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Emperor’s treats for the year of the dragon
It’s time for foodies in town to indulge their taste buds with an array of scrumptious Chinese treats
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t’s time for foodies in town to indulge their taste buds with an array of scrumptious Chinese treats. As we approach the Year of the Dragon, dubbed a good year for investments, this is a perfect moment to savor numerous delicacies, usually only served during the Lunar New Year festivities.
One of the most popular dishes is yee sang or yu sheng, a salad platter consisting of shredded and pickled vegetables and fruit — radishes, carrots, papaya, ginger, melon, cucumber, leek — and raw fish like salmon and jellyfish.
Yee sang: Courtesy of Hotel Mulia Senayan
Yee sang is served with condiments such as oil, sweet plum sauce, ground peanuts, poppy seeds, lime juice and deep fried golden-colored crackers.
In Chinese culture, every food has its meaning. Fish, for instance, represents abundance or wealth throughout the year, while peanuts denote longevity and eternal youth.
Yee sang is a symbol of prosperity and the tossing ceremony makes the presentation of this delicacy unique.
All ingredients are put in a huge plate and people gather around the table, mixing the contents with chopsticks. Step by step, dash all the condiments over the platter.
Another fun thing is that every phase is followed with certain chants or hopes for prosperity, abundance, well-being and vigor. People should toss the ingredients with the chopsticks as high as they can, according to Chinese custom. The higher, the better.
The ceremony ends with loud shouts of lo hei, which is a Cantonese term for tossing for good luck.
Another special treat is the deliciously crafted nian gao glutinous rice cake, believed to bring wealth and prosperity in the coming year.
The cake is widely known as a bribe to the Kitchen God to chase away negative personal perceptions in heaven during the Chinese New Year.
John Chu, executive chef at the JW Marriot Hotel Jakarta, recently demonstrated his skills in making nian gao, sharing tips on how to enjoy it.
The ingredients include glutinous rice flour, coconut milk, vegetable oil, water and sugar (brown or white).
The dough is put in various cake tins shaped like koi fish — a fish that symbolizes prosperity and good luck — sunflowers and gold bars. 
Chu makes the nian gao in three flavors — traditional (with brown sugar), coconut milk and traditional golden (with milk in it). How to enjoy the nian gao? You can simply cut it and have it just like that, fry it with eggs like kue keranjang (another Chinese sticky cake) or for the coconut milk nian gao, sprinkle some shredded coconut onto the cake.
Hotel Mulia Senayan Jakarta has a unique way in serving the nian gao as the chef of its very own Table 8 Restaurant pairs it with tang yuen, rice dumplings made from glutinous rice flour filled with tausa or red bean and almond cream.
The tang yuen, usually served in China during winter, is a symbol of unity and friendship. 
Besides the yee sang and nian gao, there are many other exquisite Chinese traditional dishes to choose from. Hotel Indonesia Kempinski Jakarta, for instance, offers treats called pun choy or prosperity treasure pots, prepared by Chef Foong Wai Loong.
The pun choy, literally meaning “a basin filled with food”, is a meal for gatherings in which people come together and enjoy the abundance of meat and vegetables slowly stewed in a thick broth.
The chef offers three types of pots — the emperor treasure pot, which contains pork and an assortment of chicken, seafood and vegetables; the royal seafood treasure pot that consists of premium seafood like shark’s fin and abalone; and the dragon treasure pot — a mix of fish, duck and chicken.
