The other day, my sister dropped by my house to pass us this chiew chu koi (tapioca cake) to enjoy. Yes, we can get this very easily here but no, I wouldn’t say that all of them are very good. These were just like the ones my mum used to make during our growing up years, the taste, the sweetness, the texture…
…and everything. Yes, I remember there were these strands of fibre from the tuber…
…in the ones my mum made too. Generally, we can get reasonably good ones at the Malay stalls here…
…or elsewhere…
…but my favourite so far would be the ones here…
…from the Chinese pancake or ban chang kuih (慢煎糕) stall in my neighbourhood but the slices seemed to have been lightly fried and on the whole, the texture and the taste were not the same.
I asked my sister where she got hers from and she said “Billion Point” right next to the dianpianngu place in town…
I remember that place – I thought it was a branch of this one but it turned out that it wasn’t and the name in the snapshot I took at the time was different. They were 60 sen a piece, made by the guy’s aunty and they also had steamed paos from Sarikei.
No, you would not catch me rushing back for more but anytime I feel like enjoying some chiew chu koi like the ones my mum used to make, I would know exactly where to go.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
I like tapioca but when it is made into tapioca cake I will never touch it. I like the yellow tapioca to white and prefer it steamed to eat with kaya or sugar. These days the yellow tapioca are hard to come by.
We get tapioca frequently at my neighbourhood shop, yam too but yes, the yellow ones are not so common. I was like you when I was little – not a fan of chiew chu koi but these days, if they are very good, very well made, I don’t mind a few slices.
All these traditional cakes don’t taste the same anymore unless you can find those that use the old recipes. Good that you can still enjoy the chiew chu koi that tastes like the ones your mum used to make.
Yes, most are so disappointing, not worth a bite. I wouldn’t want to buy. Thank goodness once in a while, we stumble upon some reasonably good ones.
I love chiew chu koi (tapioca cake) but sad to say, it is not easy to find good ones now. I have given up searching for good traditional kuih. I used to make my own tapioca cake but now no more.
Oh? So it’s the same everywhere. I thought that’s the problem in this little Foochow town only. Not bad in Kuching, still a lot of people making nice kuihs.
Over here the nice ones are so rare…The other day I managed to buy from a kuih seller, which I felt quite nice. Good texture and not overly sweet.
Yes, so happy to stumble upon a good one, can’t wait to share with everyone. Most of the time, we throw it away after one bite, not worth the calories. I am amazed that there are people buying!
Oh, I bet I would love the texture of that tapioca cake.
Perfectly done, a lot around but not everybody can get it right.