Super Chef Diary
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Super Chef Diary: Yee Sang
Super Chef Diary: Yee Sang: A toss of every year in nearly lunar new year so called Yee Sang or prosperity toss of elements of life, crispy, sweet, sour, bitter, cook...
Yee Sang
A toss of every year
in nearly lunar new year so called Yee Sang or prosperity toss of elements of
life, crispy, sweet, sour, bitter, cooked, raw, etc. mixed together in a
friendship manner, family, business of abundance, prosperity and vigor.
The tradition of
serving Yee Sang started since the Song Dynasty and this tradition continually
celebrate until today.
In South East Asian
countries probably Yee Sang brought here together with the immigrants from the
China mainland, mostly Cantonese that settled earlier in Malaysia and
Singapore.
The significant
sequence of tossing Yee Sang:
There
are three part of wishing during the tossing ceremony, which firstly is for the
New Year, secondly is for prosperity and wealth in the business and third is
for family and happiness.
All
ingredients for special tossing ceremony are ready and the sequences as
follows:
As
all ingredients ready, all of the participants gather around, ready with
chopsticks and offer New Year greeting:
- Gong Xi Fa Chai means ‘congratulation for your wealth’. And followed by saying Wan Shi Ru Yi means ‘may all your wishes be fulfilled’.
Then
star putting the fish into the bowl with every participant around the table
say:
- Nian Nian You Yu means ‘abundance through the year’. It is the fish symbolize the abundance through the year as word ‘fish’ in mandarin language sound like abundance. We found fish throughout the year, no seasonal. Here mostly we use salmon, as the yellowish color of the salmon as prosper color and the taste is also good.
Next
step is to add the pomelo flakes to the sliced fish and say:
- Da Ji Da Li means ‘good luck and smooth sailing’. It is from the sourness of the pomelo or lime, lemon and believes that make the fish more tasty and valuable nutrients
Following
step is to add pepper powder and say:
- Zhao Chai Jin Bao means ‘attract wealth and treasure’. It is from the pepper dashed over the hope of attracting money and valuables. It makes tastier dish and give hint to the life itself.
Following
step is to drizzle the oil and say:
- Yi Ben Wan Li means ‘to encourage’ the valuables and money to flow in from every directions, it comes from the oil drizzled over the salad will smoothen everything as salad dressing. And toss the salad more and higher and cycling the ingredients make more profits, it means ‘make 10,000 times profit with your capital’, or event more than that. The say: Cai Yuan Guang Jin means ‘numerous sources of wealth’. The profit will come from every directions and unlimited time. Non-stop!
Next
step is to add the shredded carrot to the salad and say:
- Hong Yun Dang Tou means ‘good luck is approaching’. It is from the shredded carrot that symbolizing a blessing of good luck. Majestic color of carrot is also to replace the red color character.
Add
in the shredded green radish or cucumber into the salad and say:
- Qing Chun Chang Zhu means ‘forever young’. It is by adding the shredded green radish that symbolized eternal youth, green, progress, fresh forever.
Add
in the shredded white radish and say:
- Feng Sheng Shui Qi means ‘progress at the first stage’ as well as say: Bu Bu Gao Sheng means ‘reaching higher level in every step’ while still tossing the salad.
And
now start adding the condiments to the salad as toppings or crisp, crunchy
taste. First add in the chopped toasted peanuts and say;
- Jin Yin Man Wu means ‘household filled with gold and silver’. It is when adding the chopped peanuts to the salad; this is symbolizing the gold and silver pouring to your household.
Second
condiment to be added is the toasted white sesame seeds and say:
- Seng Yi Xing Long means ‘prosperity for business’. The toasted white sesame seeds are symbolizing the time to prosper for everybody’s business.
Next
step is to add in the plum sauce/honey and say:
- Tian Tian Mi Mi means ‘may life always be sweet’. Add the plum sauce generously to the salad is symbolizing generosity, sweet life and family.
Last
step is to add the crisp ingredients like crispy pillow/crispy noodles and say:
- Man Di Huang Ji means ‘floor full of gold’. Golden pillow and crisp are symbolizing gold.
Toss
the Yee Sang higher and ceremony finish and the salad may divided to everybody
involved to enjoy.
About the image above: sample of Yee Sang condiments |
Yee
Sang Recipe
Makes
4 servings
300
grams of sliced fresh salmon
100
grams of jelly fish, soaked and shredded
100
grams of sliced sea bass
200
grams of pomelo flakes
2
pieces of lemon wedges
white
pepper powder to taste
¼
cup of salad oil
½
cup of shredded carrot
½
cup of shredded green papaya
¼
cup of shredded cucumber
¼
cup of shredded green onions
½
cup of shredded white radish
½
cup of chopped toasted peanuts
¼
cup of toasted sesame seeds
½
cup of plum sauce
1
cup of crisp-fried wonton skin (square)
½
cup crisp-fried white noodle
½
cup crisp-fried yellow noodle
½
cup crisp-fried green noodle
Additional
1
thumb of fine julienned ginger
1
tablespoon of julienned pickled ginger
2
pieces of julienned red chilies
2-3
tablespoons of rice vinegar
1-2
tablespoon of honey
½
cup of fresh coriander leaves
1½
teaspoons of five-spice powder
To prepare the yee
sang: prepare the ingredients separately or arrange them artistically on a
platter and presented in front of the guest or family. To toss the yee sang you
may follow the sequence of tossing yea sang.
Gong Xi Fa Chai –
Happy New Year.
Notes
The colors in the yee
sang represent the beautiful life and prosperity.
Avoid the black color
in the yee sang.
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Super Chef Diary: Buddha's Hand Smoothies
Super Chef Diary: Buddha's Hand Smoothies: Ingredients 1 cups of milk 2½ cups of yogurt 1 tablespoon of Buddha’s Hand zest 3tablespoon of lemon honey ½ teaspoon of fresh...
Buddha's Hand Smoothies
Ingredients
1
cups of milk
2½
cups of yogurt
1
tablespoon of Buddha’s Hand zest
3tablespoon
of lemon honey
½
teaspoon of freshly squeeze lemon juice
¼
cup of crushed ice
About the image above: Buddha's hand Smoothies |
To prepare the
smoothies: combine the ingredients in a blender and pulse it to smooth the Buddha’s
Hand zest and make sure it is mixed well. Keep in fridge until you need to
serve. The cooler is the better. Pour in glasses when serving. Garnish with
some of the Buddha’s Hand zest and serve. Makes 4 servings
Super Chef Diary: Seared Kampachi Fillet with Buddha’s Hand Shallot ...
Super Chef Diary: Seared Kampachi Fillet with Buddha’s Hand Shallot ...: Ingredients 4 fillets of fresh kampachi, about 80 grams each salt and pepper to taste ½ piece of lemon to season 4 tablespo...
Seared Kampachi Fillet with Buddha’s Hand Shallot Butter
4 fillets of fresh kampachi, about 80 grams each
salt and pepper to taste
½ piece of lemon to season
4 tablespoons of Buddha’s Hand Shallot Butter
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
Buddha’s Hand Shallot Butter
Make ½ cup
2 fingers of Buddha’s Hand zest
1 tablespoon of chopped shallot
1/3 cup of white wine
½ cup of unsalted butter
salt and pepper to taste
dash of chili flakes
½ tablespoon of freshly squeezed yellow lemon juice
To prepare the
sauce: in a small pot combine the chopped shallot and white wine and reduce it
to half. Add in the butter and quickly combine with the Buddha’s Hand zest,
lemon juice, salt, pepper and chili flakes. Check the seasonings and serve it
with the salmon.
To prepare the
salmon: season and marinated the fish with salt, pepper, lemon juice and olive
oil. Seared the salmon and then place in a try, to cook further in the oven for
about 5 minutes at 185 degrees Celsius.
Arrange the kampachi fillet on a plate and serve it with Buddha’s Hand
shallot butter. Serve it immediately. Makes 2 servings
Super Chef Diary: Super Chef Diary: Buddha’s Hand Vinaigrette
Super Chef Diary: Super Chef Diary: Buddha’s Hand Vinaigrette: Super Chef Diary: Buddha’s Hand Vinaigrette : The Buddha's Hand citrus is very interesting especially for its magical fragrant flavour ...
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