It Meows #78

Amused (but sometimes annoyed) by Dora's actions, Kitty decided to read the book - "A Cat's Guide to Understanding Humans and their Weird Behaviours" by Professor Meow...

Hakka Soul: Memories, Migrations, and Meals

Lui goong bing bahng
Ten moon hoi
Yit tiow wong loong
Jon chut loi

Which translates roughly as:

Thunder goes bing bang
Heaven's gates open
Out squirms
A yellow dragon

(pg. 62)

So what exactly does this Hakka poem means? I will give you the answer* at the end of this post. :)


Written by a Malaysian-born Hakka, Chin Woon Ping, the Hakka Soul: Memories, Migrations, and Meals / Chin Woon Ping (ISBN: 978-9971-69-400-5) provides an interesting account of stories and also memories of a Hakka family.


Several Hakka cruisines, such as keo nyuk (braised pork), jiu gai (chicken in wine) and nyong teo fu (stuffed tofu) are also introduced to the readers but that could be made more appealing if she had included pictures of the dishes.

nyong teo fu

Besides the Hakka recipes, Woon Ping also mentioned about a wild plant called ma see han (which literally translated to "horse shit" spinach!) or callaloo. According to my chef, not many people know that such plant can be served as greens. However, this can't be blamed since most vegetable stalls in Singapore don't sell ma see han.

ma see han

My chef usually cook soups with ma see han and other ingredients - chopped garlic, sliced shallots, ikan bilis and sliced fish cake.

ma see han soup

* The Hakka poem is a metaphor for passing stool. ;p

Soya & Spice: Food And Memories Of A Straits Teochew Family

Have you heard of chuh huair hnng (literally translated as "going out to the garden") or rather have you gone through before? If yes, what food was offered during the ceremony?

Do you know what the early generations of Teochew families had for birthday celebrations? No, they did not have birthday cakes then. Instead, they had sweet birthday noodles with hard-boiled eggs. What do they (the noodles and eggs) symbolise?

What is chinchalok and how is it made? Do you know that it is also an ingredient for preparing some dishes?

Using butter to relieve sore throats? Jo Marion Seow's paternal grandparents used to believe that butter could lubricate their throats and relieve sore throats and coughs! *lol*

...


In her book Soya & Spice: Food And Memories Of A Straits Teochew Family / Jo Marion Seow (ISBN: 978-981-4189-21-7), Jo Marion Seow has shared with us the recipes of many traditional Teochew specialty dishes [such as koo chye kueh, steamed white pomfret, braised meat (loh bak), yam dessert (oh nee) and porridges] passed down by her grandparents, parents, uncles and aunts.

koo chye kueh

Fish Porridge

Apart from writing about the how-tos of cooking, she also paints a vivid picture of the lifestyle led by her grandparents and their children during the olden days of Singapore; emphasizing the strong correlation between food and history.

From the reader's point of view, this is not just simply one of the many cookbooks which only whet your appetite with their mouthwatering recipes. The inclusion of both food and family photos gives a good illustration of the lifestyle led by a typical Singapore Teochew family in the early days. I would strongly recommend this book to all Teochew people as well as the non-Teochews who might be curious and interested to know more about Teochew food history.

It Meows #74

Book: What is my cat thinking?

It Meows #72

*Image of book from www.petsmart.com

It Meows #70

My friend, Tigerfish (Hui Leng Tay) recently completed a recipe book - The Everything Rice Cooker Cookbook, which will be published ~ August 2010.


Do check out more details at her blog. :D

It Meows #58

Do you know what expats think about Singapore? In his book Getting into Singapore : a guide for expats and kaypoh Singaporeans / David Goldwich (ISBN: 9789810832193), David Goldwich, who is an expat from Miami and married a Singapore Chinese girl, relates humorously about his experience of living in Singapore.

An interesting remark which he made is with regards to the issue of punctuality for appointments. According to him, many Singaporeans are operating on his so-called SRT (Singapore Rubber Time), which allows for flexibility in meeting times! [Note: Singapore Time Zone: GMT+8 (Greenwich Mean Time + 8 hours)]. As such, these people tend to "arrive after the appointed time without actually being late" (p.9-10).

It Meows #55

I can has cheezburger? : a LOLcat collekshun (ISBN: 978-1-592-40409-4) is a compilation of over 200 cat pictures with funny captions which will make you laugh-out-loud (LOL)!

Char Siew Pau = BBQ meat bun

It Meows #45

In his book Stir-fried and not shaken / Terry Tan (ISBN: 9789810807054), Terry mentioned that his mum used wood ash as her toothpaste...

Mew Mew

Stir-Fried and not Shaken

Chicken curry, fish head curry, mutton curry and etc... I believe most of you have eaten at least one of these curries before but have you heard of or even tried flying fox curry before? No, I have not and I wonder how it tastes.

Terry Tan has eaten this special delicacy in the 1950s and it was prepared by his granny. In his book Stir-fried and not shaken / Terry Tan (ISBN: 9789810807054), Terry takes us through his historic journey from the 1940s to the 1970s in Singapore. Besides offering an insight into Singapore's history during that period, he also relates to us many funny and interesting moments (such as why an old Ford is called a Lau Pok Car*), some of which I will highlight below.

Stir-fried and not Shaken

1. Green Spot & Thye Hong Biscuits

Green Spot is a non-carbonated orange flavoured soft drink. It was a favourite drink of many people then and Terry and his classmates brought the drinks along during an excursion to the Thye Hong Biscuits factory to understand how the biscuits were made.

Green Spot (Picture taken at the Images of Singapore in Sentosa)

Thye Hong Biscuits

2. Nonya Wedding & Bee Tai Mak
Following the Nonya wedding custom, Terry's sister ate a bowl of bee tai mak (droplet noodles) on the morning of her wedding.

Bee Tai Mak

3. Snow White & Char Siew Paus
Instead of eating a poisonous apple, the Snow White in the Cantonese version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs produced by Shaw Brothers were offered four poisonous char siew paus (BBQ meat buns)! ;p

Char Siew Pau

4. Spittoons (Large)
As punishment, Terry and his siblings were made to stand on a chair and balance a large spittoon containing urine on their heads! ;p

A large spittoon which is creatively used as a flower pot!
(Picture taken at the Hort Park)

5. Toothpaste
Terry's mother collected the top layer of grey wood ash and used it as toothpaste!

Wood ash collected in a pot placed under a stove.
(Picture taken in Lim Chu Kang in 1988)

*6. Old Ford --> Lau Pok Car
A Ford was called "Pok" by the Hokkien-speaking people staying in Terry's neighbourhood. Hence, they called an old Ford a Lau (old) Pok Car.