I dropped by the pasar malam (night market) here the other day. My girl said she felt like having some tee peang…
*Archive photo*
…so I headed straight to the stall for what we feel is the best in town in the hope that I could get hold of some for her. This is one of few kuehs (local cakes) left that she can eat as most would be made using wheat flour so they are not gluten free.
Incidentally, I heard that they are no longer running the stall at a coffee shop in town in the morning so if you insist on getting theirs and theirs alone, you will have to try your luck at their stall at the pasar malam.
Yes, the handsome young boy was there…
*Archive photo*
…helping his mum at the stall at night and he was all apologetic that there wasn’t a single one left.
One thing I’ve noticed about them is that if they are frying something, they would do just that and nothing else so if that is not what you want, you will just have to wait. They were frying the ngor hiang/lor bak at the time and looking at the crowd gathered at the stall that evening, I decided to come back and try my luck another day.
I walked around looking for the stall that was selling this yeu chang koi (fried shallot cake)…
…but I did not see it anywhere so I left the place empty handed, disappointed that my effort had all been in vain.
The one I had here was quite like the ones I used to enjoy so much in my younger days except that they used a shallow saucer, not a bowl, so it was not as thick as the ones before but at least, it tasted pretty much the same.
It so happened that I came across this…
…at this coffee shop behind the medical centre where my mum was warded at the time and of course, I wasted no time whatsoever in grabbing a pack to try.
Inside, you can find the koi (cake) with the special soy sauce…
…and the yeu chang (fried shallots)…
You will have to sprinkle the yeu chang all over the koi…
…and pour the sauce over everything…
…before you start eating.
Yes, it was nice but no, it just ain’t the same. For one thing, the koi was very thin and it reminded me of chee cheong fun, nothing like what we had before and loved so well…and not anything I would go out of my way to buy again. Sighhhh!!!!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 