Lohei

The Cantonese community in Singapore traditionally celebrated renri, the seventh day of Chinese New Year, with the tossing of yusheng (raw fish salad) at home. This practice, known as lohei, gradually spread, and some Cantonese restaurants began to introduce special Chinese New Year menus that included yusheng. Over time, yusheng became a popular dish at new year banquets hosted by local businessmen or at companies’ annual Chinese New Year meals to mark the first day of work after the holidays.

The basic ingredients of yusheng today typically include shredded carrot and radish, chilli, jelly fish, ginger slices, coriander, spring onion, lemon, lettuce, winter melon, pickled ginger, dried orange, and others. Seasoning packets include crushed peanuts, crackers, pepper, cinnamon powder, sesame seeds, sugar, vinegar, lime juice, plum sauce, oil, and others.¹ The practice of lohei has become an integral part of Chinese New Year celebrations in Singapore, enjoyed by Singaporeans Chinese of all dialect groups, with some restaurants serving the dish a month before Chinese New Year.

As early as the 1930s, the Tai Tong Restaurant at New World Amusement Park served yusheng.² Fewer ingredients were used then, with slices of raw fish served with cooking oil, light soy sauce, red chilli and ginger slices, or added to boiling congee to cook.

In the 1960s, four local master chefs — Tham Yui Kai (1928–1996), Sin Leong, Hooi Kok Wai, and Lau Yoke Pui (1932–2006) — began to introduce more colours and textures to the dish by adding more ingredients.³ Their enhanced version, the seven-colour yusheng, was introduced to factories, clan associations, community organisations, community centres and others. Since then, many different ingredients have been used to make yusheng, with a wider variety of seasoning. Chefs who have worked in Singapore have also been instrumental in taking this Singaporean favourite overseas to other countries and regions such as Hong Kong and Malaysia.

Popularised in the 1970s

In the 1970s, advertisements for yusheng at Chinese New Year began to appear in local newspapers. The Golden Crown Restaurant came up with its own version of the dish named after the restaurant,⁴ showing the popularity of lohei at the time. Other restaurants followed suit, trying to grab their share of the market.

Traditionally, it was mainly Cantonese restaurants that offered yusheng. Among them were Tai Thong (at Gay World Amusement Park), Lai Wah, Dragon Phoenix, Sin Leong, Jin Jiang, Ho Wah and Golden Castle, among others. Some coffeeshops, food stalls and hawkers also sold yusheng – such as Leng Kee located at the back entrance of New World Amusement Park (Serangoon Road), Sun Seng on Mosque Street and Chew Kee Eating House on Keong Saik Road.

Yusheng has various auspicious names that symbolise luck and prosperity, such as those for wealth (e.g. facai yusheng, yingli yusheng), and those for luck (e.g. haoyun yusheng, haocai yusheng, xingyun yusheng, hongyun yusheng), and others. Some businesses also insist on using the more traditional names, such as shijin yusheng (assorted yusheng) and jiangmen yusheng (where lettuce is added to signify wealth).

A wide variety of yusheng

Hung Kang Teochew Restaurant on North Canal Road⁵ was one of the first Teochew restaurants to introduce the Teochew facai yusheng.⁶ Unlike the Cantonese version, where diners toss the dish together with sauce before eating, the Teochew version is eaten with a sauce dip on the side for each diner. The sweet sauce used in Teochew yusheng contains plum paste, rice vinegar, sesame seeds, chopped galangal, sesame oil and chilli sauce, while the savoury dip is made with soybean wine, sesame seeds, chopped galangal, sesame oil and soybean paste.

In the 1990s, lohei became even more popular. Vegetarian restaurants introduced a vegetarian version, in which fish slices were replaced with white bean jelly.⁷ Vegetarian yusheng is presented in a similar way to Cantonese yusheng, but the strong-tasting pickled leek is not used to avoid the “five pungent vegetables” (typically includes garlic, onions, chives, leeks, and shallots) prohibited in a Buddhist diet. On the other hand, some high-end restaurants would also use more expensive seafood such as salmon and abalone.⁸

With the arrival of new immigrants from all over China, yusheng diversified further, and there are now fruit-based variations that are also completely vegetarian.⁹ Some restaurants also use puffer fish and Alaskan crab as highlights to attract more customers.

In the early years, the auspicious phrases to be said aloud while tossing yusheng were simple: “Toss for prosperity” or other similar phrases, after which the yusheng could be eaten. But soon, more complex phrases began to circulate, and a series of auspicious phrases about prosperity, success and luck were said. In recent years, it has also become common to say “heng ong huat!” (meaning good fortune and prosperity in Hokkien), or simply “huat ah!”. Some families have also chosen to stick with more traditional blessings.

Slicing techniques

Ikan parang and grass carp are used in traditional yusheng. Ikan parang comes from the South China Sea and is imported from Malaysia and Indonesia, while grass carp is locally farmed. Slicing skills are an essential part of preparing yusheng, and some restaurants even hire professional slicers at a premium to ensure that the fish is sliced properly.

Chew Kee restaurant, which used to be at 35 Keong Saik Road and run by Guangdong Xinhui migrants, started in the 1940s. Its advertisement boasted of “world-class congee and yusheng”.¹⁰ According to an interview with Chee Yoke Weng’s wife, who worked at Chew Kee for many years, the restaurant served yusheng from the first to the 15^th day of the Chinese New Year. The yusheng master would first skin the fish, pick the flesh off along the spine, and pat the fish dry with a white towel before airing it.¹¹ As ikan parang is particularly bony, a high degree of precision and speed is required to obtain thin, translucent slices of uniform thickness that do not contain any bones. White vinegar and lime were then added to the fish slices as seasoning before being served. During the 15 days of the Chinese New Year, the yusheng master was never without his knife, and it was said that in those 15 days, he would earn enough money to buy half of Keong Saik Road. The knives used to cut the fish also had to be made of quality steel. The chef would usually use a pair of choppers specially ordered from the Leung Tim Choppers Factory in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong — one to debone the fish and the other to slice it.

Singapore’s culinary creations

The dish yusheng can be traced back to Lingnan in Guangdong and Chaozhou, but over time, its ingredients and presentation have changed significantly to make it a truly Singaporean creation.¹²

In the 1970s, local sauce manufacturer Kwong Cheong Thye was the first to introduce a pre-packed yusheng box and worked with Siong Onn provision shop on Keong Saik Road to supply them to restaurants. In the 1980s, yusheng boxes also became available in local supermarkets, making it more convenient for families to enjoy lohei at home.

The Lo Hei Song