Chinese Spring Festival Jellyfish Yu Sheng ( 中国春节海蜇捞鱼生 )

Lichun ( 立春 ) traditionally signifies the beginning of spring in East Asian cultures, and Chinese New Year is celebrated around this time. Chinese New Year, also called Chinese Spring Festival ( 中国春节 ), is the most important and majestic annual event for us Chinese people.

Lasting 15 days, the big occasion kicks off with a family reunion on the eve of the Lunar New Year New where families of different generations sit around dining tables to have a feast together.

During the CNY Reunion Dinner, a traditional salad dish popular in Singapore and Malaysia called Yu Sheng or Prosperity Toss ( 捞鱼生 ) symbolising good luck is served. Since the Lunar New Year is also known as the Chinese Spring Festival ( 中国春节 ), I decided to make a Yu Sheng with the Spring ( 春 ) character, representing the joyous season.

Typically, the Lo Hei dish will have raw fish, plus other ingredients like white radish, carrots, turnips, pickled ginger, sun-dried oranges, jellyfish, chopped peanuts, sesame seeds and crackers, with seasonings such as plum sauce, sesame oil etc.

As my sister-in-law has some diet constraints, I decided to omit fish and abalone in the Jellyfish Yu Sheng and prepared a separate Thai Abalone Salad with Baby Spinach for other family members instead.

Ingredients:
80g Shredded Carrots
150g White Radish
150g Jellyfish
20g Green Pickled Nutmeg
20g Red Pickled Ginger
20g Preserved Sweet Onions
10g Pok Chui Biscuits
10g Keropok / Prawn Crackers ( optional )
5 tbsp Roasted Sesame Seeds
5 tbsp Chopped Peanuts
Pinch of Grounded Black Pepper ( put inside red packet )
4 tbsp Sesame Oil
3 tablespoon Lime Juice
2 tbsp Plum Sauce

Method:

• Arrange carrots to form the " Spring " ( 春 ) character on a serving plate.  

• Once you are happy with your character, place radish neatly as the base.  Alternatively, you may also start off by putting the radish first as the base, then arrange the carrots on top to form the character if you find it easier. 

• Next, sprinkle peanuts and sesame seeds around the radish. I am using each of the ingredient to form half the semi-circle.

• Now you can start to place the pickles and jellyfish on one side of the circle.

• Arrange the crackers to finish off the Yu Sheng. Well, I had some coloourful prawns crackers so I added them too.

So, what do you think of my Chinese Spring Festival Jellyfish Yu Sheng ( 中国春节海蜇捞鱼生 )? To start the Prosperity Toss, the seasonings will be added before the Lo Hei session. Huat ah!

This is another one of my Chinese New Year Lo Hei: Smoked Salmon Yu Sheng with Jellyfish!

Well, I will be having a secondary schoolmates gathering next week and I am still in the prowl for my next Yu Sheng design. Mmm........ what shall I make next? Will you be having any Lo Hei sessions?