Adam Liaw’s yee sang prosperity salad
We’ll ring in the Year of the Dragon Saturday, February 10. My family has always celebrated Lunar New Year with the traditional family reunion dinner on New Year’s Eve, and these days I see it as a celebration that’s more important than ever.
It’s not because I’m superstitious or anything like that, even though every tradition surrounding the celebration is about luck: from sweeping the floors and cutting your hair before the new year to sweep or cut away bad luck, to the foods that are served because they rhyme with certain phrases. It’s not even about the money, though my kids love their red packets of cash just as much as I did when I was a little one.
I think Lunar New Year is important not just because it’s a time to be with the ones you love but also because it’s a time for reset and reflection. Christmas can be hectic as you wrap up the calendar year. Lunar New Year falls when the buzz of the old year has passed, at a time when your focus is not so much on escaping your everyday life, but on what kind of everyday you want your life to be in the Year of the Dragon.
This theatrical salad is a more modern Lunar New Year dish that involves everyone gathering around a table and using chopsticks to toss the salad high into the air. The higher the tossing, the more luck you’ll have!
Ingredients
8 wonton wrappers
2 cups vegetable oil, for deep frying
300g sashimi-grade salmon, sliced (your fishmonger can do this for you)
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1 carrot, peeled and julienned
1 Lebanese cucumber, peeled, deseeded and julienned
½ daikon, julienned
4 leaves young Chinese cabbage, shredded
1 pink grapefruit, torn into small pieces (peel, pith, seeds and membrane removed)
1 cup fresh coriander leaves, picked
½ cup lightly crushed roasted peanuts
DRESSING
100ml plum sauce
2 tbsp honey
75ml lemon juice
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp vegetable oil
¼ tsp five spice powder
Method
Step 1
Thinly slice the wonton wrappers and separate them into fine threads. Heat the vegetable oil in a small saucepan to about 180C and deep-fry the wrappers until crisp. Drain and set aside.
Step 2
Mix together all the ingredients for the dressing and stir to combine.
Step 3
Arrange all the salad ingredients in piles on a serving plate. Place pairs of chopsticks around the platter. Dress the salad and have the attendees use their chopsticks to toss the salad high in the air to mix. Happy New Year!
Adam’s tip: Tossing the yee sang salad can get a bit messy. We have the salad as the first course, then clean down the table before laying out the rest of the food to continue the meal.
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Adam Liaw is a cookbook author and food writer, co-host of Good Food Kitchen and former MasterChef winner.
