Ren Ri

Today is the seventh day of the first chinese lunar month, - the day of man (ren ri). This meant it is everybody's birthday today. In Singapore and Malaysia, it is common to celebrate this day by tossing the colourful salad and wished for wealth and prosperity.So it's on this day of the year that all Chinese change their age at the same time, rather than on their birthday. In China when a child is born it is already one year old and if it is born during the twelfth month, it will be two years old on the seventh day of the first month - even though it has only been in the world for a month!

Before adding the above, there are some chants to make.
Step 1: All at the table offers New Year greetings.Words: Gong xi fa cai meaning "Congratulations for your wealth" or Wan shi ru yi meaning "May all your wishes be fulfilled".
Step 2: Fish, symbolising abundance or excess through the year, is added. Words: Nian nian you yu and You yu you sheng.
Step 3: The pomelo is added over the fish, adding both luck and auspicious value.Words: Da ji da li.Pepper is then dashed over the ingredients in the hope of attracting more money and valuables.Words: Zhao cai jin bao.Then oil is poured out, circling the ingredients to increase all profits 10,000 times and encouraging money to flow in from all directionsWords: Yi ben wan li and Cai yuan guang jin.
Step 4: Carrots are added to the fish indicating blessings of good luck.Words: Hong yun dang tou.Then the shredded green radish is placed on the fish symbolising eternal youth.Words: Qing chun chang zhu.After which the shredded white radish is added - prosperity in business and promotion at work.Words: Feng sheng shui qi and Bu bu gao sheng.
Step 5: The condiments are finally added. First, peanut crumbs are dusted on the dish symbolising a household filled with gold and silver. As an icon of longevity, peanuts also symbolise eternal youth.Words: Jin yin man wu.Sesame seeds quickly follow symbolising a flourishing business.Words: Sheng yi xing long. Deep-fried flour crisps in the shape of golden pillows is then added with wishes that literally the whole floor would be filled with gold.Words: Pian di huang jin.
Step 6: All toss the salad an auspicious 7 times with loud shouts of lo hei and other auspicious New Year wishes.Words: Lo hei which is Cantonese for "tossing luck".The ingredients mixed by pushing them toward the centre, an encouragement to push on the good luck of all at the table.(Source: http://infopedia.nlb.gov.sg/articles/SIP_177_2004-12-30.html)

Now it is attacking time...hahaha

It will be real messy as we all tossed the salad as high as possible.

Chinese New Year Goodies

Just a little introduction of some of the cookies served to guests during Chinese New Year. Hope they are helpful to my friends and fellow bloggers who do not celebrate chinese new year.

These are baked by my sister in law. They are called peanut puff or kok chai

These are mini shrimp rolls also made by my sister in law.

Mini pineapple tarts-pineapple are favourite during chinese new year because pineapple in hokkien is "ong lai" which meant good fortune coming.

Pineapple tarts

Love letters or egg rolls. Not sure if this is true but it was believed that lovers used to hide love letters in the egg rolls and they are now known as love letters.

Cashew Nuts Cookies

Almond Cookies

Green bean cookies

Kueh Bangkit - Kueh in Malay means cake, biscuits or cookies. Kueh Bangkit are made from rice flour or tapioca flour. These were originally used for offerings for ancestors. Then they were made in the shape of money. Today they are made in various animal or flower shapes.

These cookies were baked by me.

Festive Food

In my earlier post on Nian Gao , the photos are more traditional nian gao. here you can see the Nian gao cakes have also been made in the form of fish, the traditional carp or koi and some are colourful.The reason being the Chinese phrase 年年有魚/餘; (nian nian you yu, or "every year there is fish/leftover") which could mean "be blessed every year" or "have profit every year", since "yu" is also the pronunciation for "profit".

This claypot of good delicious and expensive ingredients is known as Braised Treasures Combination. It cost about $388 for 12 people. The combination of some expensive and traditional food are Sliced abalone, prawns, scallops, stewed pork with taro, gluten, mashed fish ball, chicken, dried oyster, mushrooms, sea cucumber, black moss fatt choy, chinese cabbage and turnip.

Yusheng is a favourite with many Chinese during Chinese New Year and especially on the 7th day of the Chinese New Year. The 7th day of chinese new year is known as renri (the common man's birthday). This is the day when people get together to toss the colourful salad and make wishes for continued wealth and prosperity. This is more common in Malaysia and Singapore.

The above are display sets at Suntec City by Pearl River Palace Cantonese Restaurant and I got the permission to take photo of their display sets. Many would buy these for Reunion Dinner on Chinese New Year Eve. Reunion Dinner is the most important dinner of the year where every family member needed to be present at the dining table to have a meal together.

Pineapple Tarts

I saw this pineapple tarts recipe and decided to bake some. I did not follow exactly to the recipe, did not add iced water and only added two egg yolks cause the pastry looked rather wet.



I rolled the ready pineapple fillings from Phoon Huat (a local baking suppplier) into balls.

Greased a heart shaped mould (You can used any other moulds or cutter, be creative), filled half the mould with pineapple fillings and the remaining with pastry or the other way round. Remember to egg wash the pineapple fillings to give it a shining look.

Pineapple tarts can be used for Chinese New Year (a favourite) and also Valentine's Day because of its heart shape. Enjoy