The difference…

I did not see the tee peang (Foochow oyster cake) at the nearby fruit & vegetable sundry shop in the next lane round the corner from my house nor the nice steamed paos which, in my opinion, are much nicer than the celebrated Ah Bui’s paos, so I asked the lady boss.

She told me the old lady was not making anymore as she went for an injection (khee phak ciam). “What?” I exclaimed. “She died?” No, she replied, she was feeling hot so she would rather take some time off and would not be making them for a while.

Much to my delight, the other day, I saw those tee peang, with meat filling…

…and without, available for sale at the shop once again. I guess the old lady was feeling much better and was back in action once more. I did see the steamed paos too but I did not buy any – another time, perhaps.

I wasted no time at all in grabbing a few, with (RM1.60 each)…

…and without any filling – kosong (50 sen)…

…and took them home.

I did not have any straight away as I already had my breakfast before I went out but the ladies did help themselves to a few pieces and put away those that were left in the fridge.

The next morning, I took them out and heated them slowly on a non-stick pan, hence the slightly tanned surfaces that you can see in the photos. I do not like throwing them into the oven as they will become hard, probably because of the dehydration, and when cooled, they become as hard as a rock, no longer palatable anymore. Done the way I did it in a pan, they may be a little crusty on the outside and I actually enjoy them that way but one must use a small flame and be vigilant while doing it slowly to make sure they do not get burnt!

Maybe these are smaller (and perhaps there is not that much meat filling) but, 90 sen is a whole lot of difference – they are RM2.50 a piece here while the kosong ones are 70 sen each, 20 sen more.

As far as the taste goes, both are nice – in fact, I feel that the ones here are more old school, more like the ones we used to enjoy in our growing up years and considering how much more convenient it is to drop by here and buy, ample parking spaces, no parking fee and all, no prize for guessing which one I will head to whenever I feel like having some tee peang to enjoy.

SWEE HUNG (2.316161, 111.840441)…

…is located along Jalan Ruby, in the block of shops on the right – next to a hair salon at the extreme end.