It is fairly easy to make your own yu sheng, although one must remember that it will be crowded at the supermarkets as the date gets closer to Chinese New Year’s eve.

It is best to shop for most of your ingredients ahead of time, where possible. An important caveat, fish is hot property days before the new year, so be prepared to pay upwards of $12 to $20 for a small or medium fish.

INGREDIENTS:

The salad:

• 150g of fish, mackerel or salmon
• Two cups of shredded white radish (daikon)
• Two cups of shredded carrot
• One red pepper, julienned
• One or two inches of fresh ginger, shredded thin
• Half a cup of pickled onion or leek, or crystallised ginger, thinly sliced
• Up to 5 fresh kaffir lime leaves, shredded
• One sprig coriander leaves, chopped coarsely
• Quarter cup of chopped peanuts
• One cup of pomelo, individual sacs separated (painstakingly)

The garnish:

• Half a cup of toasted sesame seeds
• Variable number of friend shrimp crackers, or keropok
• Up to 4 sprigs of fresh Chinese parsley

The flour crackers:

• 75g plain flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 11/2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon beaten egg
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• A pinch of salt

The dressing:

• 3 tablespoons plum sauce
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 3 teaspoons sugar

Seasoning:

• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• One teaspoon ground white pepper
• One tablespoon five spice powder

METHOD

If you're intent on making the flour crackers yourself, instead of buying them, then that's probably the hardest part of making yu sheng, relatively speaking, apart from the chopping and slicing involved.

Sift the flour, salt and baking power into a bowl. Add egg and water into the mix, combine to form dough. Roll soft dough evenly on floured surface and cut into strips. Deep fry the dough in oil, remove when crispy. Drain, pat dry and crush into small, finger-tip-sized pieces. Cool, then store in air-tight container.

For the dressing, simply combine ingredients.

To serve, set salad out on large serving platter, top with fish, crackers and garnish. Add dressing and seasoning and you're ready to lo hei!