I have always preferred the kway teow in West Malaysia – it’s thinner, very smooth and fine and quite translucent. The kway teow here is thicker, a bit coarse and white. One bite and you will be able to tell the difference. That was why I was thrilled when I spotted a packet of dried kway teow at The Store in Sungai Petani (Kedah). My daughter loves char kway teow, so the other day, I decided to cook it. I soaked the kway teow in boiling water to soften it and got the ingredients ready…
I had a lot of finely-chopped garlic, chillies and spring onions, sliced lap chiang (Chinese sausage), prawns (cleaned and shell removed), more spring onions cut in long strips to replace Chinese chives (kuchai) and taugeh (bean sprouts) with tails removed. After frying, with all the ingredients and soy sauce and msg added, this was the end-product…
It looked all right, tasted all right but it was NOT all right. The kway teow was in no way the same as what they have in the peninsular and tasted something like ordinary flat egg noodles. If I had known, I would have just used our local kway teow, and I’m sure it would be much nicer! Well, never mind! We learn something new every day, don’t we?
Moving on from the subject of kway teow, these were actually quite good. The other day, my daughter and I went to the shops a stone’s throw away from my house (and were spotted by Cheeky Bear, it seems) where in the afternoon, there is a roadside stall…
…making and selling these at 40 sen a piece…
I usually call them apam balik but in Chinese, they are called Ban Chian Kueh. Peteformation had a post on it not too long ago and it seems that he likes the thick rubbery ones. Not me! I prefer these thin and crispy ones…and once, when I was much younger, I was visiting a good friend in Miri and one day, he bought some and took them straight home. Then he opened them up and added generous chunks of butter (which melted in the heat) and sprinkled lots of Milo. Ooo…grossly indulgent but it was really nice! LOL!!!
Incidentally, not much has been said, it seems, about this Foochow delicacy in Sibu called chu nu miang. Don’t ask me to explain what that means ‘cos I really do not know. All I know is that chu nu ngiang in Foochow means female or a girl. Forgive me if I’m wrong as despite my being a Foochow myself, my proficiency in the dialect is much worse than that of my Mandarin. Anyway, chu nu miang is flat and round and smooth with a hole in the centre…
It is actually the “cousin” of the famed Sibu kompia but it is slightly sweet while kompia is much smaller, quite bland (just a bit salty) and covered with sesame seeds (like the acne on the face of a post-puberty male teenager)…
Both are selling at 4 for RM1.00 and are extremely popular, though not exactly equally. Visitors to Sibu would buy home by the carton…but personally, I’m not a fan, and definitely not at that price! You can buy chu nu miang stuffed with sambal or tau sar (red bean paste) these days but it still does not make any difference to me. I would rather use the money to go and eat something more calorie-worthy…
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 