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"Chinese Food"
ONE of these days, I am going to cook a big pot of pork trotters in black vinegar, and I won’t share it with anyone. I’ll just slurp on the black vinegar gravy all day long till I am sick of it, and relish every bit of the pork fat melting in my mouth with [...]
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My idea of a birthday celebration is blowing some candles on a birthday cake… that’s about all a disorganised and uninspired mother can manage. I just don’t get extravagant children’s birthday party, partly because I am scared of being in the same room with many kids. So yeah, I am not in contention for Mother [...]
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It’s the fifth day of the fifth Lunar month this Wednesday; the day that we celebrate the Dumpling Festival. There is a story of how it’s to remember the day that villagers threw in dumplings into the river so that the fishes won’t eat this famous poet who was wrongly punished. The poet is unknown [...]
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I was not particularly excited about reviewing The Healthy Family Cookbook; anything healthy can’t be that wonderful. But then I like Cecilia Tan’s Penang Peranakan cookbook, and mine is an old and tattered copy because I often refer to it when I am not sure of a recipe and I can’t get my mom on [...]
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Some weeks feel longer than others, and I just want to do nothing on weekends. On those days, I just want to make something reassuringly easy that I know will turn out well. This was how I first learnt to cook my green vegetables. It didn’t involve the theatrics of stir-frying, and was just perfect [...]
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Most Chinese in Malaysia originate from Southern China. In Penang and Malacca, the Chinese are mainly from Fujian, and the dialect spoken is Hokkien. Although the Hokkiens is one of the most prominent groups, their cuisine is not so commonly found outside homes, as compared to Cantonese food. One of the reasons is that Hokkien [...]
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The best lor bak – slivers of meat lightly seasoned with five-spice powder, wrapped in bean-curd sheet and deep-fried – are usually found in home kitchens, rather than in stalls and restaurants. There is an art to marinating the meat just right, and hawkers do not really bother with using the most tender cut of [...]
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I am a Penangite, but I only recently found out about Kedai Makanan Teik Seng (on Jalan Carnavon, next to the old Hup Loong provision shop). It’s a popular `chu char’ place where you can order rice and dishes. We’ve never eaten here simply because they serve dishes that we eat at home all the [...]
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I never thought that I’d actually like aubergine one day…just like I didn’t think I’d ever like capsicum or bittergourd or celery. Yup, I was the typical vegetable-hating child. But here I am, all grown-up and actually enjoying the taste of vegetables… and before I lose my teeth too. Anyway, none of my housemates (aka [...]
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For the longest time, I had a jar of yellow bean paste at the back of my refrigerator. I forgot all about it because I hardly use it in my cooking. If I am not cooking curries, I am probably cooking Western dishes. I threw out the jar, without even opening it, because it’s gone [...]
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