Chinese New Year Eve - Reunion dinner

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Chinese New Year celebration begins with the Reunion dinner tonight, the eve of Chinese New Year.

Millions of Chinese all over the world would have made their way home for this important gathering of family members.

Here in Malaysia and Singapore, the dish above is a must at the Reunion dinner or at any dinner throughout the entire 15 days of the Chinese New Year celebration if one were to eat at a restaurant.

This Yee Sang (or YuSheng in Mandarin) dish is a Prosperity Toss dish of raw fish (most commonly salmon nowadays) mixed with shredded vegetables including daikon (white radish), carrots, red pepper (capsicum), turnips, red pickled ginger, sun-dried oranges, daun limau nipis (key lime leaves), Chinese parsley, chilli, jellyfish, chopped peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, Chinese shrimp crackers (or fried dried shrimp), five spice powder and other ingredients, laced with a sauce using plum sauce, rice vinegar, kumquat paste and sesame oil, for a total of 27 ingredients.

As you can see in the image, everyone at the dinner partakes in the exercise of tossing the Prosperity Toss dish. While tossing, diners will voice out their wish for the new year which can be for a job promotion, extra bonus, striking a lottery, good health, and so forth. Chopsticks are normally used.

Many families here go out to restaurants for the Reunion dinner. Reservations at restaurants are oftentimes necessary to secure a table as more and more families eat out nowadays. Buffet dinners are becoming popular.