Lo Sahng, Yee Sang or the 'prosperity toss' is a raw fish salad that is commonly seen on the tables of Malaysian and Singaporean-Chinese families during Lunar New Year celebrations.
It consists of sliced raw fish and various fresh vegetables with special sauces - it’s tasty, colourful and festive.
It is common for family members and friends to stand around a table and toss shredded ingredients into the air with chopsticks while announcing various wishes.
Chinese-Malaysian Jimmy Lim has lived in Australia for more than 16 years.
A version of the prosperity toss, or also known as Lo Sahng or Yee Sang. Source: Jimmy Lim
He tells SBS Chinese that the prosperity toss has been an Lunar New Year tradition as far back as he can remember, both here and in Malaysia.
“Every time I went back to Malaysia for the Lunar New Year, we always do it,” he says.
“After I come back to Australia, I would get together with my friends and families from Malaysia to celebrate the Lantern Festival. We must have a prosperity toss.”
Traditionally, this dish is consumed on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, but Lim says it has become common to have it on any day of the celebrations.
Lo Sahng, Yee Sang or Prosperity Toss Source: Jimmy Lim
In Australia, Asian supermarkets sell their own version of the toss, pre-packed with vegetables and crackers.
Like many, Jimmy and his friends add slices of raw fish to complete the dish.
“When I was very young, I always had it with my family on New Year’s Eve and the seventh day of the Lunar New Year.
So, for me, it’s a very important festival tradition that we do as a family.
His wish for the new year is for a successful rollout of the coronavirus vaccine in Australia, and for life to return to normal.
“2020 was a very hard year for everyone. We experienced an unprecedented pandemic as a whole.
“In 2021, although it still seems a long way from Spring, I believe that with the vaccine, everything will go back to normal and I hope everyone will be healthier both in body and mind.”
Lo sahng, yee sang or prosperity toss. Source: Jimmy Lim
Turnip cake and new year pudding
Turnip cake, or 'lo bak go', new year pudding, or 'nin go', and the sticky rice cake are traditional Lunar New Year dishes in Hong Kong.
It is said that eating them can bring prosperity for the year ahead.
Cake in Chinese is pronounced '"go" 糕, a homonym of 高, or the word “high”.
Thus, this gives the cake an auspicious meaning of being "higher" or improving in all aspects during the coming years.
The tradition of cake eating during the Lunar New Year celebrations can be traced back around three thousand years.
Traditional cakes to celebrate Lunar New Year. Source: Wai Yee Yeung
During the Zhou Dynasty (690 to 705 AD) in China, crops were harvested only once a year and people used to celebrate Lunar New Year by eating rice cake or pudding.
People in modern day Hong Kong carry on this tradition by sharing new year pudding and turnip cake with family members, visiting relatives or friends on the second day of the Lunar New Year, which is believed to be the start day of the new year.
Interestingly, the main ingredient for the turnip cake is white radish, not turnip.
It is believed that the English name for the cake got lost in translation, mainly because it was rare to see the white radish outside Asia, and was confused for a turnip.
Similar to the turnip cake, new year pudding, or 'nin go' in Cantonese, translates to “getting higher, year after year” and people believe that eating this pudding, can lead to better progress in life.
Red dates on top of a New Year pudding. Source: Wai Yee Yeung
In Hong Kong, the pudding often includes red dates on the top, representing good luck.
In Australia, turnip cake and new year pudding are usually purchased a month before the celebration, from online vendors or Asian supermarkets.
Taro cakes and water chestnut cakes are also very popular during the celebrations.
New year pudding with layers of coconut cream. Source: Wai Yee Yeung
Pastries and prawn crackers
Melbourne lawyer Catherine Tan grew up in a large Chinese family in Brunei.
She fondly remembers receiving cakes from relatives while visiting them as a child with her parents.
Traditionally, Chinese families in Brunei prepare pastries at home to mark Lunar New Year.
“Every family has their own specialities, such as Malay sponge cake or even cheesecake.”
But for Tan, her favourite was always the pastries made by her mother.
”They tasted a little bit spicy and a little bit salty, and they were homemade. I think they are the best.”
Tan's family is originally from China. Her grandfather moved to Brunei from Fujian province after World War II.
Traditional prawn crackers. Source: Catherine Tan
"In Brunei, the Chinese population consisted of less than 10 per cent of its total population. That is about 40,000."
In Tan's family, shrimp cake remains a big thing and it's a dish her grandmother has dedicated her life to.
For the flavour and quality, Tan recalls her grandmother insisted on "making five kilograms of shrimp cakes from seven kilograms of shrimp”.
Tan recalls that the family's shrimp cake business would be overwhelmed with orders a month before Lunar New Year.
Prawn crackers made by Catherine Tan's grandmother. Source: Catherine Tan
The whole family, from old to young, helped in the preparation of the cakes. While they were working around the clock, they would play Lunar New Year songs on an loop.
So, when I was working, I couldn’t stop thinking the new year is coming. It made me feel very happy.
Though she cannot visit Brunei for Lunar New Year due to the COVID-19 restrictions, she hopes to have a meaningful celebration in Australia. She plans to invite friends to her home for dinner, and visit them to share the happiness.
Rice cakes Source: Catherine Tan
Fried beltfish
Fish is an important part of any Lunar New Year Eve dinner because it symbolises abundance for the coming year.
For SBS Mandarin producer Cindy Xie, fried beltfish is more than just a festival dish, but a reminder of where she came from.
During tougher times when resources were limited in China, people lined up to collect food from their working units as a part of the planned economy. Seafood, including beltfish, were common offerings for Lunar New Year.
“Beltfish was a common food in my family. You could always find it in our fridge or on the table," she says.
The dish conjures up childhood memories for Xie, including a time she lined up to collect beltfish for her mum.
Fried beltfish Source: Cindy Xie
During this moment, a man ahead of her in the line was making disparaging comments to her, including “Where are your parents? There’s no beltfish for children. You have to go back empty-handed.”
Xie, who was only in the second grade at primary school, rolled her eyes and replied, “Haven’t you heard that children from poor families grow up quicker?”
People laughed and, of course, she got beltfish for her family.
After moving to Australia, she has continued to recreate childhood delicacies using local ingredients with modern appliances, such as an air fryer. The results often make her as happy as when she was a little girl standing in the queue.
“If you ask me what to eat with fried beltfish, I would say, at least four bowls of rice.”
Fried beltfish Source: Cindy Xie
Eel rice cake
For Sydney chef Omar Hsu, homemade eel rice cake is his favourite dish for Lunar New Year. It’s a fusion of Japanese-style grilled eel on the top of the Taiwanese-style steamed rice cake.
“I love it,” he says. “When I was a kid, I used to work in my dad’s Japanese restaurant. Every year around Lunar New Year, we would sell it and it’s very popular.”
Lunar New Year foods in Taiwan are very diverse, he says, and are often combined with Japanese, Chinese and Hong Kong cuisines.
樱花虾米糕 Source: Omar Hsu
“In my memory, the food we had for the New Year came from various cuisines.”
Hsu says foods in Taiwan have been influenced by many factors, including colonisation and immigration and he affirms that it's difficult to pinpoint a certain style or common taste.
“It’s very much like a beautiful girl. Very nice, but very complex,” he jokes.
Similar to Australian cuisine, Taiwanese cuisine is trying to find its own identity from local culture and tradition.
Another must-have dish for Lunar New Year is a soup called Buddha jumps over the wall, or Buddha's temptation, which is a variety of shark fin soup in Fujian cuisine.
Omar says almost every restaurant in Taiwan will have this item on their menu for the New Year Eve feast.
Omar says the ingredients of the soup vary from person to person, but usually contain a mix of fresh seafood local to Taiwan.
The dish Buddha jumps over the wall. Source: Omar Hsu
“This one pot of soup may contain more than a hundred ingredients. You get all their essence,” he says.
“It’s very classic. When you have a whole family together to share the feast, this soup is just perfect for the occasion.”
As he cannot travel to Taiwan to mark the event, he will be busy in the kitchen during Lunar New Year.
However, he plans to gather with his family and friends in Sydney and prepare a table of delicacies for them.
Omar Hsu with a table of popular Lunar New Year foods. Source: Omar Hsu
