Going back again…

I have not been to this place for a long long time. In the past, I would drop by once in a while and have something from the stalls here for breakfast and I would buy the kuihs (local cakes) that they sell at this coffee shop located behind the Sibu Medical Centre.

I remember that I used to enjoy these a lot…

– you have the grated coconut on top of the glutinous rice wrapped in banana leaf. There are two types – one is white and sweet with the sugar added to the coconut but these orange ones are probably cooked with sambal hay bee (dried prawns) and are spicy.

I bought a few when I stopped by the shop the other day…and I noticed that somebody else is running the kampua stall now so I wouldn’t know if it is any good unless I give it a try sometime. The other stalls were not open which means that I could not be certain as to whether they are the same ones or not. There used to be one here selling mee sua in black chicken soup, not that I am particularly fond of it but I did give it a try once. Thankfully, they are still selling the kuihs at the same price – RM1.20 for two so that means they are 60 sen each and I thought they were still very nice just that they seemed less spicy than before.

I also remember that the pulut panggang here was not bad as well…

…but of course, there could be none better than the ones that we used to call Kate’s panggang. Unfortunately, they are no longer available. I gathered that the old folks are not able to make them anymore and the younger ones are not really keen on the business – they even turned down a huge order, I was told. If I am not mistaken and if this is the same one, the ones here are made by a Chinese lady, a Muslim convert by marriage and the ones she makes are quite lemak…

– you can see the traces of the santan (coconut milk) on the banana leaf.

A very good pulut panggang must be very lemak and it must have the smoked fragrance that would be derived from cooking it to perfection…

…over some burning hot charcoal. It should not be overcooked in which case it would be rather brown and hard and if it is undercooked, it is not fragrant which means it is not very nice.

I bought a few that day at 50 sen each – I would say they’re pretty reasonably priced as the longer ones were selling for RM1.00 each. My missus would eat it plain but I would rather have it with kaya (coconut jam)…

…or condensed milk or sugar.

It is easy to get pulut panggang here – they’re sold all over the town but I’ve tried a few here and there and I did not think they were really worth the calories. I suppose if I feel like having any, I would just have to make do with these – they may not be the best that I’ve had but they’re quite all right, definitely better than the rest.