Small…

The other day, when I was blogging about bak koi, the Chinese steamed egg cake with meat and fried shallots…

…that I enjoy very much, someone asked if I could get the recipe from my aunt in Kuching, my maternal uncle’s wife – she makes the best bak koi. Unlike those commercially-made ones, she is always very generous with the ingredients.

I was kind of sceptical about doing that as knowing how the old folks work, most likely, my uncle’s wife would not have the recipe. Everything is agak-agak (estimate), the same with my mum during her time.

Nonetheless, I decided to give it a try and asked my cousin, her daughter, for it and yes, she managed to get it…

…for me. That sure looks ancient! Gee!!! I did not know that printed ink way back then could be smudged. I sure am glad I asked for it for I am very sure that if I did not and I do not post it here, eventually this recipe would be lost forever – our heritage!

Incidentally, small in small onion literally means small. That actually refers to shallots, a direct translation from Chinese. In the Hokkien dialect, we call it chang kia or baby onion and Bombay onion is tua chang, big onion.

I guess if one is not into things savoury and sweet (like Irene in Kuching), if one omits the meat, shallots, soy sauce and msg and the oil for frying and just use the last three in the list of ingredients, instead of the bak koi…

…one would end up with the regular Chinese steamed egg cake.

I may give this a try one of these days. Wish me luck, folks!