seed in a small frying pan over medium heat; cook, shaking
pan continuously, until tightly browned, 3 to 4 minutes.
Immediately remove from pan to cook.
Remove skin and any bones from fish.
Thinly slice fish across the grain
to make pieces about 1 by 2 inches.
Fan slices on a serving platter, alternating pink and white fish.
In a small bowl, combine lime juice,
oil, and white pepper.
Drizzle lime juice mixture over fish. Mound salad mixture in center of
fish. Spoon dressing over the salad. Garnish with peanuts, sesame
seed, and green onion.



Martin Yan's Asia
Favorite Recipes from Hong Kong, Singapore,
Malaysia, the Philippines, and Japan
By Martin Yan



--
Rec.food.recipes is moderated by Patricia D. Hill at .
Only recipes and recipe requests are accepted for posting.
Please allow several days for your submission to appear.
Archives: http://www.cdkitchen.com/rfr/ http://recipes.alastra.com/