Two more!…

The other day, I went back to the Chinese pancake or ban chang kuih (慢煎粿)/apam balik stall in the next lane round the corner from my house because there were two more things I had yet to try.

The guy was very busy making those pancakes – he said that some guy placed an order for 20 and he told him to come and get them at around 3 but he was there already at 2.30 and was waiting in the car. Well, it did not matter one bit to me as I did not intend to buy any. I am of the opinion that at 80 sen a piece, no meat, margarine not butter and just a bit of crushed peanut in the pancake, it is kind of pricey.

On my previous visit, I was intrigued by the sight of the black ang ku kuih (red tortoise cake), 70 sen a piece…

…and I did say then that I would buy those the next time around to try. I had seen yellow/orange (sweet potato/pumpkin) and purple (yam) ones before but not these black ones (even though they looked kind of green in the photograph). I went and googled and I saw something about such black ones being made using black sesame but my missus said they used some kind of grass for the purpose.

Perhaps it is what they use to make the black grass jelly (仙草/xiān cǎo), I wouldn’t know but I was quite positive that I could detect a hint of something herbal as I was eating it…

Inside, it was pretty much the same as all the rest, the same mung bean filling…

Another thing that I wanted to try was this deep-fried kompia stuffed with meat filling (80 sen a piece)…

…but they turned out to be quite disappointing. They felt like they were not fried enough…

…so they were kind of rubbery, not nice and crusty like the expensive but so much nicer ones here…or those here that used to be 90 sen a piece, dunno now plus I did not think the filling was all that great – everyone agreed that it was a little too salty.

Of course, I had to buy their chai peah (5 for RM2.00)…

Of all the things sold at this stall, this is our favourite but for reasons unknown, it was not salty at all that day. Perhaps the people making forgot to add the salt but it was perfectly all right – we ate them with my missus’ own-made chili dip and yes, it was so good!!! I suppose I shall keep on going back to the stall for this, not so much for the rest of the stuff they have to offer there.

Incidentally, if I am not wrong, it’s the Dongzhi or Winter Solstice Festival today so do enjoy your tang yuan (汤圆) – tang  is soup and yuan  is round and that implies reunion, full satisfaction. In the old days, the poor farmers couldn’t afford meat so they had these balls instead. Eating them during this auspicious festival is a required custom. All the children are told that people can add one year to their age after eating tang yuan.

We are not fond of the ones, usually colourful, in sweet syrup – we prefer those coated with crushed peanut and sugar…

…and yes, we will make these, without fail, every year to preserve the tradition, the customary practice – our heritage.

To all of you celebrating, a very Happy Dongzhi or Winter Solstice Festival – do enjoy eating your tang yuan!