Tossing of Yee Sang During Chinese New Year [Pandemic Edition]

Our Tossing of Yee Sang During This Chinese New Year is different no thanks to the pandemic. Want to know the ingredients of Yee Sang? Find out here.

To the Chinese, tossing of yee sang during Chinese New Year is a must. Unlike the previous years, we could not join our extended family and relatives to enjoy this auspicious Teow-chew styled raw fish salad. Our family had already booked to have our sumptuous dinner complete with yee sang in a 5-star hotel, only to have it cancelled at the very last minute no thanks to the worsening pandemic.

Tossing of Yee Sang During Chinese New Year

Still, not being able to have family gathering does not mean that we should deprive ourselves of this meaningful tradition, right? Hence, we had gone to buy 2 boxes of ready-made DIY Yee Sang from Tesco earlier this month. One for our reunion dinners and the other for another reunion dinner of ours as well. LOL 😁

What ingredients do you need for Yee Sang?

1. Pickled vegetables

2. Groundnuts

3. Sesame

4. Five Fragrance Powder & 5. White Pepper

6. Sliced yam

7. Pok Choy

8. Lime Sauce

It is a bit funny that we have tossed Yee Sang at our own home twice this year but I guess it can't be helped as we really want to enjoy our lunar new year to its fullest despite the inconvenience and limitations brought by the Covid-19 pandemic. This goes to show how significant and meaningful the tossing of yee sang is to us during this Chinese New Year.

Let's start arranging our Yee Sang ingredients

Our Yee Sang is almost ready...but something is missing...

Regardless of whether the Yee Sang is homemade or ready-made like the ones we have bought, the excitement and euphoria that come with it cannot be explained. For the uninitiated, Yee Sang (鱼生) literally means "Fish Increase" which can be loosely translated to increment in abundance and prosperity. Then again, the irony is that we did not have salmon sashimi for our yee sang. Instead, we had abalone as a substitute. Still, both our Yee Sang tossing sessions were delicious as abalones are delicious!

Abalone plus Yee Sang can be a perfect combination

It's time to toss our Yee Sang

Though the prominent sliced salmon is absent, our DIY Yee Sang still have the usual ingredients such as the multi-coloured pickled vegetables, Pok Choy, groundnuts, sesame, sliced yam, five fragrance powder, white pepper, lime sauce and of course, the highly prized abalone. All these ingredients are a must-have and they give our yee sang its unmistakable unique taste; The unique taste and scent that evoke our unforgettable fond memories that are synonymous with Chinese New Year.

Yee Sang is a must during Chinese New Year

Don't forget to put on our best Chinese New Year clothes

Our Yee Sang is usually served together with our reunion dinner. So the addition of this huge serving of "Fish Increase" gives us the impression that our year ahead will be filled with abundance and happiness. So are you ready to enjoy your Yee Sang? Go grab your chopsticks, mix all the ingredients together and start tossing everything in the air. Make sure everything is well mixed, so that you can enjoy all the blessings that come your way. 😋

Let Toss Our Yee Sang~Toss! Toss! Toss!

Let's dig in everyone

Legends have it that the higher you toss your yee sang, the more affluent and prosperous you will be. And make sure you utter "auspicious" wishes while you are tossing your Yee Sang. Anyway Happy Chinese New Year everyone. Hopefully next year we could be tossing our Yee Sang with our family, relatives and close friends again during the new lunar year in 2022.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone. Hopefully we can toss our yee sang the "right" way next year!