Besides Ang Pow and firecrackers and gambling, what is very synonymous with the festivity of Chinese New Year? Yes, you got it right-FOOD! During our 15-day of celebration (16 plus Chinese New Year Eve), we will indulge in sinful and yummy food non-stop more than what we will usually allow ourselves to do. So when we talk about food what comes to your mind during our Lunar New Year? Tossing of Yee Sang and steamboating right? :)
Our homemade Yee Sang
When we arrived in Taiping on the second day of Chinese New Year after our 5 hours' drive, my father-in-law had already prepared lunch for us. Yep! He is a good cook and he had whipped out a few dishes since morning, awaiting for our arrival and of course to see his beloved grandchildren. Once we were back home, my wife then helped to prepare ingredients that would be used for the Yee Sang later.
Before we start to toss our Yee Sang!
Soon it was afternoon and our reunion lunch was served. On the table was a wonderful spread of feast that we could not wait to sink our teeth into. But before we started to dig in, we actually toss Yee Sang first to usher the brand new year. Our colourful homemade Yee Sang was made of red chili, cabbage, carrot, black fungus, vegetables, egg and cashew nuts. After adding some olive oil, we started to...TOSS our Yee Sang! It is customary for the Chinese to have this dish as it is claimed that your wealth will be in abundance after tossing this dish high up in the air. I wish we had salmon fillet which will make our otherwise awesome Yee Sang even better. :p
Let's add some olive oil
Let's LAO (toss) of YEE SANG!
This is our tossed Yee Sang. Ha :D
Our lunch was a feast fit for a king as we had perfectly cooked huge, succulent prawns with healthy sprinkle of wolfberry. We also had a huge fish steamed with the secret sauce prepared by my father-in-law. The meat was tender and the chopped spring onion really enhanced the aroma of the fish, making me drool even though I am not really into fish. Moreover we also had a huge pot of Bak Kut Teh which was my favourite. I really loved the fragrance of the broth and its texture which coated every grain of my rice flawlessly. Finger licking good! :D
Huge, juicy prawns
Bak Kut Teh
Steamed fish
Vegetables with button mushrooms
Chicken liver? :D
Seaweed mushroom soup
Apart from that, we also got to indulge in seaweed fishball soup which Jordan and Jasmine really enjoyed. I think there was also a dish of chicken liver (or another type of innards) which tasted really flavourful as well. IMHO besides the delectable Bak Kut Teh, the highlight for our reunion lunch was the Fat Choy Chicken (Chicken of Wealth). It is hoped that this dish will bring us endless stream of wealth and prosperity. Ha :D The cuisine was a combination of chicken and Fat Choy-which is a type of vegetables. I must admit that the dish itself looked very presentable.
The Fat Choy Chicken! :D
Towards the end, I remember that most of our stomachs were bloated thanks to the endless amount of food at our disposal. Oh yeah~we also got to binge on bottomless cups of Coke and chrysanthemum drink. Buuurrrpppp. I guess this is what Chinese New Year means right? Get fat without having any guilt at all. Wait I mean enjoy good food with your beloved family. :)
