Well, yes. Yee Sang, or Prosperity Toss in English, is a communal dish featuring a plethora of colourful fruits and vegetables bedding several luxurious slices of fatty fish, all brought together by the signature sweet and tangy Yee Sang sauce. Mmm! This dish is commonly served during family or company gatherings during Chinese New Year to usher in the auspicious new year. Although this dish might seem intimidating and heavily cultural, it originates from Tanah Tumpahnya Darahku—Malaysia!

As we indulge in this hyper-glorified annual salad, we can all thank a certain Mr Loke Ching Fatt from Seremban, Negeri Sembilan for this dish. Loke was a local caterer whose business had been hit hard during the 1940s when the Japanese occupied Malaya. When the war was over, the people had to cut down on luxuries such as catering food. This was, of course, bad news for the Loke catering business.

With a large family to support, the quick-witted Loke revived a Chinese tradition where, on the 7th day of the Lunar New Year, fishermen in China would lavish their haul in a dish called YuSheng. Seizing the opportunity, Loke spun this idea by adding mounds of shredded vegetables and concocted his own citrusy sauce. With a dash of creativity here and a pinch of imagination there (and a little bit of bada-bing bada-boom), Loke invented a cultural plat du jour that took the nation by storm: Yee Sang.

Not only was the dish significantly more inexpensive at that time (due to the addition of vegetables), but the atmosphere created at Loke’s restaurant also sparked the business’ growth as the joyous banquet-style event was reminiscent of happier times before the war, and everyone from all corners of Malaya were there for it.

Yee Sang is a very meticulously put-together dish whereby every ingredient has a significant meaning behind it (although most are clever Chinese puns). Often, the restaurant would settle the ingredients for you. But this year, and especially this year, let us try to understand the ingredients and maybe we can make it at home too!

It is not Lo Hei Yee Sang without the colourful vegetables at the bottom. Often, these are shredded radish, carrots, red cabbages, pomelo, wood ear fungus and cucumber, but there is a lot more that you can mix and match here. This symbolises an abundant and bountiful harvest for the year.

A squeeze of something sour is usually drizzled onto the Yee Sang for that extra kick. Kat Zhai, which means “lime” in Cantonese, is symbolic of having endless luck this year.

Atop, toasted peanuts and sesame seeds are crumbled onto the Yee Sang, giving it an added crunchy texture. The peanuts here resemble wealth: blessing your halls (满堂) with gold (金玉).

This crispy delicacy which everyone likes to steal before the Yee Sang ceremony mimics ancient gold ingots due to their golden crusty exterior. Masking the dish with these treats hopes for gold (黄金) to mask your floors (满地).

It… looks like liquid gold. Okay lah we can’t help it we love our gold. Another translation for this ingredient looks at how smoothly oil flows: hoping your year can flow by in the same steady manner.

Of course, who could forget the drool-worthy slices of fish that sit delicately atop the Yee Sang. This one is a pun on the Mandarin word 余, meaning luck, which sounds like the word for fish (鱼). So quite literally it translates to “every year got luck”.

The tantalizingly sticky solution that brings the dish together. This sweet and sour plum sauce sauce hopes to boost your year ahead to be of nothing but sweetness.

So there we have it, the Tenth Sense Prosperity Toss: a dish with such complex flavors, textures and aromas that, according to Buddhist beliefs, are able to help you sense the infinite dimension. Should you be updated on the news or be involved in internet memes, you would be aware that this Lunar New Year, the National Security Council (NSC) only allows reunion dinner and visitations among people living under the same roof. However, in times like these, let the sweet flavours of the Yee Sang humbly remind us to obey COVID Standard Operating Procedures for us to enjoy the same dish with company in the years to come. Stay safe everyone and happy 牛(“niu”, which means cow) year!