Prosperity Salad 魚生撈起

Prosperity Salad 魚生撈起 (yú shēng laō qǐ) is also known as Prosperity Toss Salad or Sashimi Toss Salad in English.  The concept of eating raw fish in China started in the Zhou Dynasty, over 3000 years ago.  This particular dish is a Cantonese dish that originated in 順德 Shunde and 潮州Chaozhou.  They both have their own versions and are both celebratory dishes that are usually eaten during Chinese New Year or Winter Solstice Festival.  This dish is very popular in Malaysia and Singapore. They made it famous and introduced more ingredients.  There is some controversy on which country actually came up with this dish first and the jury is still out. But whoever it was, I’d like to thank them for making such a delicious and fun dish!

For those who have never heard of the Prosperity Salad 魚生撈起, here’s a brief introduction.  Most people know that during celebrations, Chinese people love anything and everything auspicious!  So, this dish brings together the most auspicious foods (homonyms).  And one of the most auspicious foods is fish.  In Cantonese, the word fish 魚 (yu) sounds like 如 (yu) from 如意 (yu yi) which means “as wished”.  In Mandarin and Cantonese, fish 魚 also sounds like 餘 (yu) as in 有餘 (yǒu yú/yau yu) which means to “have an abundance”.  Thus, both of these phrases are very auspicious making the fish the star of this dish. 

魚生(yú shēng) means “raw fish” and 撈起 (laō qǐ) means “toss up”.  The word 撈 in Chinese also has a colloquial meaning for “making money”.  Whether it’s the Chinese, Malaysian or Singaporean way of eating Prosperity Salad 魚生撈起, the chanting of auspicious phrases are the same.  The main chant is “撈起撈起, 風生水起” (laō qǐ laō qǐ, fēng sheng shǔi qǐ) (Cantonese: lo hei lo hei, fung seng sui hei).  This phrase means to attain success in a short time.

Since raw fish is the star then everything else on the plate plays supporting roles for the fish.  I’ve listed some popular options on the bottom.  You can pick and choose as you like.  For carrots and white radish, you can use a julienne peeler to get long pieces of julienned vegetables, making it noodle-like.  Slice the ingredients any which way so long as you can toss them with chopsticks at the end.  Use your creativity and your artistry to create your Prosperity Salad 魚生撈起 masterpiece!

What makes Prosperity Salad 魚生撈起 really fun is that everyone involved in eating it gets to toss and mix the ingredients together.  With each toss, an auspicious saying is recited.  Here are a few of those sayings in Cantonese for your reference (not necessarily in this order and there are similar versions in Mandarin):

1. 一撈 (yut lo) – 年年有餘 (leen leen yau yu) means “1st toss, abundance every year”
2. 二撈 (yee lo) – 榮華富貴 (wing wa fu gwai) means “2^nd toss, prosperity and wealth”
3. 三撈 (sam lo) – 滿地黃金 (moon dei wong gum) means “3^rd toss, gold is all over the ground”
4. 四撈 (sei lo) – 事事順利 (see see shun lei) means “4^th toss, everything will go smoothly”
5. 五撈 (ng lo) – 甜甜蜜蜜 (teem teem mut mut) means “5^th toss, sweet as honey”
6. 六撈 (luk lo) – 青春常駐 (ching chun seung zhu) means “6^th toss, everlasting youth”
7. 七撈 (chut lo) – 鴻運當頭 (hung wun dong tou) means “7^th toss, good luck”
8. 八撈 (baat lo) – 大吉大利 (dai gut dai lei) means “8^th toss, good luck and good returns”
9. 九撈 (gow lo) – 財源廣進 (choy yuen guang zhun) means “9^th toss, money will roll in”
10. 十撈 (sup lo) – 十全十美 (sup chuen sup mei) means “10^th toss, perfection”

Although this dish is eaten during Chinese New Year, I also made it for Mid-Autumn Festival.  In my Prosperity Salad 魚生撈起 recipe, I show you how I made it.  But I make it with different ingredients every time, depending on what’s available.  My favourite ingredients are king salmon, tuna, scallops, carrots, white radish, pomelo, lettuce and quail eggs.  In addition, I also made one that had deep-fried taro, deep-fried rice vermicelli, jelly fish, salmon, prawns, carrots and peanuts.

Whatever you decide to put in it, have fun with it!  There’s nothing like playing with your food and not getting in trouble for it!  Wishing everyone good health, luck and prosperity!

Looking for more auspicious dishes? Check out my Chinese New Year recipe section.

Prosperity Salad 魚生撈起

For this recipe, anything goes. We want lots of colour and preferably foods with auspicious names and meanings.

Pick and choose from the following: lettuce, carrots, white radish, abalone, eggs, peanuts, scallops, shrimp, fish, jelly fish, salmon roe, tobiko, pomelo, celery, apples, peppers, octopus, lobster, sea cucumber, geoduck, cucumber, leeks, green papaya, cucumbers, noodles and garlic. The list can go on.

You also want a topper… something crispy, like croutons in a salad. You can use deep-fried spring roll wrappers. We usually crush up a bag of pea crackers and they taste great with the salad.

You can add any kind of sauce or dressing. The traditional Cantonese sauce uses tangerine juice with plum sauce. My favourite is Thai chili sauce mixed with Japanese mayo.

Approximate cost (CAD) $40

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Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Course Dinner, Lunch, Main Course, Salad

Cuisine Cantonese, Chinese

Servings 4 Servings

Calories 502 kcal

Ingredients

  

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For this salad, you can choose your favorites and julienne or cut them in bite size pieces. Main thing is that you’ll need to be able to toss them with your chopsticks. The following is what I used to make my prosperity salad:

• 300 g Salmon , sashimi grade
• 300 g Scallops , sashimi grade
• 250 g Abalone , mini-size
• 150 g Carrots
• 100 g Lettuce
• 150 g White radish
• 8 Quail eggs
• 1/3 c Thai sweet chili sauce
• 1/3 c Mayonnaise
• 1 bag Pea crackers

Instructions

 

• Clean and then steam abalone for 10 minutes. Set aside
• Cook quail eggs by putting them in a pot with water covering them. Bring to a boil and turn off heat. Do not open the lid and let it sit for 3 minutes. Cool in cold water and peel off the shell. Set aside
• Julienne carrots, white radish and lettuce. Set aside
• Slice scallops
• Slice salmon. Slices of salmon can be arranged into a rose
• Arrange the above on a serving platter in whatever pattern you like
• Combine 1/3 c Thai sweet chili sauce and 1/3 c mayonnaise. Mix well and set aside
• Crumble a bag of pea crackers and serve as salad topper
• Serve

Nutrition

Calories: 502kcalCarbohydrates: 30gProtein: 37gFat: 26gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 11gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 285mgSodium: 998mgPotassium: 967mgFiber: 3gSugar: 14gVitamin A: 6532IUVitamin C: 14mgCalcium: 65mgIron: 4mg

Keyword Abalone, Carrots, Lettuce, Prosperity, Quail Egg, Salad, Salmon, Sashimi, Scallop, Seafood, White Radish

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