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CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Diners dig into a plate of Yu Sheng.

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Do-it-yourself
Yu Sheng salad

In Singapore and many parts of China, Yu Sheng is easy to find in restaurants, but here you'll have to do the work yourself.

It would be a certain ice-breaker at a family gathering, although you might have to talk the kids out of trying to throw all their food all day long. Or, hey, why not try this at your Super Bowl party?

You'll notice the instructions below are atypical for a recipe. This dish is assembled at the table and the host or server is expected to call out good wishes as each ingredient is added, to seal in the prosperity.

Yu Sheng

Kahala Mandarin Oriental

1 cup finely julienned carrots
1-1/4 cups finely julienned daikon
1 cup finely julienned cucumbers, seeded
1/2 cup finely julienned green onion
1/3 cup finely julienned red chili peppers
6 ounces raw salmon, finely sliced
4 calamansi limes, halved (see note)
1/2 teaspoon red rock salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons minced pickled ginger
2 tablespoons minced pickled leeks (see note)
3/4 cup pomelo sections (see note)
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon Chinese five-spice
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup Chinese plum sauce
3/4 cup coarsely ground roasted peanuts
2 tablespoons roasted sesame seeds
3/4 cup fried wonton strips

Arrange vegetables in sections in a deep platter. Top with green onion and chili peppers. Divide salmon into five portions and arrange around edges of platter. Place remaining ingredients in small bowls around platter.

When presenting the dish, say "gong xi fa cai" and "wan shi ru yi" (wishes for riches and smooth sailing).

Squeeze lime juice over salmon and say "da ji da li" (to be auspicious; a wish for favorable circumstances). Place salmon on top of vegetables and say "nian nian you yu" (for wealth, literally "a surplus every year") and "long ma jing shen" (for health).

Sprinkle vegetables with salt, sugar, ginger, leeks and pomelo. Sprinkle with pepper and five-spice and say "yi ben wan li" (for a flourishing business).

Pour 2/3 of oil and plum sauce over vegetables and say "you shui duo duo" (another wish for business success).

Sprinkle with peanuts; say "yin man wu" (for abundant wealth). Then add sesame seeds; say "sheng yi xing long" (one more time, for good business). Then, the wonton strips; say "man di huang jin" (again, for wealth).

Give all guests chopsticks and have them toss the salad as high as possible in the air, while shouting "lo hei!" (for prosperity). Once everything is well-mixed, guests may serve themselves. Add remaining plum sauce and oil, to taste. Serves 10.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving: 200 calories, 11 g fat, 1.5 g saturated fat, 10 mg cholesterol, 260 mg sodium, 18 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 11 g sugar, 8 g protein.

Note: Calamansi is a tiny lime common in Asian cooking. Pickled leeks are the Chinese equivalent of Japanese rakkyo, or pickled scallion. Pomelo is an Asian grapefruit. Find all these items in Chinatown groceries or Asian markets.