Yee Sang is a salad made and enjoyed during the Chinese New Year. I heard about Yee Sang Salad in an interview with 3 generations of Australian Chinese women and the grandmother mentioned that, instead of money, she put seeds in the little red pouches and her family sprinkled them on the salad.
Once you have sprinkled on the seeds, everyone who is eating the salad tosses it as high as they can with their chop sticks and shouts out all the positive intentions for themselves, their friends and loved ones, and everyone in the world. The higher you toss the salad, the more intentions will eventuate. It is such a lot of fabulous fun.
When we get together to eat Yee Sang we wear something red.
Yee Sang Salad
Choose from the ingredients to make the Yee Sang Salad
INGREDIENTS
Pan fried tempeh in toasted sesame oil
Grated carrots
Thinly sliced red cabbage
Thinly sliced iceberg lettuce
Thinly sliced cucumber
Pickled ginger
Thinly sliced red capsicum
Peanuts
Cut pomelo or ruby grapefruit
Sprouts
Mung bean shoots
Spring onions
Toasted seeds (in the red Chinese New Year packets and sprinkle them on at the end)
1 packet rice noodles cooked
Dressing
¼ cup plum jam I used Davidson plum
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp grated ginger
1 fresh chilli chopped optional
Juice 1 lemon
4 dates
1 tsp Chinese 5 spice
¼ tsp white pepper
Splash apple cider vinegar
For dressing
Cook onion, garlic and ginger, then add all of the ingredients except the lemon. Cool down, then add to the blender with the lemon juice and blend until smooth.
Cook the tempeh and noodles, cool the noodles down. Toast the seeds.
Place all the ingredients in separate piles in a large bowl, and then when ready to eat, pour on the dressing, then toss together with your guests and shout out all your positive intentions for yourself, your friends, and everyone for the year ahead.
Then sprinkle on the seeds.
