Yusheng

A raw fish salad built in layers and then tossed at the table, where everything is shredded to the same size and dressed at the last moment.

Fish. Not vegetarian — contains fish.

Ingredients

The fish

• 300 g sashimi-grade salmon, sliced thin
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• a pinch of white pepper

The shreds

• 200 g mooli, in fine matchsticks
• 150 g carrot, in fine matchsticks
• 150 g green mooli or kohlrabi, in fine matchsticks
• 100 g pickled ginger, shredded
• 50 g pickled leek or spring onion
• 100 g pomelo segments, broken into pieces
• a handful of coriander

The dressing and the crunch

• 6 tablespoons plum sauce
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons water
• 4 tablespoons roasted peanuts, crushed
• 3 tablespoons white sesame seeds, toasted
• 80 g crisp fried wonton strips
• five spice and ground white pepper, to dust

Method

1. EVERYTHING IS SHREDDED TO THE SAME SIZE and that is not neatness for its own sake. The whole dish is tossed high at the table and eaten in mixed mouthfuls; one ingredient cut thicker than the rest separates out, sinks, and is eaten on its own. Matchsticks, all of them, as near identical as you can manage.
2. AND THE DRESSING GOES ON AT THE TABLE, NOT IN THE KITCHEN. Salt and acid draw water out of shredded root vegetables within minutes; dressed early, a crisp plate turns to a wet one and the fried strips go soft. Everything is arranged dry and the sauce is poured over in front of everyone.
3. THE FISH IS RAW, so it must be fish sold to be eaten raw, kept cold, and used the day it is bought. If that is not available, do not make this with ordinary salmon -- make it with the shreds alone, which works perfectly well.
4. Salmon sliced thin across the grain, tossed with the sesame oil and white pepper, and kept on a plate in the fridge until the last moment.
5. All the roots cut into matchsticks, ideally on a mandolin. Soaked in iced water 20 minutes to crisp them, then dried THOROUGHLY in a cloth -- wet shreds dilute the dressing into something pink and thin.
6. Pomelo broken into loose pieces with the membrane removed. Pickled ginger and leek squeezed out.
7. Dressing: plum sauce, lime juice and water whisked smooth. It should pour, not cling.
8. Build on a wide platter: the shreds in separate arcs of colour around the edge, the pomelo and pickles between them, the fish in the middle.
9. Peanuts and sesame scattered over, the fried strips piled last so they stay dry, and a dust of five spice and white pepper over the top.
10. AT THE TABLE: the dressing poured over the whole plate, then everyone tosses it together with chopsticks, lifting it high rather than stirring it round.
11. Eaten at once. Ten minutes after the dressing it is a different and much worse dish.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under China · All recipes