Yusheng

Yusheng , yee sang or yuu sahng is a fish salad. It usually consists of strips of raw fish , mixed with shredded vegetables and a variety of sauces and condiments, among other ingredients. Yusheng literally means "raw fish" but since "fish " is commonly conflated with its homophone "abundance ", Yúshēng is interpreted as a homophone for Yúshēng meaning an increase in abundance. Therefore, yusheng is considered a symbol of abundance, prosperity and vigor.

History

Fishermen along the coast of Guangzhou traditionally celebrated Renri, the seventh day of the Chinese New Year, by feasting on their catches. This practice is believed to have started in Chaozhou and Shantou as far back as the Southern Song Dynasty. In 's colonial past, migrants imported this tradition; porridge stalls sold a raw fish dish which is believed to have originated in Jiangmen, Guangdong province that consisted of fish, turnip and carrot strips, which was served with condiments of oil, vinegar and sugar that were mixed in by customers.
The modern yusheng dish originated in during Chinese New Year in 1964 in Lai Wah Restaurant and was invented by master chef Than Mui Kai as a symbol of prosperity and good health amongst the chinese. Together with Lau Yoke Pui , Hooi Kok Wai and Sin Leong, Than Mui Kai was named as one of the Four Heavenly Culinary Kings of Singapore some 40 years ago for their Cantonese culinary prowess and ingenuity.The tradition is still widely practiced till today and has since spread to many parts of Asia, although not practised as much as in Malaysia and Singapore.









The taste of the original raw fish dish was standardized with a special sauce using plum sauce, rice vinegar, kumquat paste and sesame oil, and the fish was served with carrots, chilli, turnips, limes, jellyfish, red pickled ginger, sun-dried oranges and other ingredients, turning this simple dish into an exquisite salad with 27 ingredients. The original dish used raw mackerel, although in deference to the popular wishes of customers, salmon was later offered as an alternative due to the growing popularity of Salmon.
Since then, yusheng has become a staple Chinese New Year dish in Malaysia as well as in Chinese communities in Singapore and is typically available only during this festive season.

Lo Hei: How yusheng is eaten today

Today, this dish is served as an appetizer to raise 'good luck' for the new year and is usually eaten on Renri, the seventh day of the Chinese New Year. In a celebration known as "lo hei" , families and friends gather around the table and, on cue, proceed to toss the shredded ingredients into the air with chopsticks while saying out loud to mark the start of a prosperous new year and it's customary that the higher you toss, the greater your fortunes!

Typical ingredients include: fresh salmon, daikon , carrot, red pepper , ginger, daun limau nipis , Chinese parsley, chopped peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, Chinese shrimp crackers , five spice powder. The dressing is made primarily from plum sauce.

Popiah

Popiah is a / fresh spring roll common in Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia. ''Popiah'' is often eaten in the Fujian province of China and its neighboring Chaozhou on the Qingming Festival. It is sometimes referred to as ''runbing'' or ''baobing'' in .

A ''popiah'' "skin" is a thin paper-like crepe or pancake made from wheat flour which is covered with a sweet sauce (often a bean sauce, a blended soy sauce or hoisin sauce or a shrimp paste sauce , and optionally with hot chilli sauce before it is filled. The filling is mainly finely grated and steamed or stir-fried turnip, jicama , which has been cooked with a combination of other ingredients such as bean sprouts, French beans, and , depending on the individual vendor, along with , slices of Chinese sausage, thinly sliced fried tofu, chopped peanuts or peanut powder, fried shallots, and . Other common variations of popiah include include pork , shrimp or crab meat. Some hawkers, especially in non-halal settings, will add fried pork lard. As a fresh spring roll, the ''popiah'' skin itself is not fried.

In China, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan there are "''popiah'' parties," where the ingredients are laid out and guests make their own ''popiah'' with proportions of ingredients to their own personal liking.

Similar foods in other cuisines include the / variant referred to as '''', fried spring rolls and fajitas . In Vietnam, ''bò bía'' is the variant of popiah, introduced by immigrants. It is common sight to see an old Teochew man or woman selling bò bía at their roadside stand.

Taiwanese Popiah/Spring Roll

In Taiwan, popiah are eaten in several varieties.
We can classify them into fried and non-fried versions.
The fried version is very commonly served year-round in Chinese restaurants.
It is small, crispy and rolled with meat or sweet red bean paste.
The non-fried version is much more complicated and is called ''runbing'' in Mandarin .
There are two kinds of skins which roll the stuffing: one that is slowly heated until cooked is famous for being very thin; the other is baked. Furthermore, the way of cooking the stuffing is very different as well. In northern Taiwan, the stuffing is flavored, stir-fired, sometimes it goes with peanut powder, and the sauce is salty. In southern Taiwan, the popiah stuffing is water-boiled or blanched without flavored, and then added with white sugar powder and peanut powder. For people who live in southern Taiwan, adding enough white sugar power is the key of spring rolls. Moreover, some people like to heat or steam the spring roll again after it is made.
The stuffing itself is quite diverse among different places. The basic stuffing includes vegetables that grow in spring, meat and sliced egg skin. In some places, they also add noodles, Chinese sausages, stewed vegetables instead of blanched ones, tofu, seafood, sticky rice, and so on.

Oyster omelette

Oar Jien is a which originated in and . It is also popular in places with Chaozhou and Fujianese influences such as in Guangdong, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Taiwan .

The dish consists of an omelette with a filling primarily composed of small oysters. Starch is mixed into the egg batter, giving the resulting egg wrap a thicker consistency. Depending on regional variation, a savory sauce may then be poured on top of the omelette for added taste.

In Hong Kong, the dish is traditionally made from oysters that are found in drainages near areas of the new airport and some areas of New Territories, but they taste the same as other varieties of oysters. Spicy or chili sauce mixed with lime juice is often added to provide an intense taste.

Shrimp can sometimes be substituted in place of oysters; in this case, it will be called 蝦仁煎, or shrimp omelette.

Names

In the Chinese language, "oyster omelette" is known by various names in different geographical areas.

Ingredients

Each oyster omelette consists of very few ingredients. Though the recipe varies from vendor to vendor, in general an omelette contains.
*
*Shucked Oysters
*Chopped Spring onion
*Garland chrysanthemum is considered quintessential, but chopped chinese cabbage is usually substituted
*Potato starch
*Water

Fish ball

Fish balls is a commonly cooked food in southern China and overseas Chinese communities. As the name suggests, the ball is made of fish meat that has been finely pulverized. Gourmet fish balls are pulverized by hand. Fish balls are a type of food product made from surimi .

Terminology

魚蛋 and 魚旦 can been used interchangeably, and are pronounced the same. 魚旦 is used at street hawker stalls and dai pai dong in Hong Kong. 魚丸 and 鱼圆 are more commonly used in Singapore and Malaysia.

Production

Nearly all meatballs made in Asia differ significantly in texture to their counterparts with European origins. Instead of grinding and forming meats, meat used for making meatballs is pounded. This is also often the case for fillings in steamed dishes. This process is what lends a smooth texture to the meatballs. Pounding unlike grinding uncoils and stretches previously wound and tangled protein strands in meat.

Hong Kong

There are two kinds of fish balls in Hong Kong. One is smaller in size, yellow in colour, usually made with cheaper meat, and is sold in skewer, each skewer containing five to seven fish balls skewer on a bamboo skewer. Usually sold at food stalls. There are many stalls which support themselves just by selling this kind of fish ball, similar to hot dog in the United States. The fish balls can be either spicy or not. It is one of the most popular and representative "street foods" of Hong Kong.

The other kind is bigger in size, white in colour, made with more costly fish meat, and has a considerably different and taste. This kind of fish ball is usually eaten with noodles at restaurants providing noodle , and at some ''cha chaan tengs'', which also provide beef ball and cuttlefish ball . Readily available in traditional market and supermarket, the fish ball is also a popular ingredient for hot pot.

One well known and popular purveyor of fish balls in broth is On Lee Fish Ball Noodles, in Shau Kei Wan.

Thailand

In Thailand, fish balls are commonly served grilled or in Chinese-influenced noodle soups.

Peninsular Malaysia & Singapore

Fish balls are cooked in many ways in Peninsular Malaysia & Singapore. Fish balls can served with soup and noodles like the Chiuchow style or served with Yong tau foo. There is also a type called ''"Fuzhou fish ball"'' which has pork fillings with the fish ball.

Philippines

The most commonly eaten type of fish balls is colloquially known simply as ''fishballs''. It is somewhat flat in shape and most often made from the meat of cuttlefish or pollock and served with a sweet and spicy sauce or with a thick black sweet and sour sauce.

Fish balls in the Philippines are sold by street vendors pushing wooden deep frying carts. The balls are served skewered, offered with a choice of three kinds of dipping sauces: Sour - vinegar, water, diced onions and garlic, Sweet - corn starch, banana ketchup, sugar and salt, and Hot/Sour - the sweet variety with lots of small hot chilis added. Dark sauces are rare as these are soy sauce based and soy sauce is expensive in terms of food cost for street food.
The latest iteration in the Philippine fishball industry is the introduction of 'ball' varieties: chicken, squid , and kekiam. The last are low cost renditions vaguely resembling original Chinese delicacy of the same name. Chicken and squid balls as well as kekiam sell at 4 US Cents. Regular fishballs sell at 1 US Cent.

Chiuchow cuisine

Chiuchow cuisine, Teochew cuisine or Chaozhou cuisine or Chaoshan cuisine originates from Chaoshan, a region of China in the easternmost area of the Guangdong Province. However, Chaozhou cuisine is closer to Fujian cuisine and even shares many of the same dishes. This is likely due to its neighboring location and also the closely related culture.
Chaoshan emcompasses the prefecture-level cities of Chaozhou, Shantou and Jieyang.
The region's cuisine is often mistakenly labelled as "Cantonese cuisine".

Chaozhou cuisine is particularly well known for its seafood and vegetarian dishes and is commonly regarded as being healthy. Its use of flavoring is much less heavy-handed than most other Chinese cuisines and depends much on the freshness and quality of the ingredients for taste and flavor. As a delicate cuisine, oil is not often used in large quantities and there is a relatively heavy emphasis on poaching, steaming and braising. Chaozhou cuisine is also known for serving in addition to steamed rice or noodles with meals. The Chaozhou mue is rather different from Cantonese porridge or congee. The former is very watery with the rice sitting loosely at the bottom of the bowl.

Authentic Chaozhou restaurants serve very strong Oolong tea called Tieguanyin in very tiny cups before and after the meal. This is and is a very strong tea which has a bittersweet taste, called gan gan .

A condiment that is commonly associated with Chaozhou cuisine is Shacha sauce. This popular paste is also used in and Taiwanese cuisine. It is made from soybean oil, garlic, shallots, chilis, brill fish, and dried shrimp. The paste has a savory and slightly spicy taste.
As an ingredient, it has multiple uses:
* as a base for soups
* as a rub for barbecued meats
* as a seasoning for stir fry dishes
* as a component for dipping sauces, for example as used in hot pot meals

Chaozhou chefs often use a special stock called shang tang . This stock remains on the stove and is continuously replenished. One Hong Kong chef allegedly has used the same shang tang for over fifty years. You will see this stock on Chaozhou TV in their cooking programmes, even today.

There is a famous feast in Chaozhou cuisine / banquet called "jiat dot" which roughly means "eat table". A myriad dishes are often served, which include shark fins soup, bird's nest soup, lobster, steam fish and braised goose.

Chaozhou chefs pride themselves on their skill in vegetable carving, and carved vegetables are used as garnishes on cold dishes and on the banquet table.

Chaozhou is also known for a late night dinner called "Da Leng" . Chaozhou people enjoy eating out in restaurants or at roadside food stalls close to midnight before they go to bed. Some restaurants stay open till dawn.

Unlike the typical menu selections of many other Chinese cuisines, Chaozhou restaurant menus often have a dessert section.

Many people of Chaozhou, also known as Teochiu or Teochew, heritage have settled in Southeast Asia during the Chinese Diaspora, especially Singapore; influences can be noted in the cuisine of Singapore. This review article illustrates a .
A large number of Teochew people have also settled in Taiwan, evident in Taiwanese cuisine.

Famous dishes

Some famous Chaozhou dishes include, among others:
* Braised Goose, or Lou Gho in the .
* Steamed goose
* Teochew-style duck
* Teochew-style steamed fish , which normally makes use of pomfret and has a distinctive clear broth, seasoned and steamed with shredded ginger, preserved plums, preserved salted vegetables, sliced Shiitake mushrooms, and tomatoes.
* Popiah , a fresh spring roll. It is essentially a thin paper-like crepe made from wheat flour and is typically filled with finely grated and steamed or stir-fried turnip, jicama and carrots, along with fresh lettuce leaves, shredded omelette, Chinese sausage, thinly sliced fried tofu, crushed peanut or peanut powder and sweet bean sauce. However, there are many variations of popiah, with some including pork , shrimp or crab meat. Other condiments include fried shallots, hoisin sauce and sweetened soy sauce.
* Chai tao kway , a fried 'cake', made of white radish and rice flour. It is a popular dim sum commonly stir fried with soy sauce, eggs, garlic, spring onion and occasionally dried shrimp.
* A steamed dumpling called '''' in the usually filled with dried radish, garlic chives, ground pork, dried shrimp, shiitake mushrooms and peanuts. The dumpling wrapper is made from a mixture of flours or plant starches mixed together with boiling water. In Cantonese, these are called ''Chiuchow fun guo'' , where the wrong character for dumpling is used. It is instead the fruit character guo .
* Steamed chives dumplings called gucai gue 韭菜餜. Sometimes, they are sauteed to give it a crispy texture.
* Prawn roll, noted for being wrapped in a crisp tofu skin, called heh geng in the Chaozhou language . It is sometimes referred to as Teochew-style spring roll in restaurant menus.
* which is called O Luah in Chaozhou language
* Yusheng , a raw fish salad. Typical ingredients include: fresh salmon, daikon , carrot, red pepper , ginger, kaffir lime leaves, Chinese parsley, chopped peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, Chinese shrimp crackers , five spice powder. The dressing is made primarily from plum sauce. It was a delicacy invented 1,500 years ago during the Song Dynasty.
* Mee pok , a popular noodle dish served with minced pork, braised mushrooms, fish balls, dumplings, sauce and other garnishings.
* Kway chap , a dish of flat, broad rice sheets in a soup made with dark soy sauce, served with pig offal, braised duck meat, various kinds of beancurd, preserved salted vegetables, and braised hard-boiled eggs.
* Chaozhou Chicken, a dish of sliced, crisp-skinned marinated chicken served with fried spinach leaves. The leaves are fused with a and Shaoxing wine fragrance.
* Fish balls and beef balls , which can be cooked in many ways but are often served in Chiuchow-style noodle soups.
* Fishball Noodle Soup . Any of several kinds of egg and rice noodles may be served either in a light fish-flavoured broth or "dry" with the soup on the side, with fishmeat balls, fishcake, beansprouts and lettuce.
* Cold crab . The whole crab is first steamed and served chilled. The species of crab most commonly used is ''Charybdis cruciata'' of the genus Charybdis .
* Chaozhou-style Congee , a rice soup that has a more watery consistency than its Cantonese cousin.
* Ou ni which is a yam dessert.
* Crystal balls which is a steamed dessert with a variety of fillings such as 奶黃, yam paste , bean paste made from mung beans, or even unusual crèmes and fruity gels. The crystal balls are called Zuizian bao 水晶包. They are similar to the Japanese mochi.
* Tieguanyin . However, Chaozhou people prefer their own Oolong tea which is Feng Huang Dancong cha .

Gallery

Beef ball

Beef ball is a commonly cooked food in southern China and overseas Chinese communities. As the name suggests, the ball is made of beef that has been finely pulverized. They are easily distinguishable from fish balls due to the beef balls' darker color. Another characteristic is the tiny pieces of tendon in each ball will dissolve with prolonged cooking.

Production

Nearly all meatballs made in Asia differ significantly in texture to their counterparts with European origins. Instead of grinding and forming meats, meat used for making meatballs is pounded. This is also often the case for fillings in steamed dishes. This process is what lends a smooth texture to the meatballs. Pounding unlike grinding uncoils and stretches previously wound and tangled protein strands in meat and allows them to cure to a gel with heat in a similar manner as surimi.

Hong Kong

Beef balls are commonly mixed in with wonton noodles and other fish ball noodles. It is available in traditional markets and . Beef balls are also a popular ingredient for hot pot dishes. It has a variety of uses within Chinese cuisine.

Bak kut teh

Bak kut teh is a soup popularly served in Malaysia, Singapore, China and also, cities of neighbouring countries like Batam of Indonesia and Hat Yai of Thailand. The name literally translates as "meat bone tea", and, at its simplest, consists of meaty pork ribs in a complex broth of herbs and spices , boiled together with pork bones for hours. However, additional ingredients may include offal, varieties of mushroom, lettuce, and pieces of dried tofu. Light and dark soy sauce are also added to the soup during cooking, with varying amounts depending on the variant.

''Bak kut teh'' is usually eaten with rice or noodles, and often served with ''youtiao'' for dipping into the soup. Soy sauce is preferred as a condiment, with which chopped chilli padi and minced garlic is taken together. Chinese tea of various kinds is also usually served in the belief that it dilutes or dissolves the copious amount of fat consumed in this pork-laden dish. Bak kut teh is typically a famous morning meal.

Klang, widely believed to be the home of ''bak kut teh'', is famous for her many ''bak kut teh'' restaurants. Indeed, the dish is reported to have been invented in Port Klang for port coolies there in the early 20th century, to supplement their meagre diet and as a tonic to boost their health.

There are numerous variants of ''bak kut teh'' with its cooking style closely influenced by the prevailing Chinese enclave of a certain geographical location. In Singapore, there are three types of ''bak kut teh''. The most common variant is the Teochew style, which is light in color but uses more pepper in the soup. The , who prefer saltier food, use more soy sauce, which results in a darker soup. The , with a soup-drinking culture, add medicinal herbs to create a stronger flavoured soup.

A less fatty variation of ''bak kut teh'' made with chicken instead of pork is called ''chik kut teh''.. It also serves as a ''halal'' version of the dish catered to , whose religion . During the SARS outbreak in Asia, due to the fear of SARS-virus infection of the pork meat, a lot of owners were forced to substitute pork for other meat - mainly seafood, chicken or even without any - some of which still remains on the menu in some restaurant till this day.